A well known voice from a prominent baseball broadcasting family has died.
Skip Caray, son of the late Cubs announcer Harry Caray, and father of lead TBS play-by-play man Chip Caray, died in his sleep on Sunday at age 68. Caray had been broadcasting Atlanta Braves games mostly on the radio this season, with longtime partner Pete Van Wieren.
Caray first started calling Braves games for TBS in 1976. In 1977, TBS went national, and Braves games were broadcast coast-to-coast. Caray was a part of those broadcasts until 2007, when TBS ended its run of Braves telecasts. Caray was not invited on any of the broadcast teams for TBS coverage of the Division Series last year, a decision which left him “hurt“.
Caray had been experiencing poor health in the past year and spent time in intensive care. In October, “doctors were concerned enough about [his health] that they asked for all of his family members to come to the hospital to possibly pay their last respects.” Entering this season, he had his Braves schedule reduced to home games only.
Chip Caray, who broadcast today’s Angels/Yankees game on TBS, said “I’m just in shock … I know he wasn’t feeling good, but this was unexpected. He hung the moon for me. I got to talk to him [on Saturday], and the last thing I got to say to him was, ‘I love you.”
Heading into the start of this season, the elder Caray was reflective. Prior to the Braves home opener this season, he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “I’ve had a hell of a run, so I’ve got nothing to complain about. If I die tonight, I’ve had a great life.”
