Just heard about Skip Caray passing away today. Very sad. I have a lot of fond memories following the Braves and listening to his calls, especially the '92 NLCS.
He made a lot of years of bad Braves baseball back in the 80s fun. I always thought it was funny when the Braves would be getting the **** kicked out of them, he'd usually say that if we promised to patronize their sponsors we had his permission to turn the game off. Like many others, Skip was the ultimate baseball broadcaster to me. When my time comes I want it to be just like his was. Go to sleep for a nap and just never wake up.
I remember his sarcasm when the Braves were so bad. And during one of those terrible years, the Braves were losing badly in around the eighth inning and he and Pete had nothing to talk about. The camera panned the crowd onto two good looking women with their dates. There was a pause and Pete says, "What do they have that we don't have?" Then there was another long pause and Skip said, "Thirty-inch waists?"
even liked listening to Skip when the Braves were in losing slumps and there wasn't much to cheer about.
Skip was a master of the underhanded, snarky comment; he was absolutely brilliant in the way he presented the game. The Braves would be getting routed and he still made it fun to watch and listen to the game. He was a true entertainer and had a wit that is hard to come by these days in sports commentary. Or even life in general.
One of my favorite Skip lines was when he said "Beautiful day for baseball here at Fulton County and it looks like we have about 30,000 Braves fans here disguised as empty seats."
As much as I despise the Braves, those two working a telecast together were tremendous, and they both made watching a baseball game on TV enjoyable. I don't think there will ever be a better combination than those two, or a combination better than Harry Caray and Steve Stone on the Cubs telecasts.
Skip was great! I will miss listening to him.
Too bad Chip Caray and his 10 million ridiculous cliches will never hold a candle to his father or grandfather.