So Long Skip Caray..

"The Jones boys are up next and the Braves are down to their final out, as a fan from Rome, Ga catches that last foul tip."

Skip Caray uttered words similar to those above countless times as I watched the Turners battle it out with other MLB teams as a kid and now as an adult. The familiar voice which always welcomes back our summers, has left us. His funny wit which always told us where that fan sitting in the seats was from, his cynicism, his now faux pas personable opinion comments, and that un-mistakable voice are now gone.

It was in his blood. His dad was the famous Harry Caray who famously sang 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field for as far back as I can remember. His son is now the Fox Sports broadcaster for baseball, and was for a couple of years working along side his father broadcasting the Braves for TBS. It was in his blood and he was the best there was.

Skip was a baseball man. I was having a dinner for work in a really fancy restaurant in San Francisco last week. The conversation somehow turned to baseball, as it seems so many do. Of course, nowadays when one speaks of baseball the conversation sadly turns to steroids, and at present, Roger Clemens. I listened, as I like to listen more than I do talk in these matters, and I realized everyone was taking the position of "Everybody was doing it. You can't blame the guys for cheating." Now why I have digressed I will explain. At that point I stopped listening and started talking. It's baseball, people. It stands for everything that's good about an honest day's work. It is working hard and setting a good example for kids that don't have any good examples around them. It's brutally honest with its un-relenting statistics. It's innocent - or at least it should be. It's why we all can somehow personally relate to and love Bull Durham. It's American, and damn it, I'm tired of people making excuses. Skip Caray was a baseball man, and it was guys like him and countless others that made baseball stand for all those great things you can't get a glimmer of in the NBA or the NFL. You'd never hear Skip making excuses for unacceptable behavior. We all need such an example - regardless of how you feel about baseball or even the steroid issue. And he was a baseball man.

I'll always remember Skip, and I'll always have those memories of his voice - which without doubt cannot be separated in my mind from baseball, summer, staying up late to watch the end of a game, Sid Bream's galloping dive into home plate, hot weather, peanuts, and everything good that's left about baseball.

We'll miss ya Skip.

...................................................

“Swung, line drive, left field! One run is in! Here comes Bream! Here’s the throw to the plate! He is...SAFE! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! Braves win! They may have to hospitalize Sid Bream. He’s down at the bottom of a huge pile at the plate! They help him to his feet. Francisco Cabrera got the game-winner! The Atlanta Braves are National League Champions again! This crowd has gone berserk!”