There are many things that I considered blogging about tonight, but since I've devoted other posts here to some of my baseball heroes, I couldn't let the night pass without paying homage to a genuine "character", Atlanta Braves broadcaster Skip Caray.
The soundtrack of my childhood includes the sounds of many, many Atlanta Braves games on television. My grandfather was a huge fan, and he passed that love of baseball along to, not his son, as most would assume, but to his daughter in law, my Mom. Some of my very earliest memories include the sound of a ball thumping into a cathchers glove, the crack of a bat connecting with a ball, and the voices of Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray on TBS, and on Braves radio.
Those two voices, so very familiar to me, were a comfort to me the way a lullabye or a familiar song is a comfort to some children. In the "old days" when the Braves team of broadcasters would call half a game in the tv booth and the other half from the radio booth, my Mom and I used to watch half the game on tv, then, for the second half, mute the sound on the tv and turn on the radio so that we could hear Skip and Pete for the whole game.
Skip's sarcastic humor and dry wit could make even a rain delay, or a Braves loss, fun to listen to. When the Braves weren 't playing, I could always flip over the WGN and listen to Skip's Dad, Harry Caray, calling the games for the Cubs as only he could do. I loved listening to Harry and to Skip because I knew that they would make me smile.
I was surprised and saddened to learn that Skp Caray passed away in his sleep on Sunday afternoon, leaving behind a wife, four adult children, sevem grandchildren, and thousands upon thousands of fans.
I am not generally an "emotional" person, and I'm definitely not one to put my emotions on display. I am not a person to whom tears come easily. Even so, I couldn't help having to wipe my eyes when the Braves broadcast of tonights game, during wich they did a fine job of paying
tribute to Skip, ended with Skip's smiling face on the screen, and his deeply familiar voice giving his trademark sign off of "So long, everybody."
So long, Skip.
Vicki
This was originally written 2 years ago, when Skip Caray passed away, but I see on Facebook this morning that many folks are responding to Chip Caray's Fathers Day tribute to his Dad, so I thought I'd repost this :)
