"So long, everybody" has never sounded so poignant.

The Braves pre-game radio tribute began on Monday evening with sound bites of Skip Caray's famous calls, including his signature sign-off.

The day after Caray's passing at age 68, Braves broadcasters paid homage in pre-game programs on TV and radio to a man they considered much more than a broadcast partner.

Even the smoothest, sturdiest, broadcast voices got quaky as they told personal stories about Caray.

Pete Van Wieren, Caray's broadcast partner of 33 years, teared up when he told the story on "Braves Live" about his first event with Caray and Ernie Johnson Sr. in 1975.

As the new guy on the Braves broadcast team, Van Wieren had to announce the winner of a door prize.

"I couldn't read the writing on the ticket," Van Wieren said. "My first big moment in the spotlight I looked at that card and turned it and looked at it and finally gave it to Ernie to see if he could read it. And Skip walked up behind me and said, 'You're doing a great job so far.'"

Van Wieren choked up.

"That was the beginning of the way we related to each other," Van Wieren continued. "It was a lot of jokes, a lot of laughs, a lot of fun, both on and off the field."

Joe Simpson, who joined the Braves broadcast team in 1992, painted a picture of Caray's soft side — and the way Simpson was feeling Monday — with a story about a 10-year-old mutt named Newman that Caray rescued.

"Newman never left Skip's side," Simpson said. "He followed him all around the house, would sit in his big chair with him when Skip was watching TV or reading. I've been thinking about Newman today because I know he's been walking around the Caray house looking for the big guy and wondering where he is. And I got to tell you that I know exactly how Newman feels today."

That was the end of that segment, in part because it had to be.

Former Braves broadcast partner Don Sutton, now with the Washington Nationals, was interviewed on the radio show. And he couldn't help but use the present tense with Skip.

"He has a style of his own," Sutton said. "He's a man of his own."

When trying to put his relationship with Caray into words, he described the night in 1993 when during a game he found out that friend and former Dodger teammate Don Drysdale had died.

"Somebody slipped him the note in an inning I was doing that Don Drysdale had died," Sutton said. "At the end of the inning, he put his arm around me and said, 'I've got bad news. Your friend Don Drysdale has died.' He said, 'Why don't you take the rest of the night off, and let me handle this and call me and let me know you made it home OK.'"

The tears were welling by then.

"Did we have great times together?" Sutton went on. "Yes. Was he a curmudgeon? Yes. Could he be a pain in the butt? Yes. But did you love him at the end of the day? Yes. And are we going to miss him? You're darn right we are."

Van Wieren opened the the Braves broadcast Monday, saying: "Tonight, for the first time in 33 years, the Braves are going to be missing a very important member of their family."

He ended the opening by saying: "Skip, we're going to miss you, buddy."