The Braves introduced Powell as at least one-half of their new radio crew Friday night. While negotiations to bring back Don Sutton are ongoing, Powell was on hand to help host the team's annual Diamond Gala at the InterContinental Hotel.

That he was stepping right into the role held by the late Skip Caray and the retired Pete Van Wieren still had him in disbelief. It's a job he had dreamed about.

"It was probably more of a childhood dream than it ever was a career goal," Powell said. "To be honest with you, I thought Skip and Pete would be doing the games for a long, long time. ... I'm a huge fan of both of them."

Van Wieren retired last fall after 33 years at the mike. Caray, his partner through all those seasons, died in August.

The club had been hopeful about presenting Sutton with Powell. A member of the Braves' broadcast crew for 18 years, Sutton left for Washington in 2006, and his contract with the Nationals still has two years to run. The two sides are said to be close to finalizing his return.

Powell, 44, was the first baby born at Grady Hospital in 1965 and attended old Spring Street Elementary School before his family moved to Roswell. He had his first play-by-play job covering University of Georgia Baseball in 1985-86 while he was a student there.

But he had been a student of the craft long before that.

"It was listening to Skip and Pete and Ernie Johnson --- I would be remiss if I didn't include all three," Powell said. "Each had a slightly different approach to doing the job. All did the job at, I thought, a Hall of Fame level. That's what inspired me to be a broadcaster."

For the past 13 seasons, Powell has announced Milwaukee Brewers games, working side-by-side with legendary Bob Uecker.

"I used to tell people I had probably the best seat in all of Baseball, sitting right next to Mr. Baseball," he said. "I guarantee you there was nobody in any booth anywhere having more fun than we did. But I also learned a tremendous amount from Bob."