RIP Skip Caray

I can't count how many middle-of-the-night Braves replay games I watched growing up in the 80s.

Thoughts and prayers to the Caray family ....

 

The AJC's obit, clearly already written. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/08/03/skip_caray_dies.html

 

One of the great calls ... whether you wanted the Braves to win that game or not.

 

Like others have said, a huge part of my lifetime of baseball memories are associated with Skip Caray. I'd been watching and/or listening to Skip call Braves games since I was 9 years old, which was a quarter-century ago.

Favorite all-time Skip moment came during, of all things, the introduction of the pre-game lineups. In those days before fancy graphics and video intros, TBS would often super-impose the lineup over live footage of fans in the stands or the grounds crew working or whatever.

On this particular day, the footage producers chose was of a particularly large-bosomed woman wearing a low-cut top and carrying an armload of food and sodas down the stairs to her seats. She lost her balance for a moment, but managed to hold onto her items and to stay in her clothes.

Skip, without missing a beat, immediately intoned:

"Well, we almost had a baseball first there. Two out before the start of the game."

Classic.

RIP, indeed.

 

Couldn't have said it better, buck.

Wow. Hasn't really hit me yet.

 

It hardly seems worthy, but I'll always remember him for the dry line Steve Rushin attributed to him after Game 3 of the 1991 World Series.

The Braves had just beaten the Twins 5-4 in 12, in an absolute meatgrinder of a game, and Skip signed off with, "Same two teams here tomorrow night."

That's what a baseball announcer should sound like.

RIP.

 

Skip made a broadcast seem like a night at the bar with the best drinking bud possible. RIP, and drink your dad under the table.

 

That's awesome, Zeke. Classic Skip.

 

I thought Skip was at his best during those pre-dynasty years when the Braves were lousy. No matter how god-awful the game was, he kept me watching because of his droll sense of humor. Smart, funny, loved the game but didn't take it too seriously. He was great.

 

RIP Skip Caray.

My best memories of watching those WTCG/WTBS games: One, they used to replay the game at 2 a.m. Central time (my cable company didn't put it on the PBS station until midnight to 6 a.m. -- got to watch Bill Tush's morning news, too, sometimes); two, Caray is on the call at the top of the ninth, home game, runners on first and second, one out. He goes (paraphrasing): "Well folks, we'll get to our movie 'The Searchers' with John Wayne as soon as we get the old 6-4-3 here." Hitter smacks grounder. "6. 4. 3. Braves win." It was uncanny!!! Good times, good memories from (as someone else mentioned earlier) a latchkey kid, too. Thanks Skip.

 

I agree with the above notion that Skip was actually better when the Braves sucked because he could have fun and not worry much about the details. As a kid, I saw a lot of Bob Horner, Gene Garber and Ken Oberkfell with him as company. RIP.

 

I remember the well-founded uproar when they put him on radio-only a few years back. My favorite Caray line was from the 70s. With the Braves getting killed one night, Skip says something like, "If you promise to patronize our sponsors, you have our permission to get up and go walk the dog."

Great, great baseball voice and mind. He'll be missed.