Holy Cow! Caray Twins Go From Cape Cod League to Broadcasting Careers

Chris and Stefan Caray 2021. (Photo: Mike Richard)

 

They never led the Lowell Park crowd between innings with rousing renditions of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and probably never punctuated a great play over the air by exclaiming “Holy Cow!”

But make no mistake, the name is the same and Chris and Stefan Caray had their chance to follow in the huge footsteps of their legendary great-grandfather, Harry Caray, their equally famous grandfather, Skip Caray, and their present-day announcer, dad Chip Caray.

The identical twin brothers manned the microphones during the summer of 2021 for the Cotuit Kettleers, providing play-by-play and color coverage of their games in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

While the connection between the young announcers and their famous ancestors is undeniable, both brothers stressed that they were their own people when it came to the job.

“We understand the lineage and the way that it works and how responsive people are to it, but when it comes to this bloodline we don’t pay as much attention to it,” said Chris. “When we got this internship in the Cape Cod League, my dad didn’t even know much about it.”

Stefan added that their dad, Chip, tried to dissuade them from such a career when they were younger.

“He knows some of the concerns with the nepotism argument and you’re gonna have to take that in stride,” he said. “It’s been such a great thing to see him develop and really find his calling and for us to be able to be there and hone our craft was something that is unexplainable and so surreal.”

Baseball fans recall that their late great-grandfather, and Hall of Famer Harry Caray, had a 50-year career in broadcasting and was the legendary voice of the Chicago Cubs. Their late grandfather, Skip Caray, spent over 30 seasons broadcasting Atlanta Braves games.

When interviewed in the summer of 2021, the brothers understood the time commitment involved in such a career, with their dad often gone for six months out of the year with his job as broadcaster for the Braves.

They stressed the important role their mother, Susan, and grandparents, Ann and Tom Eyerly, have played in their life. They, along with their 12-year-old brother (at the time) Tristan, followed them to the Cape that summer, renting a house in Hyannis Port from their homes in St. Augustine, Florida.

Their older sister, Summerlyn, a budding songwriter and actress, attended the University of San Diego and also visited the family at the Cape that summer.

While Chris had aspirations of going into broadcasting, Stefan was a bit late to the party after spending a couple of years playing lacrosse at Wingate University and later the University of Georgia, to which he transferred in the fall of 2020.

Their first experience working together was doing AAU basketball games as well as calling baseball games for Georgia Gwinnett College.

And as is often the case when identical twins get together, things just seemed to click.

“We thought that this would be just a wonderful opportunity to work together,” said Stefan that summer. “There’s just nothing like Cape Cod Baseball; this is the highest level of talent and it’s the closest thing to minor-league baseball.”

And Chris quipped that, to prepare for their Cape Cod summer, “We both watched Summer Catch about 15 times.”

Aside from having a great screen presence and ideal voices for calling a game, their ability to quote facts and figures, and to sprinkle some humor, made for very entertaining broadcasts.

“We have to be able to see and story-tell,” Chris explained. “What my dad always told us, when he did offer us advice – which was very seldom – is you have to be able to see the game and be able to actually articulate what people want to hear.”

Stefan added, “We do have similar sounding voices, but our personalities are a little bit different,” he said. “(Chris) can pick out stats with anybody and I like to keep things a little bit light. I like to crack jokes in Harryesque fashion.”

However, more than anything else, the brothers know their Cape experience was about developing good relationships with the players and coaching staff, as well as making the game entertaining for the fans.

“You never know if we get where we want to go and ascend to the path of where our dad is,” said Chris. “We want to have good relationships with these guys, if they also make the majors. We may be able to have memories like, ‘Hey remember when we were sitting at the Kettle-Ho eating chicken fingers and french fries and watching the hockey game.’ That’s something that we’re looking forward to, down the line.”

And while the brothers realize that the natural comparison will likely be made with those familiar with the work of their father and grandfather and great-grandfather, they have a chance to create on-air personas unique to them.

“It’s a different climate in the booth, so we definitely want to put our own spin on things and definitely make our own mark,” said Stefan at the time. “Not in spite of our last name but, in fact, probably just to represent it well.”

Chris added, “Really, it’s a privilege to be here, reading about these players, and finding out about this league that we didn’t know much about. We told everybody, you’re getting us for our finished product, not for how we start.”

And whether their aspirations one day take them to a generational reunion with the Atlanta Braves, or to their familial connection with the Chicago Cubs, their future promises to be a bright one in the broadcasting business.

Then again, maybe the most appropriate landing spot for them will one day be in Minnesota, where the brothers Caray can call play-by-play for the Twins.

• Note: Following their season in the Cape Cod Baseball League, they joined the Amarillo Sod Poodles of the Texas League as broadcasters. In 2024 Chris Caray became play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics. Meanwhile, Stefan is a freelance broadcaster in the Southeast.

MIKE RICHARD has been the historian of the Cape Cod Baseball League since 2018. He spent 35 years in public education, both as an English teacher and later a guidance counselor before retiring from Gardner (Massachusetts) High School in 2013. A longtime columnist for the Gardner News, he also wrote sports columns for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the Barnstable Patriot, and the Cape Cod Times. He has authored two sports history books: Glory to Gardner: 100 Years of Football in the Chair City, and Super Saturdays: The Complete History of the Massachusetts High School Super Bowl, as well as contributions to many SABR publications. Also known for his exhaustive research of Massachusetts high-school sports history, he is historian of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and is responsible for all records and statistics for the annual state tournament programs. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Sandwich on Cape Cod and are the parents of two grown children, Casey and Lindsey, and two grandchildren, Theo and Grace.

 

SOURCES

Most of the information in this story came from interviews with Chris and Stefan Carey during the summer of 2021.