Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray spent 288 consecutive days in bars in 1972

Old time baseball people had a reputation for enjoying the drink. It's a small part of the lure of the game but an intriguing one.

I once sat in a dugout at Wrigley Field and listened to Charlie Manuel talk about being a young ball player who was charged with keeping an eye on Mickey Mantle as The Mick spent a long night boozing on the town. There may have been some sisters involved, I forgot how that exact story went.

But the enjoyment of a cocktail was never limited to just the players. Broadcasters like Harry Caray and Harry Kalas were known to tie many a drink on over their careers.

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The Chicago Sun-Times unearthed a baseball gem of sorts in the form of a diary kept by the legendary voice of the Chicago Cubs, Harry Caray. But it wasn't an emotional telling of things, it was more of a receipt journal that tracked which bars he visited and who he drank with so he could write much of it off.

The stats are staggering. He once spent 288 consecutive days in drinking establishments, according to Caray's accounting. And a mind-blowingly small numbers of days off. There were also drinking pal names like Wilt Chamberlain and Jack Dempsey. That's a wild lifestyle.

From the Sun-Times:

Toward the end of the diary, on Dec. 24, comes the kicker. After spending at least 354 of the previous 357 days in bars (DePorter counted 61 different tap houses) Caray writes, in a bold hand, “Vacation in Acapulco. Then “Vacation” every day until the year runs out.