28 Saturday Feb 2015
Posted in Milwaukee Braves (1953 - 1965)
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Fred Haney
The ability to sustain success in baseball can be a challenge. The Milwaukee Braves saw that over the years. In 1897 – 1898 they saw back to back championships. 1914 was a miracle but nothing to speak of in 1915. 1948 was a great pennant year but nothing in 1949.
And so, in 1958 the Braves equaled there greatness of 1957. They had a 92-62 year finishing first, 8 games up. Fred Haney was in his third year as manager.
27 Friday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Beaneaters (1883 - 1906)
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John Morrill
John Morrill moved into his third season in 1884. The year before he had won the pennant. This year the Boston Beaneaters would finish second 10 1/2 games behind for second place with a 73-38 record.
Their winning percentage that year was .658. In 1993 they won the NL West with .642 per cent winning record. Odd that they were over 10 games behind with that kind of talent. But that is the beauty and heartbreak of baseball.
26 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Braves (1941 - 1952)
Billy Southworth
Billy Southworth had a 13 season career. He almost batted .300 (actual was .297) which is pretty good. He also had 53 home runs, 138 stolen bases and 1,296 hits. He played for the Boston Braves from 1921 to 1923.
He also did very well as a manager. He was the Boston Braves manager from 1946 to 1949, 1950 to 1951. His .597 record is second to all time record holder Joe McCarthy’s .615. He had four first place finishes and won two World Series. He really helped the Braves in the 1940’s. Getting into the Hall of Fame in 2008 proved it all.
Great player. Great manager.
25 Wednesday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Beaneaters (1883 - 1906)
Tags
1857, 1894, Boston Beaneaters, Chicago White Stockings, December 31, King Kelly, Mike Kelly, November 8
Mike “King” Kelly
Mike “King” Kelly was a Boston Beaneater (now the Atlanta Braves). He played for them from 1887-89 and 1891-92. He was born on December 31, 1857 in Troy, New York. He played every position at one time or another. He bated right and threw right. He died on November 8, 1894.
He is generally regarded as the Babe Ruth of the 19th century. Not a bad way to be remembered. It was a different era in baseball then but he became a favorite of the fans like the Bambino did.
He came to the Beaneaters from Chicago. They purchased him for a stunning sum of $10,000. Unheard of at the time. They brought the King of Baseball to Boston. He had led the White Stockings to two pennants and was the batting leader the three years before he came to Boston. If the Boston fans were estatic, the Chicago fans were depressed.
24 Tuesday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
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Dale Murphy – Atlanta Braves
One of Dale Murphy‘s more memorable incidents was reminiscent of a scene from the classic black-and-white baseball film about Babe Ruth, “The Pride of the Yankees”.
Before a home game against San Francisco on June 12, 1983, Murphy visited in the stands with Elizabeth Smith, a six-year-old girl who had lost both hands and a leg when she stepped on a live power line. After Murphy gave her a cap and a T shirt, her nurse innocently asked if he could hit a home run for Elizabeth. “I didn’t know what to say, so I just sort of mumbled ‘Well, O.K.,’ ” says Murphy.
That day he hit two homers and drove in all the Atlanta Braves‘ runs in a 3-2 victory
23 Monday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Beaneaters (1883 - 1906)
John Morrill
There is a decline and there is a drop off.
The 1885 Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves) saw a huge drop off under Manager John Morrill during his 4th season. The prior season the ended in second. In 1885 they ended in fifth with a 46-66 record.
In fact, a drop off is being kind. They fell off a cliff. The team’s .411 winning percentage was the worst in its histoy up to that point. That was a 27 ½ game slide from the previous year. And …. AMAZINGLY enough, 41 games behind.
22 Sunday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
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Typically, draft picks didn’t make an impact on the hobby until their Major League careers began. By the late 1980s though, the rookie card craze had a firm grip on collectors and manufacturers alike.
The manufacturers were looking to get a jump on each other by featuring the first card of a player, and major league experience was no longer a criteria for making a checklist.
The entire story of Chipper Jones selection ensured that both his name and that of college bound (ha) Todd Van Poppel were known by virtually every collector. The manufacturers would cram Chipper Jones into virtually every product they could. By the time he made his major league debut in September of 1993, there were well over 20 cards already available.
21 Saturday Feb 2015
Posted in Milwaukee Braves (1953 - 1965)
Charlie Grimm – Milwaukee Braves
The 1956 Milwaukee Braves had a lot going for them. They could have won the pennant but didn’t.
They ended up with a record of 92-62, a seven game improvement over the previous year. They came close but ended up one game behind. Charlie Grimm started the year as manager but Fred Haney ended it for them.
The team was essentially the same, player wise, as the year before. They built on the previous year’s success and made some new gains experience wise. The Braves made some progress against the Brooklyn Dodgers but came up just a little short.
The race was tight, the Milwaukee Braves ended one game behind the Dodgers and Cincinnati one game behind the Braves.
20 Friday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Jim Essian
Jim Essian didn’t have much of a career with the Atlanta Braves. In 1975, he was traded to the Braves for Dick Allen and Johnny Oates, but in May, he was sent to the White Sox to complete a trade the Braves made for Allen.
I wanted to go into my Home Run trot (after hitting his first MLB HR), but then I realized I didn’t have one. ~ 1977 Jim Essian
19 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Tags
2005, 2009, Atlanta Braves, February 19, Jeff Francoeur, July 6
Despite his poor performance in the 2008 season, the Braves give Jeff Francoeur, nicknamed “Frenchy“, a big raise over his previous salary of $460,000, agreeing to a one-year contract worth $3,375,000 with the outfielder.
The deal, a compromise between their two offers, comes just hours prior to a scheduled salary arbitration hearing in Arizona.
Francoeur had been promoted by Atlanta on July 6, 2005. He was part of a group of rookie players, nicknamed the “Baby Braves,” that Atlanta called up from its minor league system during the 2005 season.
18 Wednesday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Braves (1912 - 1935)
Bill McKechnie
1933 was a year of improvements for the Boston Braves. In fact, they had the best record since 1921. The Braves ended up over .500 with a record of 83-71. They finished fourth, 9 games behind the leader. Bill McKechnie was kept on as the manager. Under his leadership, they were actually in the pennant race much of the season.
It was the middle of the depression and baseball was a welcome distraction in Boston. They Braves moved ahead by the fundamentals of improved pitching and a solid defense.
Wally Berger helped a lot. He had 27 of the team’s 54 home runs. Previous years had seen a decline in his power but not 1933. He was the only Brave to be in the first ever All-Star Game. It was held in Chicago on July 6 at the famed Comiskey Park.
17 Tuesday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Tags
1969, Atlanta Braves, August 19, Chicago Cubs, Ken Holtzman, No Hitter, Phil Niekro, Ron Santo, Wrigley Field
Phil Niekro
At Wrigley Field on August 19, 1969, Ken Holtzman no-hits the Braves, 3-0. Now that is not a good day.
The kicker was that Ron Santo‘s first inning homer off Phil Niekro provided all of the Cubs‘ runs. It is the fifth no-hitter of the season, and the first since 1923 (Sad Sam Jones) in which no strikeouts are recorded.
It is hard to imagine a no hitter with no strike outs. It isn’t too easy to do that as a pitcher I think. But, Ken Hotzman did it against us.
16 Monday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Bobby Cox – Manager – Atlanta Braves
There were four candidates for the job. It is a very good job if you can handle the stress.
You are competing against Ken Boyer, Tommie Aaron (Hank’s brother) and Hall of Fame Catcher Yogi Berra.
You are a former major league infielder of no great distinction. You are 36 and would be the youngest man ever to hold this kind of job. You have managed in the minors (the Syracuse Chiefs) but never the majors. If you get the job, you replace Dave Bristol.
The wild card in all of this is that Ted Turner is making the decision.
And so, Bobby Cox became the youngest manager in the history of baseball in 1978. The Braves had a record of 69-93. They finished sixth in the Western Division. They ended up 26 games behind the leader.
15 Sunday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
After the Braves completed their convincing Opening Day win on April 5, 2010, Chipper Jones challenged the Atlanta fans to continue bringing energy to the ballpark.
Two days later, the veteran third baseman electrified the faithful with a homer that proved he still had the ability to thrive in clutch situations. It also said the Braves could come back late in the game. While it wasn’t a walk off home, it came late when they were behind. Very important.
Chipper interrupted a pitching-dominated affair with a two-run, eighth-inning homer that allowed the Braves to overcome Troy Glaus‘ woes and claim a 3-2 win over the Cubs at Turner Field. “You could definitely feel the wind go out of their sails,” Jones said in reference to the reaction he felt from the Cubs after he directed left-handed reliever John Grabow‘s changeup over the left-center-field wall.
14 Saturday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Atlanta Braves Logo
It was the spring of 1966. I was going to turn 12 that summer. It was my last year in Little League.
The Milwaukee Braves would be no more. The Braves were headed to Atlanta for their first season at Fulton County Stadium. There was a welcoming parade. Similar to the one they had in Milwaukee 13 years before.
And the move was not without controversy. There were injunctions. There were rulings. Then some reversals. Follow by appeals.
Ain’t the law fun?? It went to the Supreme Court. Who would have figured? So on December 12 they refused to hear the final appeal. Baseball’s amazing exemption from antitrust laws was upheld.
They were now the Atlanta Braves. I had believed and now it was true. We had Major League baseball in Atlanta.
12 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Braves (1941 - 1952)
Warren Spahn – Boston Braves
Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain were a VERY good combination in 1947 as the best pitchers around. Of course, they played for the Braves. The tied for second in victories. The had 21 each. That was just one behind Cincinnati’s Ewell Blackwell. He is well known for one of the more amazing things in baseball. Unfortunately it was against the Braves that season. He delivered a no hitter against us in June.
Spahn won his first eight games that season. Not a bad start. He also managed to lead the league with seven shutouts. He became the second Brave in the 20th century to lead the league in ERA. He had a fairly “decent” 2.33
11 Wednesday Feb 2015
Fred Tenney
One of the partners in the Braves was James Gaffney. He had political ties with the Tammany Hall regime. That was in New York. The Braves were in Boston then. In 1912 they became the Boston Braves. Politicians who were affiliated with Tammany Hall were often referred to as the “braves” because the Tammany Society was actually named after a Deleware Indian chief. That was the year a profile of an Indian chief replaced the old English B on the team’s uniform jerseys.
Fred Tenney, the manager in 1911, still had a year on his contract. In baseball that seems to be an invitation to disaster. The team had a new nickname. The team had new uniforms. Why not get a new manager then? So, Johnny Kling came on the scene. He had been a pretty good man with the tools of ignorance (a catcher). He came to us from the Cubs and was name the replacement for Tenney. He actually was traded to us as a player and then got promoted. Well, results weren’t forthcoming. We eneded up 52-101 and finished eight, 52 games behind.
So, what is in a name huh?
09 Monday Feb 2015
Posted in Milwaukee Braves (1953 - 1965)
Joe Adcock – Milwaukee Braves
There is a lot to the Braves history and we have had our share of home run hitters. Joe Adcock was one of the Braves best and one of the best in all of baseball history. He retired in 1966. At the time he was 20th on the all-time list of home run hitters. He was seventh of all right handed hitters with 336 home runs.
It is probably fair to say that he was overshadowed by a few other Braves greats. He played with Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. Imagine the team that had all three of them. That would have been the Milwaukee Braves now residing in Atlanta.
06 Friday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Braves (1941 - 1952)
Eddie Stanky Boston Braves
What happens when “The Brat” slides into “The Bull”? The Brat breaks his ankle and that is what happened to Eddie Stanky when he slid into third against Brooklyn’s Bruce “The Bull” Edwards on July 8, 1948. That ended the season for him.
Eddie played for the Braves in 1948 and 1949. Eddie was born on September 3,1916 in Philadelphia. He was a very good second baseman for the Dodgers. So much so, when the Braves needed a good middle fielded, Owner Lou Perini brought him onto the club. Manager Billy Southworth agreed that if they were going to make a run for first, they needed strength at second. With a rookie Al Dark at short, they needed a sure hand.
Too bad his 1948 season would be so short.
04 Wednesday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Tags
1981, 1990, Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox, Charlie Leibrandt, Dale Murphy, David Justice, Greg Olson, Mark Lemke, Ron Gant, Steve Avery
Bobby Cox – Manager – Atlanta Braves
1990 was a pivotal year for the Braves. Bobby Cox moved back into the dug out as manager replacing Russ Nixon. He had been fired in 1981 at the close of his 4th season. But his return heralded better days. Of course, the record that year didn’t reflect it. The Braves end sixth in the NL West, 26 games behind the leader.
Dale Murphy, in a bold move, was traded to Philadelphia. That made room for David Justice to move to right. Greg Olson, who to some extent was a minor league castoff, began to shine as an All Star catcher. Ron Gant joined the 30-30 club. Mark Lemke became a full-time major leaguer. Steve Avery and Charlie Leibrandt arrived on the scene.
It was indeed a landmark year for the future even if the record didn’t show it.
03 Tuesday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Beaneaters (1883 - 1906)
Atlanta Braves Logo
The Atlanta Braves have trained at the following sites since the team’s entry in the National League as the Boston Beaneaters:
02 Monday Feb 2015
Posted in Boston Braves (1912 - 1935)
George Stallings
There are seasons and then there are SEASONS. 1914 was an amazing one for the Boston Braves (now in Atlanta). It was George Stallings second season as manager.
This was the season known as the “Miracle Braves of 1914″.
The Facts: 94-59. Finished first. 10 1/2 games ahead. An amazing year and an amazing story.
So you are George Stallings. Your team is dead last in the eight team National League on July 18. Not only last but what we know as dead last. No hope. But …
Some more facts. The second half you are 51-16 (.761). You win the last 34 of 44 games (.773).
Not only were you last at the second half turn, you end up leading by 10 1/2 games. No cliff hangers or doubts about the end there. So you go to the World Series to face the Philadelphia Athletics. Connie Mack’s team is favored.
The Braves sweep them in 4 games for the first time in World Series history. So George is labeled the “Miracle Man” and the Braves are known as the “Miracle Braves”.
01 Sunday Feb 2015
Posted in Atlanta Braves (1966 - Present)
Fredi Gonzalez – Atlanta Braves Manager
It’s a new season and the Atlanta Braves have a new manager. Fredi Gonzalez was in a cab with some coaches early Thursday morning, March 31, 2011 on their way to the ballpark when his cell phone rang. It was his old boss, Bobby Cox, aka “The Skipper” to Gonzalez, always.
“He was having coffee, and he called to wish us good luck and to have a good season,” the new Braves manager said of the call from the iconic ex-manager. “And he said he’d be watching the game.”
Someone asked what time Cox called, and Gonzalez smiled. “He knows the [routine], so when he called he said, ‘Are you guys getting out of the cab?’ I said, we’re right around the corner from the stadium. [Gonzalez laughed]. So we talked for a little bit.”
Here is a little background on the move to bring in Fredi.
On October 13, 2010, the Atlanta Braves announced that Fredi González would replace long-time Braves manager Bobby Cox as manager of the team in 2011.[36] The announcement came just two days after the 2010 Braves were eliminated from the postseason. It was also announced that pitching coach Roger McDowell, third-base coach Brian Snitker, and bullpen coach Eddie Pérez would retain their current positions, while former hitting coach Terry Pendleton would replace Glenn Hubbard as the first-base coach and newcomer Carlos Tosca would become the new bench coach. Hubbard and former bench coach Chino Cadahia were not offered positions on the new coaching staff. Larry Parrish was hired as hitting coach on October 29, 2010.
Source: Wikipedia
