The Atlanta Braves are about to lose a valuable member of the team. According to MLB.com, Chip Caray, the longtime television announcer for the Braves, is leaving to team to join the St. Louis Cardinals. The Braves have not officially announced the move as of this writing, but it’s been reported that Caray will be the lead play-by-play broadcaster for Bally Sports Midwest after working for Bally Sports South where he was with the Braves for the past 18 seasons. Bally Sports Midwest could make an official announcement on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Caray is from St. Louis and is the grandson of former Cardinals announcer and Hall of Famer Harry Caray. The younger Caray will be replacing Dan McLaughlin who left his position with Ball Sports Midwest last month after being arrested for the third time for suspicion of driving while intoxicated in St. Louis in early December. McLaughlin was the Cardinals’ play-by-play announcer for the last 24 seasons.
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Caray got his start in pro sports in 1989 when he called games for the Orlando Magic. After 10 seasons calling NBA games, Caray moved to MLB and worked for the Braves (1991-1992, 2005-2009, 2010-2022), Seattle Mariners (1993-1995) and Chicago Cubs (1998-2004). He also called games for Fox (1996-2000) and TBS (2007-2009).
Caray’s grandfather called games in St. Louis with Jack Buck from 1945-69. Harry Caray also called games for the St. Louis Browns (1945-1946), Oakland Athletics (1970), Chicago White Sox (1971-1981) and the Cubs (1982-1997). Both Chip and Harry Caray were scheduled to broadcast games together during the 1998 seasons, but Harry died two months before the start of the season.
Chip Caray’s father, Skip Caray, was the voice of the St. Louis Hawks of the ABA and movies with the franchise to Atlanta in 1968. He then joined the Braves broadcast team in 1976 and would call games for the Braves until his death in 2008. Skip was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in 2004 along with his broadcasting partner Pete Van Wieren.
Social media showed their support for Chip Caray. Grant McAuley of 92.9 The Game in Atlanta wrote, “Over the past 18 years, Chip Caray was always gracious with his time, friendly, and engaging with me – and pretty much anyone else he conversed with in the press box. That simple act of giving this kid some confidence still resonates with me to this day.”
“With Joe Simpson and Chip Caray being gone from broadcasting the Braves on tv my childhood is gone,” one fan wrote. “They were the announcers my whole life as a Braves fan.”
