RIP Skip Caray

[sonorandesert]

http://www.sbrforum.com/Headlines/MLB/66809.aspx

While not familiar with his style of announcing, I am familiar with his late dad's style.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

RIP Skip.
You will be missed.

[Pro]

While Harry was bombastic, Skip was more subdued and sarcastic.

Once I remember when a very weak hitting pitcher was coming to bat, Skip said "Parents, if any children are watching, please remove them from the room - this isn't going to be pretty."

[Bandit]

He was the son of a legend who did it his own way, and Braves fans everywhere feel his loss.

It's been a terrible year for the Braves and their fans.

RIP Skip.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

Once I remember when a very weak hitting pitcher was coming to bat, Skip said "Parents, if any children are watching, please remove them from the room - this isn't going to be pretty."

That's precious. I'll start erecting the monument.

:rolleyes:

[Clever Login Name]

I have a feeling you'd have a problem getting anything erect.

[Diplomat]

Skip was a very talented guy who kept it real and kept interesting.

RIP.

[Kace]

He went before his 7th Inning Stretch.

Always liked Skip.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

I have a feeling you'd have a problem getting anything erect.


Only if you're around.

[Another OMB]

As a Braves fan since they first moved to Atlanta, and a Skip Caray fan since he started with them, it's truly a sad day.

I was friends with Chip when we worked together at our first jobs in TV. He's a great guy, and a fellow UGA grad, which is one of the reasons we became good friends. It was always amazing to me that, even though three generations were in the same business, each had his own style. And Chip could (and I'm sure still can) do great imitations of his dad and granddad, which was funny to hear. But hearing him, it made it that much more obvious how different they were.

I'm praying for peace and comfort for Chip and all of Skip's family, friends and listeners.

[commercial hack]

Rich Eisen on ESPN used to do a great impersonation of him during highlights.

RIP Skip.

[Clever Login Name]

Only if you're around.

Why? I'm quite handy with tools and I'm sure, with my help, you could erect a fine edifice or monument.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

I'm quite handy with tools...

I'll bet you are. Talk to TVMatt.

[Lazlo Toth]

He went before his 7th Inning Stretch.

Always liked Skip.

Sounds like no one will be taking him out to the ballgame anymore.

[Kace]

http://dontcostnothing.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/david-caruso.jpg

EEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!

[Mr. Rugen]

It's been a terrible year for the Braves and their fans.


Sorry you guys had to deal with that slug, Mark Texeira. He's got to be the worst clubhouse guy in the history of professional sports.

[wxgeek]

Am I the only one who misread the headline at first and thought it was Chip who died?

[Bandit]

Sorry you guys had to deal with that slug, Mark Texeira. He's got to be the worst clubhouse guy in the history of professional sports. Glad we pulled the trigger on that trade with the Angels. I had nightmares thinking about Tex getting a 10 year deal with the Braves.

Here's Skip's call during game 7 of the 1992 NLCS against the Pirates. Bases loaded, two out, Braves trailing by a run. Classic ...

http://media.myfoxatlanta.com/SkipCaray/1992_The_Slide_NLCS.mp3

[adam & doctor drew]

one of the greats.
very underrated.

[JoinUsForCake]

one of the greats.
very underrated.
Absolutely. A true talent.

[22]

Skip was a friend. Not a good friend, but close enough I will be going to the service that is being planned. There will be a private service for the family and then a public memorial. They are waiting for the Braves to get back in town for the public memorial. I talked to Chip this morning. I am waiting to hear from friends to see if we will all go together.

A couple of things... Skip went to Mizzou. His room mate was an Anchor named Don Farmer. He worked for CNN and ABC. Pretty good when two roomates both find that kind of success and fame.

You have no idea how funny this guy really was. He used to give me absolute HELL! Sometimes on the air. It was always about my age or about how I really didn't deserve my wife.

Always jokes... everyday. Corny, filthy, clever,....

One of my favorites... When he was being inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame he opened with this. " As Ellen Degenrous said to Kathy Lee Gifford, 'Let me be Frank'."

I talked to him last Wednesday. I really thought he was getting stronger. But the damage had been done. The medicine for his diabeties hurt his liver... his liver was shot. The medicine for his liver hurt his heart.

He called in sick on Friday. Contrary to the public reports, he did not die in his sleep. Paula thought he was taking a nap, but he was out in the backyard feeding the birds and he collapsed.

I will miss my friend.

[Another OMB]

Skip was a friend. Not a good friend, but close enough I will be going to the service that is being planned. There will be a private service for the family and then a public memorial. They are waiting for the Braves to get back in town for the public memorial. I talked to Chip this morning. I am waiting to hear from friends to see if we will all go together.

A couple of things... Skip went to Mizzou. His room mate was an Anchor named Don Farmer. He worked for CNN and ABC. Pretty good when two roomates both find that kind of success and fame.

You have no idea how funny this guy really was. He used to give me absolute HELL! Sometimes on the air. It was always about my age or about how I really didn't deserve my wife.

Always jokes... everyday. Corny, filthy, clever,....

One of my favorites... When he was being inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame he opened with this. " As Ellen Degenrous said to Kathy Lee Gifford, 'Let me be Frank'."

I talked to him last Wednesday. I really thought he was getting stronger. But the damage had been done. The medicine for his diabeties hurt his liver... his liver was shot. The medicine for his liver hurt his heart.

He called in sick on Friday. Contrary to the public reports, he did not die in his sleep. Paula thought he was taking a nap, but he was out in the backyard feeding the birds and he collapsed.

I will miss my friend.

Check your PMs, 22.

[Lazlo Toth]

I remember when 69 years old used to sound old.

[22]

A friend of mine at the Marietta Daily Journal requested that I write an article about Skip. For those of you who haven't seen it yet and who might be interested...here it is.



I worked with Skip Caray during what only he and I might refer to as the “good old days” of Atlanta Braves baseball. These were the immanently forgettable eighties. A moment in time when our Atlanta Braves were losing a hundred games a year, or darned close to it. Before the tomahawk chop…before the pennants…before Sid Bream (“Braves win…Braves win…Braves win! BRAVES WIN!)…and well before Tommy Glavine’s masterful Game Six. I thought they were the good days (and better nights) simply because I was having so much fun. And Skip may have looked back on them fondly because he was absolutely and beyond any question the best bad game announcer in the history of sports. There is no reason on God’s green earth why anyone should stay up late to watch the agonizing closing innings of a ballgame where your team is on the short end of a nine-run deficit. Unless Skip Caray was in the booth and you never knew what he might say next. When he would say, “If you promise to patronize our sponsors, you have my permission to walk the dog,” few people ever did. Often the suspense wasn’t on the field – it was behind the mic. The man could hold an audience like John Smoltz can hold a lead.

I was there the night he took a deep breath, heaved a sigh heard round the world, and told America, “Folks, we are 21 games out of fifth.”

Yes, even then, we were “we.” Even when the players referred to themselves as “the bad news Braves,” Skip suffered right along with all of us. We went through those times together and, like foxhole buddies, he and I have remained good friends ever since.

It was not due to prowess on the field that the Braves of the eighties became “America’s Team.” It was because of Skip and Pete and Ernie. With the advent of the SuperStation, the Braves had fans in Cincinnati and San Francisco, and even a handful in Chicago and New York. Fans from Lake Charles used to drive to Houston to cheer on the hapless Bravos.

0A
So it wasn’t a small number of people listening the night Skip had difficulty pronouncing Mike Schmidt’s name. Being the consummate professional, Skippy proceeded right along, desperately hoping that no one would notice. Problem was, Ernie Johnson did notice, and started to giggle. And kept on giggling. And couldn’t stop giggling. And about four pitches later…“Mike WHO?” The two got back to calling the game about a half an inning later. Then there were the endless puns about Cubs pitcher Dennis Trout. “What if Trout pitched against (Kevin) Bass? I suppose he would just whale away at it.” Or my personal favorite, “Ernie, does Dennis Trout remind you of Warren Spawn?” (sic) Nuns were “Cardinal fans” and pretty girls were “first round draft picks.”

Frankly, I don’t remember Atlanta Braves Baseball pre-Skip Caray. Of course I remember Henry Aaron and 715. But they never really became even Atlanta’s Team before Skip and Pete and Ernie. Those three made us watch and listen. Those three sat on the sofa with us, or rode in the car with us and made us laugh and made us care. Even during “the good ol’ bad ol’ days.”

Ernie was everybody’s favorite uncle. Pete was the infallible and impeccable play-by-play guy (former producer Joel Westbrook says Pete could call a dog fight), and Skip was…ah…well…Skip. Not his father’s son and not another Mel Allen sound-alike, but a genuine original. Sometimes hysterically funny, sometimes unbearably crabby, and often impossible to work with -- but never boring. Even while calling the 14th inning of a scoreless tie between two cellar-dwelling teams, we all wanted to hear what Skippy had to say.

On his very first night in the booth, Skip tossed to Ernie with the words, “And now the voice of the Atlanta Braves – Ernie Johnson.” Ernie corrected him on that night. The old southpaw knew the meaning of teamwork better than perhaps anyone I’ve ever met and refused to accept the title. Instead the old veteran accepted the young rookie as an equal partner. And yet, 33 years later, it’s very hard not to pass that mantle onto Skip and make easy metaphors about the voice being silenced. But for those of us who had a love/hate relationship with the man (and there was no other kind of relationship to have with him) his was a voice that will continue to whisper to us until we follow him. But it won’t say “Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!” It will say, “Family and friends first. All else is a nuisance.”

When Skip was a boy, and his legendary father Harry was calling the St. Louis Cardinals games – every night at ten o’clock central time, much to Skip’s embarrassment, whether on radio or TV, Harry would say, “Good night Skippy.”

Now it is time for all of us who call him “friend” to say it together, one last time, just like Harry did sixty years ago.

“Good night Skippy. Sleep well my friend.”

[Bandit]

Nice, 22. I enjoyed this very much. Skip was in many ways my entry point into baseball. I got hooked on listening to Skip, Pete, Ernie and Darrell Chaney on WSB in the 1980 season - when the Braves were making an improbable (and ultimately failed) run toward the NL West pennant.

Skip is best known for his work on TBS, but he was a damn fine radio announcer.

[Another OMB]

Very well written, 22. I enjoyed it immensely.

The Braves games are not going to be the same without him.