Skip Caray, 1940-2008

Skip Caray made his mark as one of the longtime voices of baseball's Atlanta Braves, and Ted Turner's genius made him a household name.

When Turner put his Atlanta TV station WTBS on a satellite in 1976 to create the first of the "superstations," the Braves literally became "America's Team" as the bulk of their games were beamed to cable systems across the country. As a result, Caray and partners Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson and John Sterling were as well known to baseball fans nationally as their own home team announcers.

Caray, son of the legendary baseball voice Harry Caray and father of current broadcasters Chip and Josh Caray, died Sunday after suffering various ailments over the past year. He would have turned 69 on Aug. 12.

Chip Caray was broadcasting Sunday's game between the Angels and Yankees at Yankee Stadium on TBS when he heard the news about his father.

"I'm just in shock," he said. "I know he wasn't feeling good, but this was unexpected. He hung the moon for me. I got to talk to him [on Saturday], and the last thing I got to say to him was, 'I love you.'"

Though TBS ended its 30-year affiliation with the Braves last year, Caray continued to be an integral part of the Braves broadcast team right up until his passing doing home games on radio and local Atlanta channel Peachtree TV.

Read more about the life and career of Skip Caray here.