Chip Caray, the television play-by-play broadcaster of the Braves on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast, is leaving to take a similar position with the Cardinals, according to a report in The Athletic.
It appears Caray will replace Dan McLaughlin on Bally Sports Midwest telecasts of the Cardinals. McLaughlin left last month after a third drunken-driving arrest.
Reached in a text, a spokesperson for Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast declined comment on behalf of the company.
Last year, Caray completed his 18th season calling Braves games as the play-by-play broadcaster.
Caray, 57, has broadcast Braves games since 2010 at Fox Sports South and SportSouth and, now, Bally. He also broadcast Braves games from 1991-92 on TBS and the Braves Radio Network and from 2005-09 on TBS, Peachtree TV and the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.
Caray, a graduate of the University of Georgia, was also the play-by-play announcer for Cubs games on WGN-TV from 1998-2004.
Sports broadcasting has been the family business for the Carays. His father, Skip, and grandfather, Harry, both worked as play-by-play announcers. Harry spent 53 seasons as a big-league broadcaster, including stints with the Cardinals, White Sox and Cubs. Skip was a longtime Braves broadcaster who called Hawks games before that.
A move to the Cardinals booth would be somewhat of a homecoming for Chip Caray, who was born in St. Louis. His family moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Skip, his father, moved with the team.
Before broadcasting Braves games, Caray worked seven seasons as the play-by-play announcer for Cubs games on WGN. In 2004, he won Illinois Sportscaster of the Year.
His career began with jobs as a weekend TV sports anchor in Panama City, Florida, and Greensboro, North Carolina. Eventually, he earned a job as the play-by-play man for the Orlando Magic of the NBA. He also called University of Florida and Florida State University football and basketball games for the Sunshine Network.
In 1987, Caray graduated from the University of Georgia.
In the Braves booth, Caray was most recently joined by Jeff Francoeur, who was the main color commentator.
The Carays recently added a fourth generation to baseball, when Chip’s sons, identical twin brothers Chris and Stefan Caray, worked as the radio announcers for the Double-A Amarillo (Texas) Sod Poodles.
Currently, Ben Ingram and Joe Simpson are the Braves’ primary radio broadcasters. Simpson is a member of the Braves Hall of Fame, while Ingram was recently named Sportscaster of the Year in Georgia.
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