Skip to content

Sports |
40 years in the booth: Chicago White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone celebrates his anniversary with an unplugged conversation

  • White Sox Steve Stone, winning pitcher of the first game,...

    Ed Feeney / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox Steve Stone, winning pitcher of the first game, is greeted by fans and the Sox bench when he was relieved by Acosta in the 8th inning with Sox leading 6-0 over Boston Red Sox, on July 8, 1973.

  • Steve Stone, back in the Cubs TV booth throws out...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone, back in the Cubs TV booth throws out the first ball on April 12, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

  • White Sox broadcasters Jason Benetti and Steve Stone tape a...

    John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox broadcasters Jason Benetti and Steve Stone tape a segment before a game at Guaranteed Rate Field on July 4, 2019,

  • Steve Stone watches as rock star Ozzie Osbourne and his...

    Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone watches as rock star Ozzie Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, perform the 7th inning stretch at a Chicago Cubs game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field in Chicago Aug. 17, 2003.

  • Cubs' pitcher Steve Stone heads to third base in the...

    Phil Mascione / Chicago Tribune

    Cubs' pitcher Steve Stone heads to third base in the fifth inning as Pittsburgh's Richie Hebner has the ball [circle] get past him on June 21, 1974.

  • A part owner of Lettuce Entertain You, Inc., Steve Stone,...

    Quenton C. Dodt / Chicago Tribune File

    A part owner of Lettuce Entertain You, Inc., Steve Stone, helps manage the Pump Room when not pitching for the White Sox, in the Pump Room kitchen on Jan. 26, 1977.

  • White Sox Steve Stone pitches in Chicago at Comiskey Park...

    Phil Mascione / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox Steve Stone pitches in Chicago at Comiskey Park on Aug. 10, 1977.

  • Steve Stone, right, interviews Rick Sutcliffe on June 23, 1989,...

    Charles Cherney / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone, right, interviews Rick Sutcliffe on June 23, 1989, at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

  • White Sox pitchers Steve Stone, left, and Ken Brett chug...

    Ed Wagner Jr. / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox pitchers Steve Stone, left, and Ken Brett chug through their paces during April 11, 1977, workout at Comiskey Park.

  • Chicago Cubs Steve Stone fakes out the infield on a...

    Phil Mascione / Chicago Tribune

    Chicago Cubs Steve Stone fakes out the infield on a would-be bunt against the Montreal Expos on Sept. 26, 1975.

  • Steve Stone interviews Carlos Zambrano before the game on June...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone interviews Carlos Zambrano before the game on June 1, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

  • Broadcasters Steve Stone and Ron Santo have a pre-game chat...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Broadcasters Steve Stone and Ron Santo have a pre-game chat on March 2, 2003.

  • Cubs television broadcaster Steve Stone at Wrigley Field in Chicago...

    Phil Velasquez / CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    Cubs television broadcaster Steve Stone at Wrigley Field in Chicago on March 2, 2003.

  • Steve Stone has a laugh with White Sox mascot Southpaw...

    Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone has a laugh with White Sox mascot Southpaw before Stone threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. Stone was honored for his 40th year in broadcasting.

  • White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a...

    Ernie Cox Jr / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a farewell gesture to a few of the 50,412 fans who watched him pitch 9? innings on July 31, 1977, against the Royals.

  • White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone writes notes in preparation for...

    John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone writes notes in preparation for a game at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday, July 14, 2017, in Chicago.

  • Broadcaster Steve Stone greets White Sox fans at SoxFest on...

    Patrick Kunzer/AP

    Broadcaster Steve Stone greets White Sox fans at SoxFest on Jan. 24, 2020.

  • Cubs announcers Steve Stone and Chip Caray on the field...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Cubs announcers Steve Stone and Chip Caray on the field during batting practice on Oct. 3, 2004.

  • White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a...

    Ernie Cox Jr / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a farewell gesture to a few of the 50,412 fans who watched him pitch nine and two-thirds innings July 31, 1977, in the opening of a double-header in Chicago. The Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4, in the opener and lost, 8-4, in the second game. The crowd was the largest at Comiskey Park in four years.

  • White Sox pitcher Steve Stone, part-owner and executive with Lettuce...

    Quentin C. Dodt / Chicago Tribune File

    White Sox pitcher Steve Stone, part-owner and executive with Lettuce Entertain You Inc., which owns six restaurants including the Pump Room, which Steve helps manage, at his desk on Jan. 26, 1977.

  • Baltimore Orioles Steve Stone won the American League Cy Young...

    Associated Press

    Baltimore Orioles Steve Stone won the American League Cy Young Award on Nov. 11, 1980, as the league's outstanding pitcher. Stone was chosen by the 28-man committee of the Baseball Writers Association of America in a close battle with Mike Norris of Oakland. Stone is shown during his 20th win of the season against the California Angels Aug. 19, 1980.

  • Longtime sports broadcaster Steve Stone speaks to the media about...

    Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune

    Longtime sports broadcaster Steve Stone speaks to the media about the passing of Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks during the annual SoxFest convention Jan. 24, 2015, at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago.

  • Former Cubs announcers Steve Stone, left, and Chip Caray pose...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Former Cubs announcers Steve Stone, left, and Chip Caray pose at Wrigley Field on Oct. 3, 2004.

  • White Sox manager Robin Ventura and broadcaster Steve Stone address...

    Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox manager Robin Ventura and broadcaster Steve Stone address a crowd of fans on Jan. 29, 2016, the first day of "Sox Fest" at the Hilton in downtown Chicago.

  • Cubs announcer Steve Stone poses for a photo in Mesa,...

    Charles Cherney / Chicago Tribune

    Cubs announcer Steve Stone poses for a photo in Mesa, Ariz., on Feb. 19, 2003.

  • White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti with his partner Steve...

    E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti with his partner Steve Stone in the broadcast booth at U.S. Cellular Field on May 20, 2016.

  • Likenesses of White Sox announcers Darrin Jackson, Ed Farmer, Steve...

    Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune

    Likenesses of White Sox announcers Darrin Jackson, Ed Farmer, Steve Stone and Ken Harrelson competed against each other during the 2014 season.

  • White Sox broadcasters Jason Benetti, left, and Steve Stone prepare...

    John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

    White Sox broadcasters Jason Benetti, left, and Steve Stone prepare for a game at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday, July 14, 2017, in Chicago.

  • Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone at SoxFest in 2011 at...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone at SoxFest in 2011 at the Palmer House Hilton.

  • Head "lettuce" man Rich Melman, right, with restaurant partners Steve...

    Art Walker / Chicago Tribune

    Head "lettuce" man Rich Melman, right, with restaurant partners Steve Stone, left, and Bobby Douglas at Jonathan Livingston Seafood Restaurant on Jan 6, 1976.

  • Steve Stone and Cubs manager Dusty Baker have a pre-game...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    Steve Stone and Cubs manager Dusty Baker have a pre-game chat at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Aug. 26, 2005.

of

Expand
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Steve Stone tweeted some positive news Sunday about a sub-.500 Chicago White Sox team battling through injuries and underachieving players.

Then the Sox TV analyst goaded fans to chime in with an opposing point of view.

“I’m optimistic,” Stone wrote. “But feel free to whine and complain.”

It was a far cry from the Steve Stone of 2004 whose on-air criticism of Cubs players and manager Dusty Baker got so heated it created a rift that couldn’t be healed, leading to Stone’s abrupt departure from the WGN booth after the season.

After a few years in self-exile, Stone returned and reintroduced himself to the South Side, first in the Sox radio booth and then on TV broadcasts with Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. Stone still is going strong at 74, and on Tuesday he will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his broadcasting debut on ABC’s “Monday Night Baseball.”

NBC Sports Chicago plans to crank up the “Wayback Machine” for the opener of the Sox series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, and there’s a lot to unpack since June 7, 1982. So get ready for a StoneFest.

White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti with his partner Steve Stone in the broadcast booth at U.S. Cellular Field on May 20, 2016.
White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti with his partner Steve Stone in the broadcast booth at U.S. Cellular Field on May 20, 2016.

Stone basically has gone through four metamorphoses while partnering with Harry Caray, Chip Caray, Harrelson and Jason Benetti. He played the role of amiable sidekick to Harry Caray, provocateur to Chip Caray and second fiddle to Harrelson.

Now he has found his perfect match in the 38-year-old Benetti, a sharp-witted play-by-play man who doesn’t mind letting Stone get in a word (spoiler alert: Stone likes to get in a word). The two trade quips like an old married couple, sort of a Chicago baseball version of Al and Peg Bundy from “Married … with Children.”

It’s not for everyone. But it’s a chemistry that can’t be replicated, as we’ve seen during Stone’s recent absence for a preplanned vacation in Las Vegas.

Encapsulating 40 years of someone’s career would be impossible, and most of the great Stone stories can be found in his two books written with Chicago sports writers Barry Rozner and Mark Gonzales. I’ve known Stone for 35 years. He once got me in trouble with my bosses for goading me into telling the Cubs to fire general manager Ed Lynch during a rain delay of a Cubs-Giants game in 1999.

I recently asked Stone for some brief thoughts on his main broadcast partners and other topics. He provided answers over the phone while betting an exacta box at Belmont at a Las Vegas sportsbook.

Here is some of our conversation.

On working with Howard Cosell on “Monday Night Baseball” telecasts

Before he started at ABC, Stone said Al Michaels told him he could agree with everything Cosell said on air and gain a valuable ally while losing credibility. Or he could disagree and “probably be right” while making a “powerful enemy.” Stone played nice.

In his second game, Stone was ready to tell an anecdote he learned about a player. When the player entered the game, Cosell blurted out the same story as if he learned it himself. It taught Stone not to give away everything in production meetings.

“In my second game, I get big-footed by the original Big Foot,” he said. “Al Michaels told me: ‘Don’t worry. Howard never cared about anybody he stepped on on the way up because he had no intention on coming back down.’ And he never did.”

Likenesses of White Sox announcers Darrin Jackson, Ed Farmer, Steve Stone and Ken Harrelson competed against each other during the 2014 season.
Likenesses of White Sox announcers Darrin Jackson, Ed Farmer, Steve Stone and Ken Harrelson competed against each other during the 2014 season.

On lessons learned from Harry Caray

“One of the things Harry said to me that I’ve always carried forward is the best communicators are the ones everyone understands,” Stone said. “‘Don’t talk over the heads of your listeners.’ I never really forgot that. I try to stay away from cliches. Harry taught me a lot about how to appeal to a Midwest fandom. To put on airs in the booth never really was appealing to me and it wasn’t who I was.”

On Harry Caray’s transformation from critical White Sox broadcaster to promoter on Cubs broadcasts

“Harry was one of the great salesmen of everything revolving around him,” Stone said. “He sold baseball. He sold beer. He sold the team he worked for and mostly he sold Harry. He understood who were the White Sox fans. A lot of people really disliked Harry because he was one type of broadcaster with the White Sox (and changed). But that was his fandom, the guys who’d go to McCuddy’s and have a couple boilermakers before the game. He’d get on the players and the manager, just like everybody else in the ballpark.

“But Harry was really smart. And when he came to the Cubs he knew that wasn’t the Cubs fandom and he became good old grandfatherly Harry. He started singing, ‘Jo-dy, Jooooo-dy Davis.’ He made stars of these Cubs players who were just adequate. I came over and knew Jody was an average catcher and would say he was not an elite catcher and Cubs fans would go crazy.

“Harry changed but not because he was older. He knew exactly who he was broadcasting to and he knew his Tribune Co. bosses didn’t want to see that (Sox version of him). He could read the room.”

On transforming from sidekick to co-star with Chip Caray

Former Cubs announcers Steve Stone, left, and Chip Caray pose at Wrigley Field on Oct. 3, 2004.
Former Cubs announcers Steve Stone, left, and Chip Caray pose at Wrigley Field on Oct. 3, 2004.

Stone compared his early role with Harry Caray to that of Murray, the supporting character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” played by Gavin MacLeod. “I was on ‘The Harry Show,'” Stone said. “Some days my part was bigger and some days it was smaller. But I never lost sight of the fact it was ‘The Harry Show.'”

Chip Caray told Stone before their first spring training broadcast in 1998 he would have “room to do whatever” he wanted.

“It was almost like Jason and I,” Stone said of the partnership. “Jason does a prolific amount of research and so did Chip. They both were raised with computers, worked very hard and were younger than me.”

On the bitter ending to his Cubs career

“I had a wonderful run and literally thought at the time I’d spend the rest of my career with the Cubs,” he said. “As we know, 2004 came along. The great misnomer that continues to mystify me is why people keep saying I was fired by the Cubs for being too negative. The reality was WGN picked up my option.”

Stone resigned after the season.

On the final day of the 2004 season, Cubs fans chanted “Stoney, Stoney” under the WGN booth, showing their support for the broadcaster during his stormy feud with players — notably Kent Mercker and Moises Alou — and Baker.

Stone declined to rehash the incidents that led to his departure. But he noted Boston Red Sox owner John Henry once went to TV analyst Dennis Eckersley after Eckersley’s reported spat with pitcher David Price and said: “I’ve got your back and that’s not going to happen again.” Stone said neither he nor Chip Caray received that kind of support from anyone in the Cubs organization during the ’04 controversies.

“Nobody,” he repeated.

On reverting to second fiddle again on Sox broadcasts with Harrelson

Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone at SoxFest in 2011 at the Palmer House Hilton.
Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone at SoxFest in 2011 at the Palmer House Hilton.

Harrelson and Stone, two alphas and former players, sat far apart during home games at Sox Park, leaving an impression they were reluctant partners. Stone said he “learned a lot” from Hawk and they just had different styles.

“He was a lifer in baseball and so was I,” Stone said. “I did listen to him. His style of play by play was completely different than anybody’s I had ever worked with, and I knew that I came into his half of the town.

“When I came to the White Sox (TV booth), that (decision) was controlled by Hawk Harrelson, and Sox fans love him to this day. I didn’t come in to capture the fandom. I came in to add something to the broadcast. Yeah, he and Harry could sometimes be mercurial, but I learned how to live with it with (Caray) and with the Sox and wound up with two wonderful jobs.”

On the conversational tone of his broadcasts with Benetti

“We’ll set the stage early, and if it’s a dramatic game, we do baseball,” Stone said. “None of the lunacy we get into is at the expense of the game. But you can’t lose sight of the fact we’re trying to entertain an audience so they stick around and watch us through times maybe they would ordinarily click off.”

Stone said Benetti “for a young broadcaster … has a great sense” of knowing when to have fun.

“I like everything he does,” Stone said. “And he frees me up to do what I think I do best, which is dissect a baseball game from every angle and nuance.”

On his Twitter trolls

Twitter is a “nasty place,” Stone quickly discovered. He often trades barbs with his followers.

“For the most part, people there are idiots,” he said. “If you go with that idea, you’ll probably be OK.”

Stone said he doesn’t take any guff from Twitter trolls because he’s not paid for his tweets.

“I’m trying to give them the benefit of 53 years of professional baseball, and these guys are telling me things that I don’t know,” he said. “They can see it, but I can’t.”

Stone acknowledged being referred to as a company man or homer for not speaking out more often on costly mental mistakes by players or questionable managerial moves by Tony La Russa.

“If I said everything that came into my mind, I don’t think (the Sox) would want me to work for them,” he said. “Our object is to help sell the team. That’s part of the deal.”

On his future

White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a farewell gesture to a few of the 50,412 fans who watched him pitch 9? innings on July 31, 1977, against the Royals.
White Sox pitcher Steve Stone tips his hat in a farewell gesture to a few of the 50,412 fans who watched him pitch 9? innings on July 31, 1977, against the Royals.

Stone said he’s broadcasting “simply for the love of the game, the love of baseball, the love of Chicago.” He turns 75 next month but hopes to continue as long as the Sox will have him.

“It’s an outstanding way to make a living, to pass the summer, to keep entertained, to keep challenging my mind and to stay active,” he said. “No plans at this point of not doing it.”

But a return to the Cubs TV booth to bookend his career is a non-starter for Stone.

“I do not want to work any television broadcast for any other team than the Sox,” he said. “I’m pretty much a Sox guy.”