Harry Kalas Through the Years

Here is a video tribute by Comcast Sports Net:



Here is a timeline written by Ed Barkowitz and Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News on April 14:

March 26, 1936: Harold Norbert Kalas is born in Chicago. He grew up in the small town of Naperville, Ill., just outside Chicago.

1946: Attends a game at Comiskey Park as a 10-year-old and is befriended by Washington Senators first baseman Mickey Vernon after rain washed out batting practice. It is here Kalas develops his love of baseball.

1954: The caption beneath his Naperville High School senior picture touts Kalas as a "Future Sports Announcer."

1959: Graduates from the University of Iowa with a degree in speech, radio and television.

1959: Is drafted by the Army immediately out of college and serves in Hawaii for 2 years. Works in the Army information office. It's also where he becomes a broadcaster for the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Islanders Triple A club in the Pacific Coast League.

April 12, 1965: Makes his major league debut as the lead announcer for the Houston Astros, newly rechristened from the Colt .45s. Coincidentally, the Astros lose to the Phillies, 1-0.

June 18, 1967: Calls Don Wilson's no-hitter, the first of six no-nos Kalas calls.

1971: Is brought to Philadelphia by Bill Giles and is an unpopular choice to replace Bill Campbell as the Phillies' lead announcer.

April 10, 1971: The opening of Veterans Stadium also yields Harry's first home-run call as a Phillies broadcaster, which comes when Don Money connected off Montreal's Bill Stoneman.

April 15, 1972: Calls the first of Steve Carlton's Phillies-record 241 wins.

Sept. 16, 1972: Calls the first of Mike Schmidt's Phillies-record 548 home runs.

Oct. 21, 1980: The Phillies win their first World Series, but a rule granting radio broadcast rights only to national partners - and not individual teams' flagship broadcasters - prohibits Kalas and his colleagues from calling the series. The groundswell from irate Phillies fans is so great that the policy is changed the following year.

October 1983: Calls Phillies' World Series loss to Orioles in five games.

April 18, 1987: Calls Schmidt's 500th career home run (off Pittsburgh's Don Robinson).

October 1993: Calls Phillies' World Series loss to Blue Jays in six games.

Sept. 9, 1997: Longtime friend and colleague Richie Ashburn dies in New York, where Phillies are in town for a series with the Mets.

February 1998: Falls while bicycling in Hawaii and breaks his left arm.

July 28, 2002: Is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame's broadcaster's wing.

Sept. 11, 2004: Calls Ryan Howard's first home run.

Oct. 29, 2008: Finally gets to call the final out of a winning World Series when Brad Lidge fans Tampa Bay's Eric Hinske in Game 5.

April 12, 2009: Calls his final home run - Matt Stairs' pinch-hit, ninth-inning blast in a 7-5 win at Colorado.

April 13, 2009: Passes away at age 73 in Washington, before a game against the Nationals.