Posted by chicagomedia.org on March 05, 2008 at 08:01:32:
In Reply to: Ex-Cubs TV broadcaster moves to Sox posted by chicagomedia.org on March 05, 2008 at 07:59:57:
For years he heard, "Where's Harry?"
Now Steve Stone might get this question: "Where's Ozzie?"
Stone, who it seemed would be associated forever with Cubs television, is switching to White Sox radio. He will replace Chris Singleton, who is set to join ESPN's "Baseball Tonight."
"Life takes strange turns," Stone said.
As recently as Sunday, Stone planned to call just 13 Friday Sox home games, serve as a three-days-a-week baseball analyst for WSCR-AM 670 and perhaps continue his postseason work for TBS.
Then Sox vice president Brooks Boyer called to ask if he wanted a roster spot on the Sox broadcast team. Within 36 hours, the one-year contract was done.
"It was one of the easiest negotiations I've ever encountered," Score program director Mitch Rosen said. "All parties wanted this to happen and there wasn't a lot of time."
Stone will make his Sox debut Friday and is slated to call 150 regular-season games.
He will team with Ed Farmer, who could not be reached for comment.
Not even Stone could get in touch with Farmer on Tuesday, but he expects they will mesh quickly in the booth.
Both former Sox pitchers love to talk, but Stone is prepared to give way to Farmer.
"Any analyst worth his salt will always give the mike to the play-by-play man before the pitch," Stone said. "And don't forget, when you're talking about working with someone who might talk a lot, I worked with Harry Caray for 15 years and my job was to fill in the gaps. That's what the good analysts do."
Boyer agreed the chatterboxes would be fine together.
"People ask John Calipari about his players' willingness to share the basketball at Memphis, and they've only lost one game," Boyer said. "There's enough mike to go around."
This will be Stone's first regular slate of games in Chicago since he left the Cubs after the 2004 season.
After he did six Sox games with Hawk Harrelson late last season, filling in for Darrin Jackson, there was talk about Stone going to the Sox TV booth.
But Jackson remains under contract.
Farmer, meanwhile, teamed with John Rooney from 1992-2005, but the Sox lost the popular Rooney to the St. Louis Cardinals after a contract dispute and Farmer took over as play-by-play man.
The Score won the radio rights beginning in 2006, and station officials zeroed in on Tommy John.
But the Sox preferred Singleton and his young, hip, relaxed vibe. It didn't hurt that he sought no more than $200,000 per season.
But Singleton had almost no announcing experience, and Farmer sometimes got annoyed with him during games, negating any hope for a conversational broadcast.
After the Sox waited until late October to pick up Singleton's option for the 2008 season, Boyer candidly called the duo a "work in progress."
Now the Sox get a polished Stone, and Singleton, who asked out of his Sox deal, is on the verge of landing a national gig.
"I love the White Sox organization and am sincerely grateful to them for allowing me to pursue this opportunity," he told reporters covering the team in an e-mail. "I also want to thank my partner Ed Farmer for helping me in so many ways."
Farmer and Singleton never clicked, but Sox fans can expect a better product in 2008.
"They will be informative and entertaining," Boyer said. "They will be able to teach the game even for those listeners who think they already know the game."
(From the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein)