Skip Caray: good bye to a friend

Skip Caray passed away last night in his sleep in his Atlanta home. He was 68.

The title of this article is “good bye to a friend”. I’ve never met Skip Caray but I and many others feel that we knew Skip.

We knew his trademark naisily voice, we knew his humour, we knew his likes and dislikes.

For over 30 years no matter where we were we could welcome Skip into our homes on TBS SUPERSTATION “Hello again everybody and welcome to Atlanta Braves baseball on TBS” were the words that would often greet me in my room on my television as a child in Canada.

I knew very young that I wanted to be a broadcaster. I enjoyed not so much watching the Braves not because of the team but because of the way TBS, Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren presented the telecast.

They were Braves broadcasters but they were above all simply broadcasters. Ted Turner once told Caray that he didn’t want his broadcasters to be mouthpieces for the team. He wanted his announcers to act how they felt. Nobody was a testament to that more then Skip Caray.

The Braves broadcasts were first class in part to Caray. I remember him saying “I’m a braves fan and if the braves do something good I’m going to react that way” Caray was perhaps the most unbiased of “fans”.

In the 1980’s during a long losing streak Caray proclaimed “Like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field” That was Skip Carayin a nutshell. He wore his emotions on his sleeve.

Watching the Braves final  TBS  broadcast on September 30^th 2007 I will never forget Skip’s praise and fondness  to the fans around the country, thanking them for their support and saying “We will miss you as much as you miss us”

How ironic the man who made us laugh for over 30 years today makes us shed a tear.

“Give them what they earn” Skip would often say during games.

Well Skip earned our admiration our respect, the privilege of being in our homes and our hearts.

Skip we knew you, but we hardly knew you

Good bye Skip THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES