Pat Foley will live out a dream when he broadcasts a Cubs game from Wrigley Field on Aug. 23.
Foley, who retired in April after a 39-year run in the Blackhawks’ booth, will call the nightcap of the Cubs’ doubleheader against the Cardinals. He’ll work the first three innings on 670 The Score, move to the Marquee Sports Network booth for the middle three and finish the game on radio.
Blackhawks president of business operations Jaime Faulkner once asked Foley before his retirement if there was anything in his career he still wanted to do.
“He said, ‘The one thing I’d love to do is call a TV and radio Cubs game [at Wrigley]. It’s been a dream of mine,’ ” Faulkner said. “And I said, ‘Well, I happen to know a guy.’ ”
Faulkner is married to Cubs executive vice president of sales and marketing Colin Faulkner, but she was referring to Marquee general manager Mike McCarthy. They worked together when he was the CEO of the Blues and COO of the Bucks. Along with Mitch Rosen, operations director at The Score, they arranged for Foley to call a game.
Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes already was scheduled to be off that night. TV voice Jon Sciambi will move to the radio booth for the middle three innings. Foley is preparing for a straight-up baseball broadcast, not a tribute to his Hall of Fame career.
Foley, 67, called several Cubs road games in the early 2000s when former Cubs TV voice Chip Caray had national commitments. Marquee will air footage from Foley’s last baseball broadcast. But this will be his first at Wrigley, where his love for broadcasting began.
When Foley was 10 years old, his father, Bob, had the chance to visit the Wrigley broadcast booth to promote his car dealership, which sponsored the Cubs on WGN radio. Announcer Jack Quinlan, who had bought a car from Bob, took a liking to Pat and allowed him to stay in the booth.
“The last thing for me to do in my mediocre career is to call a game at Wrigley Field,” Foley said before calling his last Blackhawks game. “That’s where the seed got planted.”
Foley also has called White Sox games. The first baseball game he was scheduled to call was at old Comiskey Park, but the weather didn’t cooperate.
“I’m all pumped up and I get down there and it rains all afternoon, and the game’s a rainout,” Foley said. “So all I did was introduce, ‘Here’s the 1962 World Series,’ every half hour. ‘Yeah, it’s still raining. Here’s the 1984 All-Star Game.’ That was my major-league debut.”
Though he won’t return to the Hawks’ booth, Foley will continue to work with organization. Faulkner said his role is still to be determined.
“We absolutely want him, and I think he still wants to stay with the Hawks,” Faulkner said. “Our sponsors, our partners, love him. Our fans love him. So it just makes sense to keep him involved.”
