FanHouse Skip Caray

Baseball on TBS isn't over forever -- after all, they have a solid slate of playoff games coming up this week -- but Braves regular-season broadcasts are gone forever, and plenty of people are unhappy with the decision. After all, TBS' national reach built up lots of Braves fans not from Georgia or the South, and those looking for their team will now have to resort to more expensive methods like MLB's Extra Innings.

The dream also ended for Braves broadcaster Skip Caray, and he gave a fond farewell in Atlanta's last TBS game last night:

"The people all over the country who send you Christmas cards every year; the people who when dad passed, 5,000 of them sent notes or condolence cards; when I lost my brother the people all over the country who sent condolence cards as well - how do you thank those people and how do you say goodbye to those people? I don't know, but I'm trying to do it.

"You all must know how we feel and how I feel about you. You brought me back five years ago when they tried to bury me on television. The executives didn't [bring me back]; you did.

"... To all you people who have watched the Braves for these 30 years ... thank you. We appreciate you more than you will ever know. ... When we first came on the air on TBS, which was then WTCG, the big TV shows were M*A*S*H, Dallas, Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days and Charlie's Angels. We outlasted them all. The only one that beat us was 60 Minutes."

Somewhere, Mike Wallace (aggressively pictured at right) is cackling with glee, twisting and poking his Ted Turner voodoo doll, looking every bit the tanned-leather evil demon he appears on Sunday nights. And somewhere in Kansas, or South Dakota, or wherever, Braves fans are being welcomed to the life most of us already know: as slaves to MLB.com.

Earlier this week, TBS announced their broadcasting pairings for the MLB playoffs, and the list noticeably did not include TBS employee Skip Caray. And as it turns out, Skip isn't too happy about it. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via AA):

"It hurt my feelings, and I'm mad at myself for thinking there was any loyalty left in this business," Caray, the longtime Atlanta Braves broadcaster, said in an interview Wednesday. "I should have known better.

"They can do whatever they want to do," Caray said, "but I've done a lot of good work for these people, and it's hurtful that they apparently don't think I can do good work anymore."
...
"I feel like I can do a better job than a tennis announcer or a football-basketball announcer," Skip Caray said. "I'm not knocking Ted Robinson and Dick Stockton, but point of fact is they don't do baseball anymore and I'm there every day."

You know who TBS did include? Chip Caray, Skip's son, which should make for some awkward moments at the next family get-together. Personally, I couldn't care less. One Caray is more than enough for me, and the fact the list doesn't include Joe Buck makes everything else gravy. I can't believe that Skip didn't see this coming, though: he worked only 10 games on TBS all season, doing most of his work on radio.

(Note: for lack of better pictures, I went with the late, great Harry Caray, the only of the Caray announcing brood that I can honestly say I have an opinion on.)