Caray, Van Wieren off TBS

[Pete K.]

From the Atlanta Constitution:

Caray, Van Wieren go South this year
From staff and news services
Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Viewers of Braves games will see less this season of Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren, and it has nothing to do with Caray's weight loss after last year's clearance of a blocked artery.

In fact, outside of six Southern states, the broadcasters won't be seen at all.

Turner Sports has placed the pair, each entering his 28th season with the Braves, exclusively on its Turner South cable network, which has about 6.4 million subscribers. It will carry 36 games, with Caray and Van Wieren moving to radio for the remainder of the schedule.

[John Corn]

TBS seems to be positioning itself as a quasi-national baseball network rather than just the home of the Braves. You saw it last year with the cut-ins to highlights from elsewhere in the majors, and you see it even more with the new ads promoting TBS as "America's Baseball Network". I don't blame Braves fans for being angered by this, and I'm a little surprised that ESPN and Fox haven't raised a stink about it with Selig; they're putting up a lot of money to be the "exclusive" national carriers for MLB, why should they tolerate another network sneaking in through the back door and usurping part of their role?

- I'll miss Caray a lot (he was like the curmudgeonly uncle you liked being around at family get-togethers) and Van Wieren even more (IMO, one of the best and most underrated play-by-play men in the business; why one of the big nets never picked him up is a mystery to me). As you can see from my avatar I'm not a Braves fan but I'll watch games on TBS from time to time, and those guys always made the broadcasts fun to watch and listen to. Who else but Skip would describe an inning in which a squirrel ran around the field, then wrap things up with, "At the end of five, three hits, no runs, no errors, one squirrel, we'll be back after these messages"? :lol:

[Pete K.]

IMHO Skip is one of the best in the business.
He has a gruff personality (I should know,
I worked with him for a few years), but
his on-air work is first class. I agree with
you completely about Van Wieren.
Joe Simpson is just blah...and Don Sutton
was a far better pitcher than he is an
announcer. Skip is a homer. Perhaps that
is why he is being confined to TS. Of course,
he can still be heard in 38 states on WSB
Radio at night.

[SamC]

I hate the Braves and their homer telecasters.

Clearly the Braves are positioning themselves for lean times ahead, with TWAOL no longer willing to lose money on Ted's hobby. A more "national" broadcast of games.

The Braves can't lose enough to suit me.

[Pete K.]

You are entitled to your opinion SamC
but I think the Braves are hurting themselves
with this move. Imagine no Vin Scully
on Dodger broadcasts outside of SoCal.
It just wouldn't be the same. BTW,
Caray admits he was surprised by this
decision.

[George_F]

Do you see WGN becoming "MLB on WGN" and making all these changes? :confused:

[Keith4USC]

How in the world did Don Sutton and Joe Simpson beat out the two legends..... I see the Braves falling to pieces..... Hopefully, AOL sells the team back to Ted Turner...... Soon!!!!!!!!!!