Great news. Harry Caray says he’s coming home.
Caray has been hospitalized since he fell face-first onto a concrete walkway during 90-degree heat on June 23 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. He suffered facials cuts and bruises and has been undergoing a battery of tests, mostly concentrating on a series of heart flutters.
But he said in a telephone interview broadcast on WGN-TV during Wednesday’s game that he expected to be released from a hospital Thursday.
No official word on when he will be back in the broadcast booth. He almost certainly won’t be back before the All-Star break, which begins Monday. But he could return when the Cubs travel to Cincinnati for their first games after the break next Thursday.
“We’re hopeful he can be back then, but nothing’s been decided,” said Peter Walker, general manager of WGN-TV.
John McDonough, the Cubs’ vice president of marketing and broadcasting, said Caray and his doctors would decide on a return date.
McDonough visited Caray at Northwestern Memorial Hospital during Wednesday’s game and said the Hall of Fame broadcaster was eager to get out.
“He looks great. All of his cuts have healed,” said McDonough. “He looks really, really good.”
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Placard plea: First it was the Chicago Seven. Then Willy. Now this. A sign in the upper deck at Wednesday’s game read simply: “Free Harry.”
New millennium: Steve Buechele got his 1,000th career hit in the second inning, a single to right off Colorado starter Curtis Leskanic.
Little ball: Second baseman Rey Sanchez got just the eighth bunt single of the season for the Cubs in the fourth inning. He got another one his next time up in the sixth.
Back attack: Shortstop Shawon Dunston was out of the starting lineup with a sore back. He strained it trying to score from second base on a wild pitch during Monday’s double-header. Dunston says the injury is minor. He hopes to practice Thursday and play Friday. Dunston is hitting .314 (32 for 102) in his last 26 games and is batting .345.