Skip Caray apparently was trying to feed the birds in his backyard when he collapsed and died Sunday, his wife of 32 years said Monday.

Paula Caray, who had thought her husband was napping, discovered the long-time Braves broadcaster on the ground behind their Sandy Springs home and called for help.

"I looked out the window of the door that goes to the back, and I saw the bird feeder laying on the ground," Paula Caray said in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "At first, I thought, 'Gee, I guess that storm we had last night blew it down.'

"As I stood up, I could look out there and see him laying out there. So I called 911 and of course they came and it was too late.

"I'm sure he was filling up the bird feeder. He was crazy about those birds. I guess he just keeled over and that was it."

Skip Caray, who had been battling heart, liver and kidney problems, broadcast his last Braves game on Thursday. He "seemed fine" that night but was coughing heavily and short of breath when he awoke Friday morning, his wife said.

She said he did not feel like going to Turner Field for games over the weekend. Moments before spotting him on the ground in the backyard late Sunday afternoon, she had talked on the phone with his doctor and made plans for him to be examined on Monday morning.

According to a Sandy Springs Police Department report, the bird feeder was "laying down on [Caray's] right hand side" in the back patio area when an officer arrived at the home at 6:41 p.m. Sunday.

An announcement by the Braves Sunday night said Caray died in his sleep. Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall said Monday that was based on information the club had at the time.

The Caray family is holding up "as well as can be expected," Paula Caray said Monday.

"You're never ready for this," she said. "That's just the way it is."

She said funeral plans are still being worked out.

Skip Caray's wife since 1976, his first year broadcasting Braves games, Paula Caray expressed extreme disappointment Monday that he was not elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N. Y., as a broadcaster during his lifetime.

"I think baseball is going to really miss one of the finest broadcasters ever," she said, "and it breaks my heart that the Hall of Fame never saw fit to put him where he belonged before he wasn't here to enjoy it."

She also said Skip Caray should have been treated better in recent years by his long-time employer, Turner Broadcasting.

TBS did not include him in its lineup of broadcasters for last season's baseball playoffs, and four years earlier the network briefly took him off its national Braves telecasts. He was reinstated after a half-season because of an outcry by fans.

"I absolutely cannot believe [TBS] did what they did to him," Paula Caray said. "Loyalty and respect go a long way, and I think they showed neither one.

"He had so many wonderful offers from other teams [through the years], but he would never go because this is where he wanted to be. He loved Atlanta, loved doing the Braves."

The son of the legendary baseball broadcaster Harry Caray "made his own name here," Paula Caray said. He came to Atlanta to broadcast Hawks games in 1968 and called Braves games on TV and/or radio for 33 years.

"When he got here, nobody knew who he was," Paula Caray said. "And he was very proud of the fact he made it on his own here."