Cubs radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes’ stories are keepers

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Cubs broadcaster Pat Hughes signs autographs at the recent Will County CrackerJacks Hot Stove Luncheon in Plainfield. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 23, 2012 3:11PM

During his 30-year career in broadcasting, Cubs radio play-by-play voice Pat Hughes has worked closely with a grand slam of zaniness.

Ron Santo, Bob Uecker, Harry Caray and Al McGuire are laugh machines. Their adventures are ideal fodder for Hughes’ smooth delivery as the fans who gathered at Plainfield Village Hall for the Will County CrackerJacks Hot Stove Luncheon learned over a truly enjoyable hour.

“I worked with Santo for 15 years and Uecker for 12 years,” Hughes said. “The amazing thing is I have a tiny bit of sanity left.”

Enough to remain a professional, anyway. “Hey, if Ronnie spilled soup on his trousers, I felt compelled as a journalist to report it,” Hughes said.

He told one of his favorite stories, about the time at Shea Stadium when, during the national anthem, he smelled something and heard a sort of sizzling. Yes, Santo’s hairpiece caught fire.

“Well, Ron put out the fire, but he really cared how he looked,” Hughes continued. “He said, ‘Partner, how do I look?’ I lied and said OK. He had a big divot in his head. He thought it was funny that Al Leiter pitched for the Mets that night.”

Then there was the time a sign in the lunch room at the ballpark said not to touch the yogurt machine until after the game begins. “Ronnie decided he had to have some before the game because he couldn’t get any when the game was going on,” Hughes said. “So he filled this big cup with yogurt, but it kept coming. He couldn’t turn off the machine as yogurt spilled all over the floor.

“So Ronnie did what any mature 11-year-old would have done. He ran away. He decided it was someone else’s problem.”

After Cubs left fielder Brant Brown’s infamous drop of a fly ball on Sept. 23, 1998, Santo visited manager Jim Riggleman in his office. “Ron was almost in tears and said, ‘I can’t believe he dropped it.’ So Riggleman said, ‘Hang in there, Ron, we can go into Houston and win and still make the playoffs.’ Here’s a major league manager trying to cheer up a broadcaster. How often do you see that?”

Hughes said he had to be careful not to talk with Santo too much before a game. It is important to keep material fresh for the broadcast.

“One time we talked in the lunch room about a play the previous day,” Hughes said. “I brought it up on the air and asked Ron his opinion and he said, ‘Nah, we already talked about that.’ ”

Hughes worked with McGuire for years on Marquette basketball television broadcasts.

“Al and I were leaving Freedom Hall in Louisville on a Saturday afternoon,” Hughes said. “I said we’ll get a cab and Al said, ‘No, we’re going to hitchhike.’ Just like he said, the third vehicle that came along, they roll down the window and pick us up. Al asks for a ride to the airport, and he starts telling them stories about coaching against John Wooden, coaching in the NCAA title game and arguing with officials.”

On another occasion, “It was the day of the game and we were supposed to be in Charlotte,” Hughes said. “Al calls my home, gets my wife and says, ‘Hi, honey, where’s Pat?’ She said, ‘He’s in Charlotte with you.’ So Al says, ‘Oh, Charlotte, that’s where I’m supposed to be.

“He somehow gets there and comes into the gym wearing sweats, with his clothes bag over his shoulder, an hour before the game. He talks to an assistant coach for Charlotte, gets courtside a minute before we go on the air and starts rattling off all these details about Charlotte that made everyone think he had really done his homework.”

Caray, Hughes said, “was fun and eccentric. One day he got the string of his tea bag caught in his glasses. He thought he got it taken care of. He goes on the air on TV, and there’s this tea bag hanging off his right ear.”

Hughes explained the cough button in the radio booth. Santo on occasion got confused and hit Hughes’ instead of his own.

“Well, one day Harry turned around to face the camera and sat up on the table, and he sat on his cough button,” Hughes said. “He performed with a dead microphone for about three minutes.”

The luncheon wasn’t all laughs, of course. Hughes answered a variety of questions, many about being a broadcaster.

He quoted the great Joe DiMaggio that if someone is in the stands watching you play for the first time, you want it to be a good experience for them. In other words, nothing but your best every single day, whether you are on the field or in the booth, is acceptable.

He added, however, you also should stay loose and have fun. Hughes definitely has. You have a feeling it will continue as his relationship blossoms with second-year partner Keith Moreland in the Cubs’ radio booth.