Skip Carey has died.....age 68

[BERIGAN]

Anyone who has followed the braves for decades, knows that broadcasts will never be the same.....Only because of him, did I watch last place teams year after year....Rest in Peace, Skip.....

Skip Caray, "Voice of the Braves," has died

Last Edited: Sunday, 03 Aug 2008, 9:25 PM EDT

Created: Sunday, 03 Aug 2008, 9:02 PM EDT

Sources close to the family said Skip Caray has died. He was 68-years-old. SideBar

ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) -- Sources close to the family said 68-year-old Skip Caray, the Voice of the Braves, died Sunday evening.

According to Wikipedia, Harry Christopher "Skip" Caray, Jr. (born August 12, 1939 at St. Louis, Missouri) is a U.S. TV and radio broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves of the National League. He is the son of the late baseball announcer Harry Caray. Caray is the father of fellow Atlanta Braves broadcaster Chip Caray; another son, Josh Caray is an announcer for the Rome Braves.

In 1976, he was added to the broadcast team for the Braves, a position he has held since. The Atlanta Braves Radio Network currently flagship on WGST (AM) and WUBL-FM in Atlanta.[1] In September 2007, Caray was not asked to announce LDS games on TBS and was relegated to local network Peachtree TV.[2]

Skip Caray was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame in 2003 alongside long time Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren.[3] He has been recognized with six Georgia Sportscaster-of-the Year awards from the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, as well as a Georgia-area Emmy award.[4]

On December 18, 2006, the Braves organization announced that Caray (and partner Van Wieren) have signed three year contracts to continue doing Braves game broadcasts on their radio network. However, Caray only announced ten games on TBS in the 2007 season before being relegated to Peachtree TV.

Skip Caray's health was declining but he still hoped to call all the Braves home games.

[Big Al]

Aw, man, I'm in shock! It's only been 10 years since Harry's death!

While we were in Chicago this past week, I picked up the book Harry Caray: Voice of the Fans which comes with an audio CD. On that CD is a clip of the game where Harry, Skip, and Chip introduced themselves before the start of a Braves-Cubs game.

Watching those Braves-Cubs games was fun because whenever one team would get a home run, you'd hear one Caray going bananas and the other Caray saying how the wind was in the batter's favor or something like that!

Geez, this hurts. RIP Skip, and say "Holy Cow" to your old man up there.

[Quincy]

Sorry to hear you lost your guy. It's not easy when you lose the "voice" you've spent so many years with. Cubs games have never been the same since his father died. Hard to believe that Harry lived a longer life than Skip.

Edited August 4, 2008 by Quincy

[GA Russell]

RIP. He was a good five years older than I thought.

If he is spending any time in Purgatory, everyone is taking turns asking him to explain the infield fly rule!

[BERIGAN]

RIP. He was a good five years older than I thought.

If he is spending any time in Purgatory, everyone is taking turns asking him to explain the infield fly rule!

For those that don't know, he hosted a pre game call in show on radio for years, and the dumb questions like that, day after day....and you could tell by the tone of his voice he hated them!

He didn't have the best voice for broadcasting, but a real pro, who more often than not, told it like it was....and before other teams jumped ahead of them in popularity, being on TBS in their hayday meant millions of folks coast to coast were Braves fans in large part because of Skip(And Pete Van Wieren)

GA, he has looked terrible since last year....he's diabetic, said he had kidney problems, congestive heart failure(Anyone reading this, if you are diabetic, lose weight, NOW) yet it was still a huge shock....I heard him Thursday(didn't know that was his last game) and he sounded better than he has in the past few months.

I'm sure there will be better tributes, bios tomorrow, but someone posted this on a braves blog....better to hear than to read...

“A chopper to Chipper…”

“There’s a drive…”

“And a fan from Aiken, South Carolina comes away with a souvenir.”

“A little insurance wouldn’t hurt right here.”

“Lined… caught!”

“It’s a partial sellout,” trying not to say the game had only drawn 6,000 fans.

“Time flies, Bulova soars.” Or, one game this season he said, “Time soars, Bulova flies.”

“And once again the bases are loaded. I bet (opposing manager’s name) wishes he was.”

Edited August 4, 2008 by BERIGAN

[Jazzmoose]

I'm really surprised to hear this. I can't say he was a favorite of mine as a game caller in spite of my decades as a Braves fan, but he certainly wasn't bad. Sure thought he'd be around longer!

[DTMX]

That was a big surprise to me. I figured the next Atlanta/Georgia sportscaster to go would be Larry Munson. Skip and Pete were the only reasons I watched the games most of the time; if they weren't announcing, I'd find something else to do.

[tkeith]

Berigan, maybe you can help me out with something on Skip. What was the bad blood between he and Don Sutton? I was watching a broadcast years ago (pre-marriage, so at least 10) and there was a pitcher who had played with Sutton on the mound (opposing team) who had been accused of throwing a spitter. The exchange went like this:

Skip: You played with him, didn't you?

Don: I did, I know where you're going and I don't like it, so just say it.

Skip: No, I was just wondering... did you maybe show him some tricks--

Don: No! And I don't appreciate what you're suggesting.

[a few minutes later]

Skip: Are we still friends?

Don: We're not friends, we just work together.

I've never heard such a contentious exchange in the booth -- not even during Orsillo's first year.

My favorite two Skip-isms

On 3-Comm park:

"Who were the three Com's, anyway; Trotsky, Lenin, and Kruschev?"

And just giggling, mute-the-mic laughter from both he and Don when the new park opened. One of the first games, the camera shifted to the bullpen to show Mike Bielecki getting ready to get loose... only he wasn't there yet -- he was pissing in the corner of the bullpen.

As for the other bloke -- I didn't like Simpson as a player, but compared to what he brings as an announcer, he was Stan Freakin' Musial as a player!

Edited August 4, 2008 by Thom Keith

[Jazzmoose]

Berigan, maybe you can help me out with something on Skip. What was the bad blood between he and Don Sutton? I was watching a broadcast years ago (pre-marriage, so at least 10) and there was a pitcher who had played with Sutton on the mound (opposing team) who had been accused of throwing a spitter. The exchange went like this:

Skip: You played with him, didn't you?

Don: I did, I know where you're going and I don't like it, so just say it.

Skip: No, I was just wondering... did you maybe show him some tricks--

Don: No! And I don't appreciate what you're suggesting.

[a few minutes later]

Skip: Are we still friends?

Don: We're not friends, we just work together.

I've never heard such a contentious exchange in the booth -- not even during Orsillo's first year.

I remember that game. As Skip was as much as calling Sutton a spitballer, I think Sutton's reaction was perfectly understandable. Whether it was true or not...

[DTMX]

I remember one television broadcast when Pete Van Wieren was waxing poetically and said something like "the bat swings, but fails to intercept the little white spear-oid".

There's about 30 seconds of silence and then Skip Carey says "Spear-oid?".

[GregK]

Berigan, maybe you can help me out with something on Skip. What was the bad blood between he and Don Sutton? I was watching a broadcast years ago (pre-marriage, so at least 10) and there was a pitcher who had played with Sutton on the mound (opposing team) who had been accused of throwing a spitter. The exchange went like this:

Skip: You played with him, didn't you?

Don: I did, I know where you're going and I don't like it, so just say it.

Skip: No, I was just wondering... did you maybe show him some tricks--

Don: No! And I don't appreciate what you're suggesting.

[a few minutes later]

Skip: Are we still friends?

Don: We're not friends, we just work together.

I've never heard such a contentious exchange in the booth -- not even during Orsillo's first year.

My favorite two Skip-isms

On 3-Comm park:

"Who were the three Com's, anyway; Trotsky, Lenin, and Kruschev?"

And just giggling, mute-the-mic laughter from both he and Don when the new park opened. One of the first games, the camera shifted to the bullpen to show Mike Bielecki getting ready to get loose... only he wasn't there yet -- he was pissing in the corner of the bullpen.

As for the other bloke -- I didn't like Simpson as a player, but compared to what he brings as an announcer, he was Stan Freakin' Musial as a player!

Man, I watched Braves games for years (right up until stupid TBS dumped them this year for even MORE national broadcasts of the Red Sox) and I never heard anything like any of this! I had no idea Sutton didn't like Skip. Anyway, what a great loss. This has been one bad year for the Braves

[BERIGAN]

Berigan, maybe you can help me out with something on Skip. What was the bad blood between he and Don Sutton? I was watching a broadcast years ago (pre-marriage, so at least 10) and there was a pitcher who had played with Sutton on the mound (opposing team) who had been accused of throwing a spitter. The exchange went like this:

Skip: You played with him, didn't you?

Don: I did, I know where you're going and I don't like it, so just say it.

Skip: No, I was just wondering... did you maybe show him some tricks--

Don: No! And I don't appreciate what you're suggesting.

[a few minutes later]

Skip: Are we still friends?

Don: We're not friends, we just work together.

I've never heard such a contentious exchange in the booth -- not even during Orsillo's first year.

My favorite two Skip-isms

On 3-Comm park:

"Who were the three Com's, anyway; Trotsky, Lenin, and Kruschev?"

And just giggling, mute-the-mic laughter from both he and Don when the new park opened. One of the first games, the camera shifted to the bullpen to show Mike Bielecki getting ready to get loose... only he wasn't there yet -- he was pissing in the corner of the bullpen.

As for the other bloke -- I didn't like Simpson as a player, but compared to what he brings as an announcer, he was Stan Freakin' Musial as a player!

Thom, sorry....my new ISP, AT&T is having all sorts of problems of late. No connection since about 3 am. New, upstart company,you have to expect it

I thought he and Don they were a great pair, I never heard that exchange before! Better than Skip and Joe Simpson for sure. They always seemed like oil and water, yet they still team(teamed) up from time to time.

And thanks for the Skip-isms!

Oh, like I said, never was a fan of Joe and Skip together, but Joe with "Boog" Jon Sciambi who do regional broadcast, are surprisingly good. He bashes "Frenchy" when he swings at a pitch a foot outside, which takes some guts, but also praises him when he seems to be making progress in his swing, and approach. .

[Chuck Nessa]

I'd rather skip Chip.

[tkeith]

I'd rather skip Chip.

You mean Fred Savage and George Stephanopoulos' love child?

[Jazzmoose]

Holy shit... a would not do that justice!

[Neal Pomea]

I am enjoying Don Sutton calling games for the Washington Nationals. Didn't know this background story of conflict with the Braves announcer.

[tkeith]

I wondered where Sutton ended up. I always enjoyed him on the Braves broadcasts.