Skip Caray passes away
I was sad today to read that Atlanta Braves announcer Skip Caray had passed away. Growing up, Braves games on TBS were just about the only baseball I got to see. They were on television so much, it even caused one of my three younger brothers to become a Braves fan (he’s the black sheep).
Anyway, Caray was always entertaining, even when the Braves were awful. It cracked me up when he would muse that “tonight would be a good night to paint the seats” because the Braves were drawing so poorly at the gate. My favorite Caray quote is this one, however:
But seven years later, amidst yet another meltdown by the Braves bullpen, he said: “The bases are loaded again, and I wish I was, too.”
RIP.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I believe Skip Caray also coined a term for the meager crowds that “America’s Team” received back in those years. “We’ve got a partial sellout here at Fulton-County tonight.”
My parents both hated the Braves announcers (my dad grew up spoiled by listening to the Reds on Radio from about 1960-1980), but I have to say that I kind of liked the Braves’ guys - including Caray - for their low-key cleverness. (Full disclosure: I liked Steve Stewart for the same reason.) The sorry current state of baseball broadcasting has helped me appreciate them.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
R.I.P Skip. I always loved listening to him and the countless impressions people did of him.
August 4th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Yeah, Skip Caray was great. Put him with a smooth pro like Pete Van Wieren and they were really fun to listen to.
I too watched a lot of Braves baseball growing up on WTBS (and even the Richmond Braves during the strike in 1981… anyone remember WTBS putting those games on?)
I remember the Reds playing at Atlanta in what must’ve been late 1985, shortly after Rose broke Ty Cobb’s hit record.
Van Wieren said, “Pete Rose now has 4197 hits” or whatever it was then.
Skip says, after a pause, “That’s about one for every person in attendance tonight.”
He was a very witty announcer and I enjoyed listening to him. His gallows humor was perfect for a bad team (which the Braves were at that time).
Indeed, rest in peace, Skip.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Yes I agree with everything said.
And is anyone else sad that Braves games are no longer on TV? I am. Growing up, that was all I had, that and the Cubs on WGN, but those games were insufferable for obvious reasons. For my summer evenings growing up, I knew that if nothing else, I could watch a ballgame.