Rarely do I delve into sports here at Virtual Bomaniland. That’s the game that’s sold, not told. Do something for a living, and you don’t really want to talk about it that much when you’re off the clock. This blog, if nothing else, is off the clock.
However, Skip Caray died last night. For non-sports fans, Skip’s been doing the broadcasts for Atlanta Braves games for the last 30 years or so. Given my life as a Braves fanatic, Skip’s voice has been a more constant voice in my life than anyone outside of my family.
When we moved from Atlanta to Houston, I remember being blown away when I found out the Braves games came on TV everywhere. It was comforting news to a six year-old moving to another country (that country would be the Republic of Texas). It’s not like the Braves were good or anything…but they were my team and, to this day, they are the only sports team that truly has a hold of my heart.
So when I think of Skip, I think of childhood. I think of going from riding and slowly dying with the worst baseball team in captivity to spending every October watching my team in the playoffs. I even think of games that he didn’t call, like the series the last weekend in ’91 when the Braves won the West and that Sid Bream slide in ’92 that I didn’t see because I couldn’t bear to stay awake as the Braves were sent home.
I guess that means, to me, Skip is Braves baseball. He laughed to keep from crying when they were getting killed on a nightly basis, and he never got too arrogant when they were the class of the major leagues.
What’s interesting, though — none of the Braves broadcasters from TBS get any love when people talk about the great voices of baseball. Maybe it’s because they aren’t the best. Skip’s nasal tone doesn’t do it for a lot of people, and the broadcast teams seemed to fade into the background of most games.
That, to me, is what made those broadcasts so good. There has never been a less obtrusive set of announcers than Skip, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton and Joe Simpson. They know what they were talking about, but the game always took center stage. Nothing ever felt forced, and never was there a distraction to stop you from being able to enjoy the game. Somehow, they’ve never gotten proper credit for that.
One reason I wish that was different was Caray’s battle with alcohol. Skip’s father, Harry, was an alcoholic…but we remember that fondly. Harry Caray was blasted by the seventh-inning stretch of nearly all the games he called during my lifetime. Calling people by wrong names, slurring words, the whole nine.
And we think of that and laugh.
I don’t think Skip sees it the same way. Skip stared alcoholism in the face and beat it years ago. No one ever talked about it. I wonder, if we would, if we would look back so fondly on the drunken Harry Caray. Clearly, his son doesn’t, which means that maybe we’ve got it all wrong.
Don’t feel as if this post does justice, but I had to do something. As much as I chastise people that act all weepy over what happens to people they’ve never met, Skip Caray dying took a little out of me. But over the years, I’m pretty sure I got more than I’m losing right now.
‘Til the other side, Skip. I’m sure all those grannies that used to send you letters when the Braves were getting blasted 11-3 every night are very, very glad to get the chance to meet you.
9 Comments
by Jason
“That, to me, is what made those broadcasts so good. There has never been a less obtrusive set of announcers than Skip, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton and Joe Simpson. They know what they were talking about, but the game always took center stage. Nothing ever felt forced, and never was there a distraction to stop you from being able to enjoy the game. Somehow, they’ve never gotten proper credit for that.”
I’m a New Yorker (born and raised and actually from the city) and I’ve been fortunate to have done some freelance work to cover the Yankees and some Mets games. Yet, as strange as it is to most, I’ve been a Braves fan since about ’95 when they won the chip. Much of this was because I felt that unlike the Yankees and Mets broadcasters, I got a chance to learn about the game from guys like Caray who were fairly objective. It also felt like he was actually having fun with his job (the horror of it all!) by being professionally loose, I guess you can call it. He knew when to be serious, yet was endearing enough to let viewers and listeners smile a bit. It wasn’t just about watching Atlanta, but they gave their opponents enough respect to not be complete homers. I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it was quite refreshing from the hooting and hollering and BSin’ northeastern cities are infamous for.
Skip Caray should have gotten much more respect as a broadcaster than he did, but I’d imagine that at least within true baseball people and Braves fans that there’s a little bit of sadness.
by Tommie Foster
As a Pittsburgh transplant to NC; the only time I ever got to see the home team was on TBS or WGN (against the Cubs). And I stopped seeing the Pirates on TV at all after 92 when Barry Bonds left for the Giants. I don’t remember much about Skip Caray; which to me is the point. With every pitch, I could count on knowing the exact game situation; which is hard to get nowadays, sadly. A good announcer is gone from the game. I think that’s a decent epitaph for a broadcaster. And I still CAN’T BELIEVE Barry didn’t throw out Sid Bream at the plate. I actually had to convince my dad to let me skip school the next day to prepare for the onslaught of Braves fans giving me shit. To this day, seeing Sid cross the plate with that ridiculous slide makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Every Fucking Time.
by Jay
i’m so bummed today. skip had already scaled back his workload (he was only doing home games on radio the past year), but whenever he was on, i made sure to tune in. bo, you’re right; i don’t understand why skip didn’t get as much love as other broadcasters. i suspect he was difficult to work with and could be a bit surly(if you ever tuned in for the pregame show for the braves and listened to him take calls, he was one prickly sumbitch), but damnit he could call a game.
by LeftCoastVic
This posting is synopsis of where I have been and where I am headed.
Sports fans in LA have been blessed by the sports gods in giving us two legendary sportscasters: Chick Hearn and Vin Scully.
I empathize with you Braves fans. For such a long time, Chick symbolized Laker basketball. It is still very difficult for me to watch a Laker game without hearing Chickie. Now Vin is getting up there in age. I try to catch all the games I can.
Stay up Braves fans!
by Will
After the eloquence of your piece on Eric Gregg a few years ago, I knew I had to check out your thoughts on Skip. They did not disappoint.
I was stunned when I saw that Skip had died. First, I called my best friend, because I didn’t want to read it on the front page of the AJC, then I called another friend. I didn’t really start to tear up, though, until I called my dad to tell him the news. When the years of winning began, I was in 2nd grade. I remember exactly where I was when my dad told me about MLB, and the Braves – things that, to that point, I didn’t know existed – and I fell in love with the team and the announcers. There are only a handful of announcers out there who can really do it right, and Braves fans were blessed to have four, working together for so many years. I love Joe, and Don, and got to spend a few amazing hours talking with Pete at a SABR meeting – but the best was always Skip. With Skip, it always came down to his love of the game. He didn’t necessarily love all of the players, coachers, or, Lord knows, callers to his show – but he loved the game. He didn’t pretend to be anything other than himself – a cranky old curmudgeon with an incredible ability to bring a silly game to life and give it meaning. I’d cringe when someone would call in with a silly question, knowing the exasperation Skip was about to unleash, and I’d laugh at his sly jokes. I never got the sense that he was starstruck, because I always considered him to be one of the stars. The Braves are the “Atlanta Braves National League Baseball Club,” and even though he never wore the uniform, Skip was as much a part of that club as any player.
I spent years as a devoted Braves fan before ever getting to attend a game, but when I took that first step into Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, and saw those players for the first time, it was both enthralling and completely familiar. Skip always made it sound as though I was there at the game, and it was a place at which I wanted to be.
For me, Skip’s death brings us one step closer to the end of an era that was marked by just a few constants – Bobby, Skip, Joe, (sadly, no more Don), and Smoltz. Pete is the only one I’ve been lucky enough to meet, and yet all of those guys have played a huge part in the joys of the last 18 years of my life. I hope for many blessings on Skip’s family, and I wish that I could thank him for the smiles he brought me – even if he would grumble in response.
by Tom W.
Bo,
Your words about Skip are the most eloquent I’ve read. No matter how bad the day or the week was going, you always knew there would be some good hours to look forward to when Skip and Pete or Skip and Joe would be on the radio. They were smart and funny but as you said, they still let the game stay center stage. I think of so many long drives on summer nights when we searched the AM radio dial to find that voice. It will be a bit more lonely now….
by Jeff Hamlin
This was really good, Bomani. Nice touch.
I didn’t have cable growing up at the other end of Orange County, so when my family went to the beach every summer, watching the Braves on TBS was a bonus. Yes, even during the 80’s when they were horrid. I still remember Dale Murphy going to bat with thousands of empty blue seats in the background.
Regardless of the record, the Braves were baseball’s version of the Washington Redskins across North Carolina in that they weren’t simply a city franchise, they were a regional franchise. And it wasn’t solely because of television. At their peak in the 1990s, the Braves were broadcast on no less than two Triangle radio stations (WTIK and WCHL).
And Skip Caray was the voice of it all.
That’s why this is such a loss for those of us who grew up with the Braves, even if we weren’t necessarily fans.
Again, well done.
by Brandon Staton
Well, I for one can’t stand the Braves. I’m a Mets fan and have been since birth. But more than that I am a baseball fan, and that allows me to respect the game and those who keep it respectable. Back when they still played Mets games on TV when I was a kid, I had Tim McCarver – the polar opposite of Skip Caray, in my opinion. McCarver never stops talking, force-feeding information that’s irrelevant to the average fan and common knowledge to the purist. That is why, despite my distaste for Atlanta, I felt a sting when I heard the news as well. The fact that I didn’t like the Braves made Skip that much more influential to me. As a student of journalism, I was taught that you’re supposed to “report the news, not make it.” That’s what Skip did best. And to say that a voice as unique and settling as his isn’t to be revered is a discredit to the man and to the game.
R.I.P., Skip.
by Scott
I was so sad when I heard that Skip died. Usually I feel for someone’s family when they died but I didn’t know them, not this time. I felt like I knew Skip. I have been hearing him call Braves games for 20 years. I even remember him calling Hawks games when they were on TBS. Skip and Pete were the Braves and really Atlanta sports, especially for kids that grew up in the 80s and 90s.