The death last weekend of Pete Van Wieren touched off justifiable spasms of nostalgia over the golden years of Braves broadcasting. It was Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson Sr. and Skip Caray — all gone now — who gave voice to a franchise.
What made them such important figures in Braves lore wasn’t just their connection to the run of division championships, to Sid’s slide, to Marquis’s catch closing out the 1995 World Series. As much as any of that, if not more, it was their gift for making all the dreck that preceded that era tolerable.
Nobody was better at applying lipstick to the pig of bad baseball than those three chaps. Be it through Skip’s snark, Ernie’s unfailing amiability or Pete’s passion for doing his job right.
Now that this Braves season has begun circling the drain, the challenge of rising above the results falls to the current broadcasting core of Joe Simpson/Chip Caray on TV and Don Sutton/ Jim Powell on radio. As the players increasingly fail to entertain, these knights of the microphone might be the team’s most important performers for the next two long months.
I do not envy them the task. This Braves team is evolving into a particularly unappealing bunch, one incapable of generating even a static charge of consistent offense, one that may rival Congress for an inability to inspire positive thoughts. It is reality programming without a personality.
And here it is only the first full week of August. At this pace, the Braves are in for the kind of prolonged period of irrelevance that was a staple in the early years. Those in charge of describing the game won’t have the benefit of significance to help them through the broadcast. They are going to have to manufacture interest where less and less exists.
And the Georgia-Clemson game is only 25 days away. That metallic clang you just heard was the Braves being moved to the back burner.
To those manning the radio and TV booths at Turner Field, we salute you and wish you well. Trying days await.
In bad times, Pete, Skip and Ernie expect nothing but your best.
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