Photo courtesy of Chris Johnson/erniejohnson.com
Skip Caray (left), Ernie Johnson (center) and Pete Van Wieren comprised the broadcast dream team that voiced the narrative during my Braves-induced naps.

When my family finally joined the 20th century and got cable television I was a happy camper for three reasons: 1) I was no longer forced to watch a snowy ABC that only came in during good weather. 2) HBO and 3) I could watch live baseball nearly every day during the summer. And since I lived in Hawaii, even the night games were on by 1 p.m.

The team I saw every day was Ted Turner’s Atlanta Braves on his Superstation. So I became very familiar with the broadcast stylings of Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson and Skip Caray, who died Sunday at age 68. I never really was a fan, but I grew to appreciate them for their knowledgeable, folksy but professional delivery. What stands out in my memory, which has become quite fuzzy in the quarter century since, is Caray’s sense of humor. As I recall, the Joe Torre-managed Braves were a good, but fairly boring team in the early 80s. I often found myself slipping into slumber while watching the Braves, and Caray found himself with ample opportunity to hone his clever and sometimes acerbic wit.

What stands out in my memory are his puns, especially his fishing puns, which came fast and furious during a Cubs game featuring Steve Trout. Caray’s puns had me laughing so much I forced myself to memorize them so I could recite them later for my friends. My aforementioned fading memory prohibits me from reprising the Caray performance verbatim, so I trolled the internet to see if anyone had a list of his jokes and puns. Sadly I could not find any.

However, Tom Nawrocki memorialized Caray in his blog, One Poor Correspondent, and came through for me by mentioning Caray’s fish puns delivered during a Kevin Bass at-bat. Thank you, Tom.

And thank you, Skip, for making me laugh before nodding off for a mid-afternoon nap.