Making it all the better is the chance to hear more stories like the one he told to Bill Reiter of the Kansas City Star over the weekend. Bill Murray joined Steve Stone in the Cubs booth during a 1987 game and bet Stone a case of beer that Sutcliffe, on first, would steal second base. Stone agreed to the wager and away we go:
The pitcher was still warming up when word spreads and a fan yelled, "Hey Sut, Murray just bet Steve Stone a case of beer you'll steal second!"
Standing on first base, Sutcliffe decided: Screw it. I'm going.
Sutcliffe took off running. All 6-7 of the Red Baron hauling ass for second base just to mess with Cubs announcer Steve Stone.
"I am gone," Sutcliffe said. "He comes down and looks over. Well I'm halfway to second. I'm going, 'Ah, he got me.' Well the dummy goes to home so now I've got to get going again. But there's still a play. That's how slow I am."
The throw. The slide. He's safe.
Great story. Anyone else think Murray would be a massive improvement on Joe Morgan in the Sunday Night Baseball booth?
Oh sure, the Sox locked up a World Series appearance by trading for the vaunted Carlos Quentin, but Quentin shouldn't have to carry the load on his own!
Just when I was about to give up hope, the White Sox made an announcement on Thursday that while it won't help the team win any games, it will at least make listening to them lose a lot more tolerable. Steve Stone is going to be doing a few Sox games from the radio booth.
Stone, who has worked for WSCR-AM (670) the last two years as a baseball analyst, will expand his duties this summer for the White Sox' flagship station, joining radio team Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton in the booth for Friday home games.
'I'll get a chance to enjoy doing baseball in Chicago again,'' Stone said Wednesday. ''I've gotten along so well with [Farmer and Singleton], and [team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf] and I have been friends for a long time. He's one of the guys I really respect.
''It will be an unusual team. Ed will do play-by-play, and Chris and I will get to talk about how you set up hitters and go from there. It'll be fun.''
Stone filled in for White Sox tv analyst Darrin Jackson for a week last season, and that was by far the best week of the season to watch the White Sox on television. Yeah, they kept losing, but at least Stone made listening to the games tolerable. Instead of hearing about Hawk Harrelson's golf game, Sox fans were treated to actual analysis of a baseball game.
Hopefully Stone's tour in the radio booth will turn into a full time job come 2009, be it on the radio or television. The city of Chicago needs him.
Now that Dusty Baker will be returning to the dugout as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he's already got some problems to deal with. He's replaced his old feud with Steve Stone and Chip Caray for a new one with Marty Brennaman, but that's not the only feud Baker already has in the Queen City.
No love for Dusty Baker. Nothing but bile for a man with more than 1,100 career wins, whose teams have finished either first or second in eight of his 14 seasons as a manager. A guy who has been NL Manager of the Year three times, who took the Chicago Cubs closer to the World Series altar than any manager in almost 50 years?
He stinks, you say. Terrible pick. You won't go to the games, you won't renew your season tickets. You're done with the Reds.
Those are the words of The Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty. According to the emails he's received, and the phone calls he's gotten on his radio show, Cincinnati is not happy with the hiring of Baker.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly a fan of Baker either. I got a front row seat for his tenure in Chicago, so I know how bad a manager he can be at times. He favors the veterans too much, and he's too loyal to his players. He kills pitchers. Though, to be fair, I think Kerry Wood's arm would have blown up with or without Baker around.
One of Dusty Baker's many failings in Chicago -- besides pitching Kerry Wood and Mark Prior into oblivion and playing Neifi Perez every day, et al.-- was his passive role in a feud between then-announcers Steve Stone and Chip Caray and various players on the team. Players thought they were being criticized too harshly, and Caray and Stone didn't like that, and everyone got all angry and huffy. And then Moises Alou urinated on his hands.
In addition to his entertaining and informative style, Brennaman isn't afraid to stand up to anyone who challenges him or his comments. Brennaman stood up to center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. after Brennaman criticized him.
And Brennaman questioned Baker's control of the Cubs' clubhouse toward the end of the 2004 season when players thought then-announcers Chip Caray and Steve Stone should have been more supportive.
"Dusty Baker singularly could have stopped that stuff right from the beginning," Brennaman said at the time. "And I just think it escalated into something that was not very pretty."
While I'm not sure I agree with the "informative and entertaining part," it should be interesting how Dusty handles his new friends in Cincinnati. As if the court of public opinion weren't enough, Dusty's got to wag both the tail and the dog if he plans on being as bad in Cincy as he was in Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune went out and did themselves a little journalism today (they do so everyday, actually), and came back with an interesting scoop: if a certain ownership company wins the Cubs, Steve Stone would be made general manager.
Stone and Cubs Hall of Fame outfielder Billy Williams are aligned with the Weisbach group, one of at least four known to be interested in buying the team. Weisbach, the founder of Ha-Lo Industries and a close friend of Stone's, is working with wealthy cable magnate Jim Anixter and others trying to raise money for the bid. Rich Melman, from the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, is a possible partner.
Stone, a former major league pitcher, longtime Cubs television analyst and current baseball analyst for WSCR-AM 670, would become the general manager if the Weisbach group were to land the team, the Tribune has learned.
Stone over the years has made no secret of his interest in running a ballclub and has made no broadcast commitments for next season.
I do know this: Steve Stone is a very good professional baseball analyst, perhaps the best in the country. I do not know this: That being a good on-air analyst makes one a good general manager. But knowing Stone's reputation, there are much, much worse options. Worth a shot, right?
UPDATE: On WSCR 670 in Chicago, Stone is denying any interest or involvement in any ownership group of position with the Cubs. So maybe the Trib didn't do journalism?
First thing is first: I love Bill Murray. Loved him when I posted these videos of him doing a Cubs broadcast with Steve Stone. Loved him when Wes Anderson took him from goofball comedy to a more subdued roll in Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums. Loved him in Ghostbusters; loved him in Scrooge.
But, Bill Murray the sports fan? Eh, I don't know if it's just when I've happened to notice, but he seemed to be around at rather um, choice times. He showed up in 2005 when Illinois' basketball team was on its run to the National Championship game. And now that the Cubs are on the verge of the playoffs? (Assuming they don't choke it away.) He's chilling with the team before batting practice.
The Cubs' No. 1 fan hung out with the team during batting practice before Thursday's game against the Florida Marlins. Murray said he's confident this is the year the Cubs will win the World Series -- something they last did in 1908.
"I really feel this is going to happen," Murray said. "I feel very good about this team. I have all year."
Wearing a Cubs cap backward, Murray had a bag of sunflower seeds tucked under his badly wrinkled shirt. He said his confidence in the Cubs went beyond cautious optimism.
"There is no time for being cautiously optimistic," he said. "That's for losers. [I'm] very optimistic. Look at how I'm dressed. Do I look cautious?"
This is why YouTube is the greatest invention ever. (The wheel? Yeah right.)
Here for you are five separate clips (first one via Fark) of Bill Murray filling in for Harry Caray during a Cubs broadcast in April of 1987. Steve Stone holds his own here and basically acts as a prompt for Murray's stand-up comedy routine.
The above clip is the pregame rundown and the four after the jump are at various points throughout the game.
Drop what you're doing at once and dive in, folks. This is of far more importance than whatever else you could be doing at the moment.
That's Harry Caray and Steve Stone back in 1984 immediately after the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in 39 years. You think there's too much money spent on sports marketing these days? I'm guessing Budweiser paid a pretty sum to have Stone not only hold a can of Budweiser but also take special care to display the label for the camera, wear a Budweiser wind breaker and make a show out of taking a swig and sharing it with Caray. (Arm-bash to Home Run Derby and Mr. Irrelevant)
For now, I'll avoid getting into the debate about who is far superior (See: Stone, Steve) and just alert you to the fact that Stone called Juan Uribe's walkoff homer in the bottom of the 13th last night against the Tribe. Via Sox Machine:
During Scott Podsednik's at-bat, here was the banter between Stone and Hawk Harrelson:
Stone: Well, I think you got the guy who's going to end this game in the on-deck circle... what a tough night defensively for Uribe, but he can certainly make up for it. Hawk: Is that your story? Stone: Yup, I think that's what's going to happen. Hawk: And he's sticking to it.
And as Uribe went ¡profundo!:
Hawk: And that ball hit hard! Way back! Sizemore looks up! You can put it on the boaaaaaaaaaaard, YES, STONE PONY! Stone: [after a beat] Thank you. First time to go, Hawk, that's just the way it is.
Ah Stoney, as even-keeled and confident as ever. Get this man a beverage, I say.
If the Reds end up hiring Bob Brenly to be their new manager, there will be direct ramifications for Cubs fans, as the team will suddenly be in the market for another TV broadcaster. The Chicago Tribune explains:
Steve Stone knows all about the rumors that Bob Brenly is a candidate for the Reds' managerial job. But as of Thursday morning, no one from the Cubs or WGN-Ch. 9 had contacted Stone to inquire about whether he would be available if Brenly leaves the TV booth.
Then again, it's not as if they would have trouble finding Stone, who said he talks to Cubs President John McDonough once or twice a week.
Stone was generally well-liked by most fans, and the players he famously had problems with (namely, Kent Mercker and Moises Alou) during his tenure with the Cubs have since moved on. If this switch were to happen, I think most Cubs fans would gladly take the trade.
When it was announced that Rick Sutcliffe, fighting cancer, was well enough to resume his broadcasting career, we cheered a bit. He's always entertaining in the booth, drunk or sober, and anytime someone can win a fight with the disease it's reason to smile. 
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