For decades, Harry Caray served as a legendary voice in the baseball world, calling games for multiple teams and finishing his historic career with a 16-year tenure showcasing the Chicago Cubs. Caray’s one-of-a-kind style is memorable for any who came into contact with his stylings, and his son (Skip) and grandson (Chip) also became mainstays calling Atlanta Braves games to fans across the Southeast and the country. On Thursday, the folks behind MLB’s Field of Dreams game decided to highlight Caray’s work to a modern audience but, rather than playing previous film of Caray putting together a famous rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, another idea came to the forefront.
In short, the FOX broadcast captured a hologram of Caray, who passed away in 1998, leading the song.
An all-time “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” only possible through the magic of Field of Dreams pic.twitter.com/IC8yHrFZQT
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 12, 2022
Reactions could generously be described as mixed to this particular idea. For obvious reasons, the execution wasn’t exactly seamless, and it was a bit odd and rigid in an overall sense. There were some people who enjoyed it (and the in-person crowd seemed to be into it), while plenty of others had jokes and general objections to the entire concept.
Yo, that Harry Caray hologram was not it. Who cleared that? #Cubs #FieldofDreams
— Jarrett Payton (@paytonsun) August 12, 2022
IDK man i thought the harry carey hologram looked fine pic.twitter.com/dH5wsgkwRo
— rob harvilla (@harvilla) August 12, 2022
I was out on the Harry Caray hologram before I saw it but now it’s my favorite thing that’s happened this season.
It is so hard to thread the needle of being harmless, funny, and metaphysically depraved all at the same time, and they pulled it off.— Michael Baumann (@MichaelBaumann) August 12, 2022
It’s been five minutes and I still don’t know what to make of Hologram Harry
— Mia O’Brien (@MiaOBrienTV) August 12, 2022
That Harry Caray hologram pic.twitter.com/R5xM6whXn2
— Corey Freedman (@corey_cubs) August 12, 2022
Hologram Harry Caray or whatever that was will be the stuff of many, many nightmares.
— Mo Egger (@MoEgger) August 12, 2022
I love Harry Caray & him singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame, but having his hologram sing it tonight at Field of Dreams game is weirding me out a little. pic.twitter.com/9KOodFx9Wz
— Wes Hohenstein (@WeatherWes) August 12, 2022
No. Absolutely not. Get the hell out of here with your AI hologram ghost Harry Caray. pic.twitter.com/eszYcDa5vo
— Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) August 12, 2022
Oh my god the Harry Caray hologram is so much worse than I expected.
— Kate Feldman (@kateefeldman) August 12, 2022
It’s like we were thrown in a nostalgia blender set on nightmare mode. https://t.co/z9jQlV52Cw
— Dave DuFour (@DaveDuFourNBA) August 12, 2022
https://t.co/xjBJ8dJvgM pic.twitter.com/yxpelQQL2U
— Trill Withers (@TylerIAm) August 12, 2022
All told, the Field of Dreams game certainly will receive some extra attention for this decision, and perhaps that was part of the calculus. Still, it is interesting to consider what the motivation might’ve been behind the development of this technology and whether it was necessary.