San Francisco — A few hours after hearing Skip Caray had died, some of the Braves broadcaster's friends gathered late Sunday at Lefty O'Doul's, a venerable watering hole across the street from the team hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Broadcasters Pete Van Wieren and Joe Simpson, radio producer Jake Cook and others were coming to grips with the unexpected news, which they got during the team's long flight from Atlanta. Van Wieren and Caray spent some time in O'Doul's during their 33-year Braves broadcast partnership.

"Will [Ohman, Braves reliever] came over to the bar and said, 'What was Skip's favorite drink in his drinking days?' " Van Wieren said. "I said, 'Double Dewar's on the rocks.' And Will ordered a shot of Dewar's for everybody."

Van Wieren said, "That was our tribute, if you want to call it that."

When someone mentioned Caray probably would have gotten a kick out of that, Van Wieren said, "He would have liked that. In fact, Will wanted to get us doubles, and we said, 'No, we're not doing that.'

"Skip would not have liked that. He would have called us soft."

Van Wieren chuckled softly as he told the story, then looked away and wiped his eye. It was one of many emotional waves he felt Monday.

"I don't think the reality hit until today," said Van Wieren, who was awakened by manager Bobby Cox during the cross-country flight Sunday and told of Caray's death. "It was almost surreal hearing it on the plane. When I woke up this morning, you pick up the USA Today that's hanging on the door and you see that story [about Caray]. ..."

A couple of hours before Monday's game, about the time when Cox has taped so many pregame shows with Caray, the manager recalled how Caray had been with the team since before Cox arrived in Atlanta.

"We lost a real good friend," he said. "I met Skip in '77 when I signed on with the Braves. He helped me along. We weren't very good, and Skip, Pete and Ernie were the broadcasters. We'd go on those caravan tours and all. He was great to me.

"He'd give me a ride home a lot of nights from the park when my car wasn't working, my old Chevy. ...

"I knew he wasn't feeling real good the last year, but I thought he was going better. You never know, do you?"

Van Wieren spends hours each day preparing for the broadcast. That was difficult on Monday.

"All day long, all kinds of stuff kept going through my mind," he said. "We worked together since 1976. And it wasn't just working together. Our families got close. We did a lot of things in the offseason together. And during the season, especially when Ernie [Johnson] was still working, the six of us would go out to dinner together and got to be ... it wasn't just a working relationship. It was a friendship."

Catcher Brian McCann grew up in Duluth as a Braves fan, and is one of the many team members and fans who've never known the Braves without Caray calling their games. He was shocked when John Smoltz came to the back of the plane and told several players the news Sunday.

"Right now, you just think about his family," McCann said. "That's where everybody's prayers are right now. ... When I first came to the Braves, he was one of the first people who came over to me in the clubhouse and introduced himself — like he needed an introduction. ... He was the man.

"It's just crazy, to imagine him not being here."