For 33 years Skip Caray, more than anyone else, was most closely associated with Braves baseball. Players--even the best of them--came and went, but Skip (along with his sidekick, Pete Van Weiren) was there season after season to entertain all the fans listening to him throughout the southeast and, eventually, throughout the country. In fact, for many of those years Skip was the ONLY entertaining part of a Braves broadcast.
I wonder how much less popular the national broadcasts on TBS would have been had anyone else been calling them. Many times I would see opposing fans on Braves message boards note how "annoying" or "overrated" Caray was, and I don't think he would've had it any other way. He was the announcer for the Atlanta Braves, not the opponent, and if any Braves fan would have traded him for anything, then they're no fan at all. But, despite all the whining from those that didn't know better, TBS still got thousands of complaints when Skip and Pete were removed from national telecasts for a couple months.
Of course, there may have been a few Atlanta fans that Caray offended when he used to do the pre-game call-in show. Practically every week, like clockwork, Caray would get a little testy when he was again asked how Slugging Percentage is calculated, or when the infield fly rule goes into effect. I can remember him actually calling a few of those baseball neophytes "morons" on the air followed by my mom saying "that poor guy..." as I laughed out loud. However, the all-time greatest callers, were the hand full that would ask Skip how he knew where all the fans that caught foul balls lived. There was always a long unbelieving pause before he would stumble through a made-up explanation, with his tongue entrenched firmly in his cheek all the way through.
This season certainly hasn't gone according to the wishes of Braves fans, but no loss is greater than never getting to hear the Voice of the Braves again. As an aspiring broadcaster, and lifelong Braves fan, my dream job was occupied by Skip Caray and I'll always admire the way he went about doing that job, because it was obviously his dream job too.
Note: As Skip would have known off hand, this blog was written by a fan from Sugar Hill, Georgia.
2 comments:
Nice tribute. One of many recent personal losses for the Braves, but certainly much more serious than any injury.
Great post. I always enjoyed listening to him when they were on TBS. He will be greatly missed.
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