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Sunday, August 3, 2008
8/3: Legendary Braves announcer Skip Caray, 1939-2008
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves announcer Skip Caray’s passing today hit the local broadcasting scene hard. He was respected and in many cases, revered by his brethren. Here are some comments I got Sunday night:
John Kincade, who hosts the afternoon 680/The Fan Buck & Kincade sports talk show, said he appreciated how real Skip Caray was. “The man never sugarcoated anything,” Kincade said. “If the Braves were playing terribly, he told you. Many people who work for teams or have covered them for a long time don’t have the guts and integrity to do that.”
Kincade was also bemused when Caray would make fun of whatever movie was coming up next on TBS after the game. “He’d say, ‘If you have already organized your sock drawer and have nothing better to do, watch this movie.’ ”
He also enjoyed when Caray would pinpoint a fan in the stands who caught a foul ball and say, “That was caught by a fan from Dahlonega,” even though he naturally had no clue where the fan was from. And during weekday afternoon games, he’d spy an older gent with a fetching young woman and facetiously say, “Isn’t it wonderful so many fathers have brought out their daughters today.”
Mike Bell, an afternoon host at sports station 790/The Zone, has done a funny imitation of Skip Caray for years and he’d even do it in front of Caray. “The last time I did it for him two weeks ago, he said, ‘Chip does a better impression of me.’ He always took it well,” he said.
Back in 2002, when Bell would co-host a pre-game Braves show, he recalled Caray coming up to him and noting, “Everytime I watch you, I don’t feel like I learn anything!” “He had such a wry sense of humor,” Bell said. “Getting your balls busted by Skip Caray is like a badge of honor.”
Chris Dimino, a morning co-host at sports station 790/The Zone who last saw Caray at Turner Field this past Wednesday, said when he was a young sportscaster trying to break in by doing the prize wheel before Braves games, Caray would be nice enough to ask him his thoughts on the game. “I was a nobody and he treated me like a somebody,” Dimino said.
He said he’s a bit shocked about the passing because he said Caray was sounding better on the air now than he was earlier this year.
He loved how Caray would get impatient with listeners during pre-game Q&A who would ask the same questions, especially one he’d have to explain again and again to the point it became a running joke: “Can you explain the infield fly rule?”
Dimino noted that Caray told the station just two weeks ago that he had changed his will to give a huge chunk of his money to Camp Twin Lakes, which provides programs for seriously ill children.
I’ll add some more comments from the morning sports talk shows tomorrow…
