ATLANTA — The Braves held a tribute to late broadcaster Skip Caray at Turner Field recently. Here are some excerpts from several of the speakers:
 JOHNNY CRAWFORD/Cox News Service Atlanta Braves announcers Skip and Chip Caray are one of the few father and son teams that broadcast major sports teams. They were working at Turner Stadium on Friday, June 10, 2005. For a larger, high resolution image, click HERE |
"At the Goodwill Games assignment in Russia, Skip was asked to broadcast Motoball, soccer with a beach ball on motorcycles. It's X-Games meets Russia. Only Skip could make it work on television. But I could have sworn he mentioned several Russian czars playing on the field that day."
— Braves CEO Terry McGuirk
"If you were to put together a sound track of our life here in Georgia, you might start with Ray Charles and 'Georgia on My Mind,' and depending on your allegiances, you'd add Larry Munson urging Herschel over the goal line, or maybe Wes Durham marveling at a Calvin Johnson catch. Then you toss in some Marvin Gaye and Alan Jackson and a Jeff Foxworthy joke. And because I believe it's just as much a part of our state as any of those, I believe every single one of us would add this from Skip Caray: 'Good evening everyone, welcome to Turner Field for another night of Atlanta Braves baseball' as only he could do."
— Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue
"We were on our Delta charter leaving town one day, and just before we took off, the cabin filled with smoke. Turned out the galley in the back of the plane had malfunctioned. After we all dodged David Justice climbing over all of us to get to the front of the plane, we were to disembark in an orderly fashion. They opened the doors and called the fire trucks out, and they inflated the slides. At the bottom of the slides were firemen, so that you're supposed to jump, land on your bottom and slide down. And then the firemen would grab your hand and help you stand up and walk away. I'm in line, and I'm behind Skip. We get to the edge of the door, and he's standing there debating: the slide or the smoke. He decided to go with the slide. So he jumps off and he hits the slide, and it was almost like screeching brakes. He got about a third of the way down and came to a stop, one of the most atomic wedgies you've ever seen in your life. The firemen are laughing. I'm hysterical. People behind me on a smoky plane are screaming at me to go on. I can't go. So the firemen walk up along side the slide and grab his hand, and Skip wedged his way down the slide, and nobody was laughing louder than he was."
— Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson
"On the great call of Sid (Bream's) slide at home plate across the street (at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium), I was sitting next to him. Of course, the crowd was so loud, you could hardly hear yourself think. When it was over and he'd finished his call, I leaned over and I gave him a big hug and I said 'Great call.' And he said, 'What did I say? I have no idea what I said.' I said, 'I don't either. I couldn't hear you, but I know it was great.' And it was."
— Simpson
"We're always going to recall that attitude that made Skip Skip. We will always remember the choppers to Chipper. If he was here today and a foul ball was hit to you, he'd be able to tell you where you were from. He was always very patient when explaining the infield fly rule. And of course you've seen today some of his most memorable calls. So today, instead of saying goodbye, let's all just say thank you. Thank you, Skip, for letting us all be a part of your life."
— Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren
"He loved this franchise. He loved you, Pete (Van Wieren), like a brother. He loved our players. But he also loved you (the fans). Baseball in our family is the soundtrack of our lives. ... As much as he enjoyed saying, 'Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!' he loved saying nothing more than 'Listen to this crowd.' You all were the bass notes of the soundtrack of my father's life, and all of us in our family are so incredibly grateful for the cards, the letters, your wonderful support. We will forever be grateful."
— Skip Caray's son and Braves broadcaster Chip Caray
— Compiled by Carroll Rogers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
