Skip Caray Has Made It On His Own

Skip Caray recalls the conversation he had with himself at an Atlanta tavern about 15 years ago.

Sitting alone with a beer, Caray made a career decision.

“I just decided I wasn’t going to worry about my dad’s style and I was going to be myself,” Caray recalls.

This sounds like the same process that many sons have to go through if they decide to enter the father’s business.

But in Caray’s case, it was a slightly different situation. His father is Harry Caray, whose reputation and style make him about as well known as any major league baseball announcer.

Harry Caray has become a sort of Midwest legend through his broadcasting of first St. Louis Cardinals, then Chicago White Sox and now Chicago Cubs’ baseball games.

Skip had never really thought seriously about being an announcer. He wanted to be a football player but tore a knee while attending high school in St. Louis.

“Nope, didn’t think about broadcasting. My dad had the corner on that,” Skip said. “I wanted to be a pro football player. But I tore me knee up and that was the end of that.”

But once in college at the University of Missouri--known for having one of the premier journalism schools in the country--Skip found himself re-interested in broadcast journalism.

“How can you not be influenced by broadcasting when your dad announces and works with Jack Buck and Joe Garagiola?” Skip asked. “I learned a lot from those days in the booth.

“I knew the problems of working where my dad worked in St. Louis. I knew that I’d always be “Harry Caray’s” son and that any break that I would have made for myself people would say that my dad got it for me.”

Skip got a job announcing with--not his father but Caray’s partner, Buck--doing St. Louis University basketball. He also did the last year of the St. Louis Hawks, which turned out to be the key to his career.

“I had a chance to do St. Louis hockey the following year but that would have meant staying in St. Louis. I didn’t really want to leave my home but I decided for my career the best thing would be to try it somewhere away,” he recalled.

The Hawks, disappointed with sagging attendance in St. Louis, moved to Atlanta and Skip Caray elected to move with them.

“It was again a case of getting away from home. I knew that Dad was well known but that once you got out of St. Louis it might not have been as bad a problem for me,” he recalled.

So it was on to Atlanta and the Hawks. Eventually, a fellow by the name of Ted Turner bought the Hawks and Skip Caray found himself broadcasting the Hawks on WTBS.

Turner turned WTBS into a Superstation and Skip Caray no longer was just Harry Caray’s son.

“The superstation thing really came on fast. It’s amazing. People would send me letters from all over the country, telling me they were hearing me do the Hawks and then the Braves’ games,” Skip said.

Skip Caray’s legion of fans grew this past season when he was one of the principal announcers for the NBA games telecast by Turner’s station.

“I’ve gotten some good press for the way the games were handled. I’ve not been bothered by people who are ‘suddenly’ discovering me,” he says. “I did 60 or so games a year when we did the Hawks on the superstation but the national games were a break in terms of exposure.”

The key is working on a station that is both a local outlet and technically a nationwide network.

“I think people appreciate the way we speak out but also pull for the Braves in our own way,” he said. “Obviously when the Braves win, it makes the job easier. But we understand that we are reaching into markets that may be just watching for the other team the Braves are playing.”

Has Turner ever reprimanded the younger Caray for an occasional criticism of the team.

“No, never. The only time I ever heard anything was when I criticized a movie they were showing after the game,” he recalled, “and the criticism was merited. It was a horrible movie.”

With his father working on another superstation, WGN in Chicago, there are many days in the summer when both Caray voices can be heard in millions of homes across the nation.