The game of baseball has a way of helping you remember where you were when certain moments happen.

While I have too many of those moments I could get misty-eyed about in this column, I do remember how some of my strongest baseball moments happened ten years ago today, when the game wasn't even being played.

I was only nine years old at the time and a die-hard Chicago Cubs baseball fan. It was the time of the year that my attention turned southwest to Mesa, Ariz., for spring training to begin for the Cubs.

On Feb. 15, I can remember learning before going to church that Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray had collapsed the night before in Palm Springs, Calif. Harry was dancing with his wife Dutchie when he collapsed.

Harry Caray was not just the television voice of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. He was my babysitter for the first nine seasons of my life, keeping me out of trouble by describing how the Cubs were falling into trouble.

My parents told me that as an infant, I would sit in our sunroom on an automated swing and listen to Caray as the Cubs won the National League eastern division title in 1989.

Harry was one of the top baseball broadcasters of all time. He was a Ford C. Frick Award Winner, placing him in the Broadcasters' Wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

He had announced baseball since 1945, working for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox and, for the final sixteen years of his career, the Chicago Cubs.

Caray had a bombastic style and announced the game as if a fan was sitting behind the mike.

"I know it is the fans that are responsible for me being here," Caray said in his Hall-of-Fame induction speech in 1989. "I've always tried in each and every broadcast to serve the fans to the best of my ability."

Harry had more fun calling a game than anyone in history and made the fans at home have fun as well. He sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch of each home game, and I can still remember hearing him sing this during my first Cubs game back in 1993.

Thanks to the miracles of cable television, fans across the country could watch him describe Cubs baseball on WGN. While this lead to many neo-Cub fans in the 1980s and 1990s, he was still loved by old-timers like our family.

When my parents met Harry at his Chicago restaurant in the 1980s, he was very cordial and took a picture saying, "it is a huge thrill to meet the Hoovers from Kingsport."

But now in the cold East Tennessee winter, our family was worried about the events in California regarding our family's voice.

During the early days of that week the news wasn't encouraging. Caray had suffered cardiac arrest, with severe brain damage.

On Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998, the inevitable happened. Harry died in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

I learned of the news late that night as my mother and I came home from Wednesday night activities at First Baptist Church.

She and I watched WGN News for hours that night. Steve Sanders and Allison Payne on the News at Nine dedicated their entire newscast to the death of Harry Caray.

The two interviewd Arne Harris, longtime director of Cubs broadcasts on WGN. They also captured the scene from Mesa, Ariz., where Cubs' players were already training for the season.

"It's hard to believe he won't be there," said Cubs' first baseman Mark Grace. "It will be different from now on. Very different."

WGN also showed a rebroadcast of the special, "When Harry Met Baseball." WGN did the broadcast in 1994 to celebrate Harry's 50 years in Major League Baseball.

In the special, Bob Costas interviewed Harry at homeplate at Wrigley Field. I taped the broadcast in 1994, and had watched it countless times since then. It was impossible not to cry.

Harry's death was the first significant death of my lifetime. To this point, I still have all of my grandparents and members of extended family alive.

His death felt like a death in the family because for six months a year he was in our living room. He was our friend in times of sorrow, and to not have him there again at Wrigley Field felt impossible.

On Friday of that week, I stayed home from school to watch Harry's funeral in Chicago.

The funeral was held at Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago. WGN broadcast the service, which my mother and I taped.

Many speakers were featured, but by far the best was by Caray's best friend, Pete Vonachen. Vonachen was a minor league baseball owner and drove Harry frequently around Chicago.

Vonachen had a touching tribute with moments of humor about his pal.

"Please father, don't resurrect him, we couldn't go through this again." Vonachen said. "When you were doing that clapping I thought, 'stop, he's going to jump out of there.'"

While the address was funny, it was as touching as humanly possible.

"His love of the game of baseball, and his love of baseball should be an inspiration to all of us. An inspiration to live your life to the fullest, have fun, cherish every moment."

Following the burial, life went on for me and the Chicago Cubs.

Harry's usual "Take me out to the ballgame" was honored by guest conductors for each game, all saying, "root root root for the Cubbies," instead of the usual version. The tradition will be in its tenth year this season.

I learned to appreciate the play-by-play announcing of Chip Caray, Harry's grandson, who took over on WGN television. Those 1998 Cubs were easy to love, with Kerry Wood striking out 20 Houston Astros in May and Sammy Sosa slamming 66 home runs.

The year culminated on September 26 when the Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-3 in a one-game playoff to give the Cubs the National League wild card. It was an amazing year to be a Cubs' fan, and I feel that Harry saw it happen as his spirit will always remain inside Wrigley Field.

Now I have gone ten years without my babysitter calling Cubs games on television. He has been replaced to an extent with Chip and now Len Kasper, but I will never forget the fun I had as a kid, hearing him yell "Holy Cow."

His spirit has inspired me to a career in broadcasting, with the ultimate goal of taking his old job at WGN. While no one can replace him, the best we can do is try and approach the game with the same love he had.

As the steroid controversy looms and the focus has shifted to congressional hearings rather than the start of spring training, I wish Harry Caray were here to get us excited about the future season, just over 40 days away.

One of my favorite quotes from Harry sums this feeling up perfectly.

"I'll tell you what's helped me my entire life. I look at baseball as a game. It's something where people can go out, enjoy, and have fun. Nothing more."