Skip Caray

Skip Caray, one of the Atlanta Braves' broadcasters, son of Harry Caray and father of Chip and Josh Caray (all baseball announcers), died yesterday at the age of 68 while sleeping.

Caray was a Braves announcer from the early Seventies until his last game a week or so ago.

He had the uncanny knack of being able to tell viewers and listeners the home town of every fan that caught a foul ball at a Braves game: "and there's a great catch by a fan from Valdosta, Georgia." There is no evidence that he was ever wrong.

Back when the Braves were really bad, in a game lost in the early innings, he told listeners that they could turn off the radio and go to bed if they promised to patronize the sponsors.

He did the pre-game fan call in show for years, and was openly irritated when asked to explain the infield fly rule (for the 345th time).

When the Brave's catcher, Brian McCann was a rookie a few years back Caray commented after McCann only reached first on a line drive that hit the wall, "he has deceptive speed - he's slower than he looks."

Back when I was traveling a lot and TBS carried all the Braves games, I knew I could count on watching the Braves and listen to Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Joe Simpson and Don Sutton in whatever hotel I was stuck in.

He was one of the last "homer" announcers. "We" won and lost. The umpire robbed "us" on that play. Though, from today's AJC: At one point, "Ted Turner told him he was being too tough. Caray pointed out the team's last-place record. 'Good point,' replied Turner, then the Braves' owner. "Say whatever you want.' And he did."

Over the past four or five years TBS reduced the number of Braves games it carried each year, until it quit entirely, I believe, last year. A couple of years back it reduced the number of games Carey was assigned to, going for a more neutral, "national" broadcast. Thousands of complaints by fans brought him back to a full schedule. I don't suppose a letter campaign will work this time.