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The Braves will say farewell to broadcaster Skip Carey tonight when they play the Cubs at Turner Field.  I won’t be able to be there, but I’ll be watching very closely from home.  If the Braves win tonight, I hope they end the broadcast with Skip’s “Braves win” call.

I grew up watching baseball on TV before ESPN and MLB Extra Innings packages.  There were 3 choices for watching baseball: the Braves were on TBS, the Cubs (and eventually an occasional White Sox game) were on WGN, and the Mets were on WWOR.  Tim McCarver was the Mets’ announcer, so we didn’t watch them very often.  That left us with options of Harry Carey announcing for the Cubs or Skip Carey announcing for the Braves.

We’d usually end up watching the Braves games.  Harry Carey got to be a little obnoxious at times; plus, my childhood hero was Dale Murphy.  The voice of Skip Carey commenting on a Braves game was quite common in the Davis home.

I met Skip once.  I went early to a Braves game, hoping to see batting practice and collect an autograph or two, but weather caused them to cancel batting practice.  I wandered around Turner Field until I saw Skip Carey broadcasting the Braves pregame show from a portable broadcast booth.

I was the only person standing around that was listening to the show.  He saw me and gave me that “I acknowledge your presence but I’m not going to wave” head nod.  After the show was over, he stepped out of the booth and started walking back through the stadium.

Nobody was speaking to him, and I figured I’d go say hi.  I walked up to him, and he greeted me.  I asked him if he would sign a baseball for me.  He said “Sure. I’d be glad to” and stopped walking so he could sign it.  We talked for a minute or so, and then he left.

Now he’s gone.  I’ll miss his fun sense of humor, hearing his witty sarcasm, and his amazing ability to paint a mental picture to a radio listener.  He was one of the good ones.

Farewell, Skip.