Boston Braves beat the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day (April 12, 1916)

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1916, April 12, Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Dick Rudolph, Rabbit Maranville, Sherry Magee

Rabbit Maranville

It is opening day in 1916. It is a great day for a win. The Boston Braves will not disappoint us this day. They beat the Dodgers 5-1. Playing at Ebbets Field, the attendance is projected to be around 10,000. Pretty good for those days.

The winning pitcher is Dick (Baldy) Rudolph. Rabbit Maranville will hit .500 starting the season very well. Sherry Magee will bat .600. The losing pitcher for the Dodgers is Larry Cheney.

I love opening day. A day filled with hope.

 

Batting	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PA	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	PO	A
Rabbit Maranville SS	4	1	2	0	0	1	5	.500	.500	.750	1.250	1	3	2B,SB,SH
Johnny Evers 2B	3	1	0	1	1	1	5	.000	.250	.000	.250	0	5	SH
Joe Wilhoit RF	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	.000	.000	.000	.000	2	0	SB,2·SH
Sherry Magee LF	5	1	3	1	0	0	5	.600	.600	1.000	1.600	3	0	3B
Ed Konetchy 1B	4	0	2	0	0	1	4	.500	.500	.500	1.000	13	0
Red Smith 3B	3	0	0	1	0	0	4	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	1	SH
Pete Compton CF	1	0	0	0	3	0	4	.000	.750	.000	.750	3	0
Hank Gowdy C	4	1	1	0	0	2	4	.250	.250	.250	.500	4	0
Dick Rudolph P	3	1	1	0	1	0	4	.333	.500	.667	1.167	0	3	2B
Team Totals	30	5	9	4	5	5	40	.300	.400	.433	.833	27	12

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/17/2016.

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1973 Off season brings some significant changes.

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1972, 1973, Atlanta Braves, Brian Asselstine, Carl Morton, Curt Blefary, Denny McLain, February 28, January 10, January 21, Jim Panther, Mada, March 26, October 27, Pat Jarvis, Rico Carty

Denny McClain

The 1973 off season brought some significant changes.

October 27, 1972: Rico Carty was traded by the Braves to the Texas Rangers for Jim Panther.

January 10, 1973: Brian Asselstine was drafted by the Braves in the 1st round (15th pick) of the 1973 Major League Baseball Draft (Secondary Phase).

January 21, 1973: Curt Blefary was signed as a free agent by the Braves.

February 28, 1973: Pat Jarvis was traded by the Braves to the Montreal Expos for Carl Morton.

March 26, 1973: Denny McLain was released by the Braves.

 

James Parr, drafted number 131 in 2004

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2004, 2008, Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox, February 27, James Parr, September 4, Sugar Land Skeeters, Washington Nationals

James R. Parr (born February 27, 1986) is a right handed pitcher. He was drafted in the fourth round, 131st overall pick, out of La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico by the Atlanta Braves in the 2004 MLB Draft.

On September 4, 2008, Parr made his major league debut for the Braves. Parr pitched 6 innings, allowed no runs on 2 hits, and earned his first major league victory in the Braves 2-0 win against the Washington Nationals.

What a night he had. He’s sneaky quick. He doesn’t light up the radar gun, but he’s got a little looping curve and a changeup. I was impressed. It’s a great way to break in.

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said of his debut

Parr current plays for the Sugar Land Skeeters of The Atlantic League.

Dale Murphy proves the superiority of the Braves farm system (1978)

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1978, Atlanta Braves, Beeg Boy, Beeg Donkey, Bill Lucas, Dale Murphy, Rico Carty

Dale Murphy – Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves built their championship years based on an amazing farm system. Bill Lucas was the first black general manager in baseball history. He love to talk about the Braves farm system in the late 1970′s. He was absolutely convinced it would make them contenders. He was right.

Before the 1978 season, he came back from a scouting mission to the Dominican winter league. Former Brave Rico Carty liked to call himself the “Beeg Boy”. One day he pointed to the scoreboard in left field and said “The Beeg Boy hit one over there last night. Then he pointed to the field beyond the scoreboard and said “But the Beeg Donkey hit one way over there”.

The “Beeg Donkey” was of course, Dale Murphy, the pride of the Atlanta Braves farm system. He was one of the few prospects who lived up to his potential.

Phil Masi gets to the Boston Bees on a strange technicality (1939)

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1938, 1939, 1944, April 27, Boston Bees, Casey Stengel, Phil Masi

Phil Masi

Phil Masi began his  baseball career when he was contracted in 1936 by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 20. In 1937 he played for the Wausau Timberjacks and demonstrated his versatility by playing as a catcher, outfielder, third baseman and as a first baseman. Masi became known as the Pepper Martin of the Northern League because of his head-first slides and prancing running style, while leading the league with 31 home runs and being named to the league’s All-Star team.

In 1938 Masi was then purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers who assigned him to play for the Springfield Indians of the Middle Atlantic League. Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis found this move to be in violation of baseball rules and allowed him to sign a non-reserve contract with Springfield, meaning that he would be a free agent at the end of the season. He played mostly as a catcher for Springfield in 1938 where his backup that year was the future All-Star catcher for the Cleveland Indians, seventeen-year-old Jim Hegan. Masi posted a .308 batting average with 16 home runs and 97 runs batted in for Springfield, earning a promotion to the major leagues when he was signed by the Boston Braves, then known as the Bees.

The Bees already had future Hall of Fame member, Al Lopez, as well as future All-Star, Ray Mueller and veteran Johnny Riddle as catchers going into spring training in 1939 however, Masi impressed Bees’ manager Casey Stengel so much that, Mueller and Riddle would be traded before the start of the season, leaving Masi as Lopez’s backup. He made his major league debut with the Bees on April 23, 1939 Boston Bees season at the age of 23. After his father died in 1942, he was given a 3-A draft classification exempting him from military duty as he was the sole support for his family.

Masi served as the Braves’ backup catcher first to Al Lopez, then Ray Berres, and finally to Ernie Lombardi. He began to develop his reputation as a good defensive catcher from his association with knuckleball pitcher Jim Tobin. The other Braves catchers shunned Tobin due to the unpredictability of the notoriously difficult to catch knuckleball and, Masi took over the job as his catcher. When Lombardi was traded to the New York Giants in 1943, Masi became the Braves regular catcher. His work with Tobin paid off on April 27, 1944 when Tobin pitched a no hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

 

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Awards
1939	23	BSN	46	124	114	14	29	1	14
1940	24	BSN	63	152	138	11	27	1	14
1941	25	BSN	87	199	180	17	40	3	18
1942	26	BSN	57	99	87	14	19	0	9
1943	27	BSN	80	269	238	27	65	2	28
1944	28	BSN	89	286	251	33	69	3	23
1945	29	BSN	114	421	371	55	101	7	46	MVP-29
1946 ★	30	BSN	133	463	397	52	106	3	62	AS,MVP-24
1947 ★	31	BSN	126	470	411	54	125	9	50	AS
1948 ★	32	BSN	113	422	376	43	95	5	44	AS
1949	33	TOT	85	275	240	29	59	2	19
1949	33	BSN	37	120	105	13	22	0	6
1949	33	PIT	48	155	135	16	37	2	13
1950	34	CHW	122	434	377	38	105	7	55
1951	35	CHW	84	262	225	24	61	4	28
1952	36	CHW	30	73	63	9	16	0	7
14 Yrs			1229	3949	3468	420	917	47	417
162 Game Avg.			162	521	457	55	121	6	55
BSN (11 yrs)			945	3025	2668	333	698	34	314
CHW (3 yrs)			236	769	665	71	182	11	90
PIT (1 yr)			48	155	135	16	37	2	13
NL (11 yrs)			993	3180	2803	349	735	36	327
AL (3 yrs)			236	769	665	71	182	11	90

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/17/2016.

The return of the four seceders (1876)

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1876, Al Spalding, Four Seceders, Joseph Borden, May 30, South End Grounds

Al Spalding

The 1876 season was a bust all the way around. The “four seceders’ had made sure of that. Joseph Borden did not replace Al Spalding. The greatest excitement of the season came on May 30th. The Chicago White Stockings and the “Four Seceders” made their first visit to Boston. They played at the South End Grounds.

The crowd got so excited they tore down the fences to see Spalding pitch against the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Caps). Spalding showed why he was so good beating the Braves 5-1 that day. The season also showed why the Braves were devasted loosing the “Four Seceders”. With them Chicago beat the Braves nine times out of ten games that season. They went on to win the National League pennant and broke the Braves run of four consecutive championships. The Braves ended up in fourth in 1876.

The Braves first unassisted triple play (October 6, 1923)

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1923, Boston Braves, Ernie Padgett, October 6

Ernie Padgett

Triple plays aren’t easy. Unassisted triple plays are very rare. They are an amazing thing to see.

I wished I could have seen this one. History in the making for the whole National League. No one had ever seen this before.

The first unassisted triple play in National League history occurs on October 6, 1923 when the Boston Braves’ shortstop Ernie Padgett catches Phillies first baseman Walter Holke’s line drive, doubles up James Tierney at second, and then tags Cliff Lee for the third out.

In MLB, a total of fifteen players have fielded an unassisted triple play,^[3] making this feat rarer than a perfect game.^[4] Of these fifteen players, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were first basemen. TheCleveland Indians are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrúbal Cabrera. The shortest time between two unassisted triple plays occurred in May 1927, when Johnny Neun executed the feat less than 24 hours after Jimmy Cooney.^[5] Conversely, it took more than 41 seasons after Neun’s play before Ron Hansen performed the feat on July 30, 1968, marking the longest span between unassisted triple plays.^[5] The last player to make an unassisted triple play is Eric Bruntlett, accomplishing the feat on August 23, 2009.^[6] Only Neun and Bruntlett executed unassisted triple plays that ended the game.

Source: Wikipedia

The longest shutout (1944)

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1944, Boston Braves, Charley Schanz, June 22

Charley Schanz – Philadelphia Phillies

In the first game of a twin bill on June 22, 1944, Charley Schanz gets the win when the Phillies blank the Boston Braves for 15 innings, matching the longest shutout in franchise history. Charley would later play in Boston in 1950 but for the Boston Red Sox, not the Braves.

Philadelphia right-fielder Ron Northey’s homer in the top of the frame scores the game’s only run in the 1-0 victory at Braves Field.