Fox tried to add an extra dose of nostalgia to its Field of Dreams Game telecast Thursday night by having a hologram of legendary sportscaster Harry Caray signing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.
Suffice it to say, it wasn’t as well-received as the network had hoped.
MLB fans had been warned Wednesday about the possibility of a hologram of Caray, who died in 1998.
A man hears Fox is testing a reanimated Harry Caray in hologram form for tomorrow’s Field of Dreams game? Someone who has seen the footage says it is “unconvincing” and “possibly offensive”
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 10, 2022
MORE: Live scores, updates, highlights from Reds vs. Cubs “Field of Dreams” game
Here is how the one-minute song looked on television, as the Caray hologram was placed in the press box of the Field of Dreams stadium in Dyersville, Iowa.
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
MLB fans seemed to be united in their displeasure. Reactions from MLB Twitter ranged from creeped out to enraged. Others joked about how poorly-made it was.
Some of the most notable reactions from social media after Hologram Harry’s “performance”:
Yo, that Harry Caray hologram was not it. Who cleared that? #Cubs #FieldofDreams
— Jarrett Payton (@paytonsun) August 12, 2022
Creepy. Please don’t make a hologram out of me when I’m dead.
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) August 12, 2022
Begging Fox to use fake Harry Caray for Big Ten football. Have him do Jump Around. Get some mileage out of it. The SEC would never. pic.twitter.com/ptQI2uYy5O
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 12, 2022
oh my god, that’s awful. https://t.co/f4f7cBA7uz
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) August 12, 2022
I for one thought the Harry Caray hologram was pretty good pic.twitter.com/WLxyOxKTOH
— Franzke & LA (@FranzkeLA) August 12, 2022
Hologram Harry Caray or whatever that was will be the stuff of many, many nightmares.
— Mo Egger (@MoEgger) August 12, 2022
You could tell how confident Fox was in their execution of the Harry hologram by how they showed it for like 3 seconds up close, and at a massive distance for the other 57 seconds.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 12, 2022
I’m not watching the game, so I’m just seeing this. That … doesn’t look at all like Harry Caray. https://t.co/cdrnR7hixS
— Jason Foster (@ByJasonFoster) August 12, 2022
YES, LET US REBUKE GOD WITH HOLOGRAM HARRY CARAY
— Michael Baumann (@MichaelBaumann) August 12, 2022
who was like, let’s make a hologram of the late great Harry Caray to sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame? that was weird
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) August 12, 2022
The only hologram-able Harry Caray. pic.twitter.com/YN03hduqcL
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) August 12, 2022
FOX SHOULD BE IN PRISON FOR DOING HARRY CARRAY LIKE THIS pic.twitter.com/5DfNAZ4QIY
— DOM (@DOM_Frederic) August 12, 2022
Maybe this reaction will be enough to get Fox to think twice before using another hologram. At least the network won’t have to worry about creating one in 2023 — MLB won’t be returning to the Field of Dreams next season.