For Atlanta Braves fans, many of them have their memories colored by the Braves' broadcast booth and how they have called key moments in Braves history. From Ernie Johnson (both Sr. and Jr.) to Skip Caray to Don Sutton to now, the soundtrack of Braves' fandom has been the voices that have called the action as it goes down.
One of the more polarizing figures in the broadcast booth was without question was Chip Caray. For some, his name and connection to years past was exactly what they wanted from a play-by-play announcer and he called some big moments well. For others, Caray's constant complaining about the state of "modern baseball" as well as never seeing a fly ball that he didn't think was a home run was irksome and didn't add to the broadcast and hurt it if anything, especially when fellow "old man who yells at clouds" Joe Simpson was paired with him.
The latter group had to be heartened by the fact that Chip Caray left the Braves booth in order to go call games for the Cardinals. However, that put a lot of pressure on the Braves and their new booth to deliver for fans going forward. Luckily, it appears that that is exactly what they have done as the new Braves' broadcast crew got high marks while the Caray-led Cardinals booth did not in Awful Announcing latest rankings of broadcast crews.
Braves' broadcast booth led by Brandon Gaudin does very well in latest rankings
On the whole, the Braves' new booth that now has Brandon Gaudin has been a huge success and ranked 12th in these rankings. That is down a spot from last year which could be partially attributed to the adjustment period needed after Jeff Francoeur was been replaced by CJ Nitkowski on the analyst side. However, this is still a far cry from the stale, cranky booths during the Caray/Simpson days. Gaudin in particularly is well-liked for not only his preparedness and calls, but for his great sense of humor that appeals to a wider demographic.
As for Caray, well...you have to scroll all the way down to #23 to find the Cardinals' booth. That is an improvement of three over their ranking last year, but St. Louis' broadcasts have been bottom tier for a long time. That Caray represents an improvement over what the Cardinals had been dealing with speaks more to how bad those previous booths were as well as the truly horrid ones further down the list.
In the end, this worked out great for everyone. Caray got to peddle his wares in the Cardinals booth where his family name still carries weight, represents a homecoming for him, and is in a market where his "play the game the way it used to be" schtick has more receptive ears. As for Braves fans, they get broadcast where you can appreciate the game being played and how good this team is versus having to listen to the merits of the unwritten rules of baseball. Fans should expect the Braves' booth to keep getting better and better going forward.