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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2009 > January > 12
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tough job replacing Skip and Pete
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So you think the Braves replacing John Smoltz will be tough? Well, try finding the successors by spring training for Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren, both nationally known broadcasting gods and both as associated with the franchise as Aaron, Spahn and tomahawks.
That’s bases-loaded pressure until the new Skip and Pete are hired. In other words, the Braves can’t afford to blow this.
“No doubt,” said Derek Schiller, the Braves executive vice president for sales and marketing. He also is the point man for this decision. “For any team, broadcasters represent the primary way in which fans learn and follow your team. They are an extremely important mechanism in everything that the team does on the field and in the community. They become powerful messengers of the brand.”
Not only that, Schiller knows true baseball fans huddle more with the radio and television guys of their favorite team than with family members and friends. He knows his choice of the new Skip and Pete will affect choppers and chanters for maybe a couple of generations.
He also knows a wrong decision can get somebody fired. That is, if you don’t get it, but Schiller gets it. He said he hopes to have the new Skip and Pete by the end of the month. He confirmed that Milwaukee Brewers announcer Jim Powell is among the finalists for one of the spots.
“This is an unusual situation in that we are searching for two broadcasters at the same time, and I think in a lot of cases, you’re looking for one, where you’ve had one person retire or one person move on to another job,” said Schiller, who was forced into this situation. First, Caray died in August after 33 years with the Braves. Soon afterward, his broadcast partner for that stretch, Van Wieren, retired.
You had the humor and sarcasm of Caray to complement the professional and analytical ways of Van Wieren. You had them during those horrific days for Braves from the mid-1970s through much of the 1980s. You also had them during those unprecedented days of the 1990s through the early part of this century when the Braves won 14 straight division titles. So, if you’re a Braves fan, you’ll always have Skip and Pete in your heart. Thus the major problem for Braves officials: They won’t find another Skip and Pete.
“Having gone through a lot of different tapes and videos of broadcasters out there, one of things I’ve noticed is the difference of style,” said Schiller, stressing that he won’t hire a screamer. “What we believe is important, and what we believe has been the essence of Skip and Pete through the years, is that they’re very conversational. You almost feel like you’re sitting in on two people next to one another on your couch and talking Braves baseball.
“My hope is that anything that we do with our broadcasters going forward (that same Skip and Pete feeling is) what we’re trying to represent. It should be very easygoing, comfortable and, certainly, a bit entertaining, but at the end of the day, it should be informative about what’s going on with the game.”
Just a personal note: I was a Big Red Machine fan, and I fumed with others after Cincinnati Reds officials fired the great Jim McIntyre as their radio voice after the 1970 season. They hired a 26-year-old nobody without major league experience. I couldn’t stand him at the start, but I couldn’t get enough of him by midseason.
His name was Al Michaels.
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