Skip

Atlanta lost a legend yesterday afternoon.  Our beloved Braves announcer, Skip Caray, passed away in his sleep.

Skip was the son of the famous Cubs announcer, Harry Caray.  He wasn’t quite the household name that Harry was, but he was well known to anyone who ever watched or listened to the Braves play baseball. 

Skip was with us in the 80s when about the only person we could really field worth remembering was Dale Murphy.  He saw us through to 1991 when the Braves had their epic worst to first season resulting in a trip to the World Series.  He screamed in anger with us at Kent Herbeck’s underhandedness (if you are a Twins fan and know what I’m talking about and disagree, we will fight) and he wept with us at game 7 when Lonnie Smith stopped in the baseline to watch where the ball went, costing us the championship. 

Skip made the most famous call in Atlanta Braves history (yes, more famous than when Hank hit #755) when Sid Bream made that slide into home plate during the 1992 playoffs against the Pirates.  Sid outran a ball thrown by Barry Bonds to score the winning run and take us to the World Series again.  “BRAVES WIN!  BRAVES WIN!  BRAVES WIN!” was what every man, woman, and child (staying up way past their bedtimes even in the stricktest of homes) heard coming through the speakers of their TVs tuned into TBS.  Though we blew the series again in ‘92, Skip stuck around and was finally rewarded when he got to announce the Braves’ victory in the 1995 World Series. 

Recently, Skip experienced some health problems that kept him from travelling with the Braves, and he could only announce home games.  Despite their recent performace, Skip was still faithful to Atlanta right until the very end. 

Skip, we’ll miss you buddy.  Your voice will echo in the head of every Atlantan for a long, long time.