Outta Here

Unfortunately, this is the second time in less than a week, when I feel compelled to go off-topic, and write about the death of a favorite broadcaster.

Harry Kalas died today at the age of 73 in Washington, DC, after collapsing in a broadcast booth at Nationals Stadium. He was in the midst of pre-game preparations, in his role as play-by-play announcer for baseball's World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Harry's voice defied description. Even if you've never heard Phillies' broadcasts, you may have encountered The Voice narrating video presentations ranging from NFL Films to Chunky Soup commercials. There are audio clips available all over the Web today, so you may want to search them out, and see what I mean.

I don't think there's any reason to feel sorry for Harry on this sad occasion. He got to spend 44 of his 73 years announcing major league baseball games. The end came while he was pursuing that vocation. And, in what turned out to be the last year of his life, he played master of ceremonies at the culmination of the World Series parade at Citizens Bank Park. But, for those of us left behind in the baseball world, the sad fact is that, like many a baseball at Veterans Stadium and C.B. Park since 1971, Harry is "outta here".