Retired Blackhawks announcer Pat Foley will call a Cubs game next week

Legendary Blackhawks play-by-play announcer Pat Foley retired from broadcasting that team’s game after the 2021-22 season.

He got introduced to broadcasting thanks to his dad, who was a sponsor of Cubs games on WGN radio, per Jeff Agrest in the Sun-Times:

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.”

And so, per the article, Blackhawks president of business operations Jaime Faulkner worked with Marquee Sports Network general manager Mike McCarthy and Mitch Rosen, operations director at the Score, to get Foley into not only the Cubs’ TV booth, but also the radio booth, for the second game of the team’s doubleheader against the Cardinals next Tuesday, August 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.

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.

This should be fun for Foley, and fun for viewers and listeners, too. Foley has always been a huge Cubs fan, and hopefully that will shine through during that Cubs/Cardinals broadcast next week. Kudos to everyone involved in making this happen.