Obit: Pete Van Wieren, Atlanta Braves Broadcaster, 1976-2008, 69

[Mike Stroud]

One of baseball's most respected and loved broadcasters from the past, and the last surviving member of a trio of announcers from the golden days of the Atlanta Braves broadcasts on WTCG/WTBS/TBS in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, has lost a battle with cancer. Pete Van Wieren was one of the replacements (the last Skip Caray being the other) that Ted Turner made in the booth when he took over ownership of the Braves in 1976, succeeding the acid-tongued Milo Hamilton, who went into on-air tirades against the team's poor playing in his last season in '75 (a very, very bizarre occurrence then, unlike today). Turner, of course, kept the courtly Ernie Johnson, Sr., who built the Braves' radio network largely single-handed when the team came to Georgia in 1965-66, and paired Johnson and Van Wieren with Caray to make one of the more memorable TV baseball platoons. This was largely because of the fact that, beginning with the 1977 season, Turner put WTCG on satellite and moved, via cable, into markets outside the Southeast, eventually crowning itself "America's Team" as a result. This was the first time that viewers in other teams' markets could see, for good or ill, a broadcast other than their regional syndie packages, or NBC's "Game of the Week."

Van Wieren retired shortly after his partner Caray died in 2008. The current TV team is, I believe, Caray's son Chip and retired position player Joe Simpson. YouTube has clips of games Van Wieren announced for WTCG/WTBS/TBS. Like Caray and Johnson, Van Wieren also worked the radio side, for most of his years with WSB-AM as flagship.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/baseball/braves-broadcaster-van-wieren-dies-after-bout-with/ngssg/

 

[Mike Stroud]

One thing: I forgot to mention that Ernie Johnson, Sr. went back to the days when the team was still in Boston, joining the broadcast booth when he retired as a player, by which time the team had made its first move to Milwaukee. Johnson died in 2001, having put in nearly a half century of service to the franchise, except for a short spell pitching for the Baltimore Orioles. Johnson's son, Ernie, Jr., worked with him for a few years back in the '90s and is still employed by TBS/TNT today, calling TBS' national baseball games on Sundays and helping out with TNT NBA coverage.

 

[Charles35080]

It's a crying shame that neither Pete nor Skip have been awarded the Ford C. Frick Award, given to members of the media affiliated with Major League Baseball. That they and Ernie Johnson, along with others like John Sterling, Billy Sample, Don Sutton and Darrel Chaney, were able to make broadcasting what was for many years a moribund team "must-see TV" was a testament to their craft and talents.

 

[Ccook55]

Van Wieren was smart, unpretentious and easy on the ears calling a game. A testament to this was in 1991 when the Braves were playing the game which, if won, would clinch the NL West pennant for them. It was Chip Caray's turn to call the last three innings, and by the top of the ninth, the Braves had a comfortable lead, assured of the win and the clinch. Chip turned the mic over to Pete to call the clinching inning.

 

[bpatrick]

Although he was never an announcer for the Braves, Steve Somers came roaring into Atlanta in 1976 and began verbally beating up on both the Braves and the Falcons, neither of which was exactly a contender for any league title at the time. A lot of people resented the fact that here was a guy just arrived from California and who was he to start criticizing the local teams (I still remember a clip of a Falcons' game in which Harmon Wages messed up a play; Somers' comment: "Well, there's Minimum Wages, probably thinking about his next sportscast on Channel 5.") Nevertheless, he stayed at 11 Alive for two years. I bring this up because he was even more abrasive than Milo Hamilton ever hoped to be.

Back to Pete Van Wieren: he and Ernie Johnson Sr. were the consummate pros; Skip Caray was another I thought was too outspoken (my dad and I met him in the airport in Atlanta one day in 1988 when we were going to see the Braves play the Cubs at Wrigley Field--I was a Cubs fanatic in those days--and he said, "I don't know why you'd fly all the way to Chicago just to see us"). However, Skip's dad, the legendary Harry Caray, was always fun, even if Steve Stone constantly had to bring him back from a ramble to the game itself.

I do sincerely offer my condolences to the Van Wieren family.

 

[JeffM]

Pete Van Wieren, along with Ernie Johnson, what a class act they both were. Listening to them call a game, win or lose, was pure pleasure.

 

[Ccook55]

Although he was never an announcer for the Braves, Steve Somers came roaring into Atlanta in 1976 and began verbally beating up on both the Braves and the Falcons, neither of which was exactly a contender for any league title at the time. A lot of people resented the fact that here was a guy just arrived from California and who was he to start criticizing the local teams (I still remember a clip of a Falcons' game in which Harmon Wages messed up a play; Somers' comment: "Well, there's Minimum Wages, probably thinking about his next sportscast on Channel 5.") Nevertheless, he stayed at 11 Alive for two years. I bring this up because he was even more abrasive than Milo Hamilton ever hoped to be.

Oh, Gawd, do I remember Steve Somers. Back when WXIA was trying to reinvent their newscast. We watched Jim Viandi on WSB.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Sorry to learn of Pete's death. I first got cable TV in 1980 and certainly with the WTBS superstation available, I saw many of the Braves' games that he did. RIP.