When people first meet Chris and Stefan Caray, you might imagine the first question they are asked.
“Are you guys related?” Stefan said.
Well, yes. The 23-year old identical twin brothers are often asked that first. When people learn that they call baseball games for a living and hear what their last name is, though, you can imagine what question comes next.
“Are you related to Harry Caray?” Stefan said.
The answer to that question is also yes. Chris and Stefan are the great-grandsons of the legendary baseball broadcaster known for his thick rimmed glasses, singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and being impersonated by Will Farrell on Saturday Night Live.
They’re also the grandsons of the late Skip Caray, longtime St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster. Their father is longtime Atlanta Braves broadcaster Chip Caray, who is now calling games for the Cardinals. As for the twins, they’re currently in year two of calling games on radio and TV for the Amarillo Sod Poodles.
Although it seems natural that they’d follow the family tradition, that path wasn’t set in stone for either of them.
“I don’t think we ever had much pressure to get into this,” Chris said. “Our dad would be gone six months out of every year so we lived a very charmed life, but our dad working the job that he did it was just like, ‘That’s what dad does.'”
The call up
Chris said that he and Stefan didn’t understand the magnitude of the job until 2021 when the Braves won the World Series. The brothers were in attendance with their father calling the game when they met Tony Ensor, President and General Manager of the Amarillo Sod Poodles. The twins were nearing the end of their time at the University of Georgia where they predominantly called NAIA games at nearby Georgia Gwinnett College.
Even then, Stefan wasn’t entirely sure he’d follow in the family footsteps. It was around this time he says he had, “A bit of an early life crisis.”
“I was invested in it fully and then I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is the career for me or what I want to do,'” he said. “We sent out our tapes individually and Chris had landed a job with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Low A affiliate of the Houston Astros at the time) about two weeks before getting this job. I was sort of this amoeba floating through the ocean waiting for something to pull me in any direction.”
It was around that time when Sam Levitt, the first voice of the Sod Poodles, left to follow the San Diego Padres organization, the Sod Poodles’ original Major League affiliate. Stefan remembered meeting Ensor at the World Series and reached out. Not long after that, the twins were packing up and heading to Amarillo — together.
The move hadn’t been planned. Although they called games together in college and in the Cape Cod League, the Orlando, Florida natives weren’t expecting to end up in a booth that traditionally employs one play-by-play person and one color commentator. The chemistry that the pair developed over their lifetime, however, led Ensor to give the duo a chance. If there’s any sibling rivalry between the two, it’s not apparent.
“It’s been a tremendous gift to get to spend this time together and navigate through the trials and tribulations of the minors because they do exist,” Stefan said. “It’s a beautiful, fantastic job that we get to do, but coming into this at 22-years old there was immediate pressure and immediate backlash because of what our last name is and the nature of the hire. Getting to go through that together I think really helped us not feel isolated and alone.”
Under pressure
The twins acknowledged that they both felt the pressure at times. While honored and humbled by the opportunity presented to them, they heard the comments and voices saying they only got the job because their name is Caray. While they pride themselves on being their own individuals, there was a piece of advice that their father gave them that helped them overcome the pressure.
“I think in year two we’re done apologizing for what our last name is,” Stefan said. “In year one we were really apologetic because we didn’t want anyone to view us as the nepotism babies and what we’ve realized is that just can’t be helped. All we can do is have fortitude and strength of character enough in who and what we are and who and what we’re not. That’s the biggest thing we took away from our dad.”
Both stressed the voices they heard criticizing them weren’t coming from the organization or the Amarillo community. On the contrary, they both credited the Texas Panhandle for helping them grow not just in the job, but as young men.
“When we got the job we hadn’t ever been to the state of Texas before,” Chris said. “The people in Amarillo I believe to this day are the nicest people I’ve ever met…If the time ever comes for us to move up, this is the place that made Chris and Stefan Caray not only the broadcasters they are but the people we are. I think that’s something I can never repay to this place.”
Next up
The minor leagues are all about developing talent. It’s about nurturing talent until it’s ready to move to the next level. That’s true for the Caray twins as much as it is for the players and coaches. While they’re loving it here in the Panhandle, the goal is to be the fourth generation to call games in the majors and they’re working every day towards reaching that goal.
A natural question would be are they still planning to do it together. Neither is opposed to the idea, but they also know the reality is they won’t necessarily have the chance to keep the band together. While they’d love to keep the team going, they’re okay with the possibility it may not happen, too.
“If we have the opportunity to go (to the next level) together we’d love to, but if it comes for one of us or comes separately with different teams that’s fine too,” Stefan said. “The big honor would be to get to the major leagues as the fourth generation. Doing it together would just be the icing on the cake.”
But don’t worry Sod Poodle fans, the season is only halfway through. For now, the Caray twins aren’t going anywhere. For them, that’s more than OK.
“We’re lucky to be here in a place that has built us up,” Stefan said. “We’re looking forward to what’s next but we’re enjoying what’s happening right now.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Sod Poodles announcers Chris and Stefan Caray adding to family legacy