PILOTING THE PERFECT MOVE

(This post should have been posted much, much earlier.  I saved it as a draft and forgot to publish it.  I think it is worth posting though.  Skip Carey was a great sports figure who touched a lot of lives. He also chose to live in our city of Sandy Springs!)

A short while back, Sandy Springs lost a legend in the Atlanta and national sports scene, Skip Carey – long time Braves TV and Radio.  I have great memories of him while I enjoyed the Braves over the years.  Below is an excerpt from a blogger about him (http://thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com/321368.html):

People talk a lot about dynasties in sports—of families, of teams, of cities—but it’s not often that one established off the playing field has such an impact. Now, the second voice in what has truly become a family sportscasting dynasty has been silenced. Skip Caray, son of legendary Chicago baseball announcer Harry Caray Sr. and the voice of the Atlanta Braves for over three decades, has died at 68 after struggling with a number of medical problems for at least the past year, including diabetes and congestive heart failure. He died peacefully, in his sleep at his home north of Atlanta proper in the recently-created suburb of Sandy Springs; our local paper has his obituary here.

He came south only a couple of years before the Braves themselves did, seeking a place where he could practice the family business and carve out his own career out of his famous father’s shadow. For the next 30 years, he proceeded to become a legend in his own right…and in the process, helped Ted Turner pioneer the national cablecasting of local major-league baseball teams’ games.

He had reduced his work to home games only for health reasons in the past year, but was still calling games literally right up to his death. He never had any trademarks like his dad’s “Holy Cow!”, but he did achieve a sound and style that was his own. And his own son Chip had joined him in the booth by then, ensuring the Carays’ legacy will continue. So long, sir, and thank you.