When you live in the Southeast, it's hard to avoid the Atlanta Braves.  They pretty much own that part of the country.  And because of that, there were lots of Braves games on Superstation WTBS.  The announcing crew,( which originally had now Yankees broadcaster John Sterling and Ernie Johnson) lost one of their long time members yesterday.

Skip Caray, 68, passed away in his sleep after a prolonged period of ill health.  Recently, he was no longer doing radio road games. 

Despite being the son of Harry, Skip's style was his own.  Blessed with a dry sense of humor, Caray was truly an entertainer in the 80's when the Braves stunk on ice.  His sharp wit was refreshing and perfect for games on WTBS, especially when the Braves were getting pounded.  Unfortunately, it didn't translate very well to the national scene where he had some less than memorable runs with NBC and the baseball network.

He was at his absolute best when doing call in shows on WSB Atlanta.  Some of the questions he got from fans were, as they are on all talk shows, silly.  Caray had a way of being sarcastic and nice at the same time.  Clearly though, you could tell his fuse was very short with people who didn't get it.  It was fun listening to him slowly simmering, knowing that there was no way out and he was going to have to make the best of it.

Skip Caray was in his 33rd year of calling Braves games on either WTBS or Braves radio.  He leaves us as one of the best loved and most underrated local announcers in the game.

Thanks for the laughs, Skip.  Tell your dad we said "hi."