English

Noun

braves

1. Plural of brave

Verb

braves

1. third-person singular of brave

The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Braves have played in Turner Field.

The "Braves" name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior. They are nicknamed "the Bravos", and often self-styled as "America's Team" in reference to the team's games being broadcast on the nationally available TBS until the 2008 season, gaining a wide fanbase.

From 1991-2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning their division title an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period (omitting the strike-shortened 1994 season in which there were no official division champions). The Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995, and earning the moniker "the Team of the '90s". In their history, the Braves have won 16 divisional titles, nine National League pennants, and three World Series championships—in 1914 as the Boston Braves, in 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves, and in 1995 while in Atlanta. The Braves are the only MLB franchise to have won the Series in three different home cities.

One of the National League's two remaining charter franchises (the other being the Chicago Cubs), the club was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in as the Boston Red Stockings (not to be confused with the American League's Boston Red Sox or the NL Central's Cincinnati Reds). The team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in and became the Milwaukee Braves. In , the team moved to Atlanta. The team's tenure in Atlanta is famous for Hank Aaron's breaking of the career home run record in 1974; the new record stood until Barry Bonds broke it in .

History

Boston

1871-1913

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-manager Harry Wright then went to Boston, Massachusetts at the invitation of Boston Red Stockings founder Ivers Whitney Adams, with brother George and two other Cincinnati players, to form the nucleus of the Boston Red Stockings, a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. (The only other team that has been organized as long, the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.) Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years: pitcher Al Spalding (founder of Spalding sporting goods) and second baseman Ross Barnes.

Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, winning four of that league's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the "Red Caps" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color.

Although somewhat stripped of talent in the National League's inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the league's dominant teams during the 19th century, winning a total of eight pennants. For most of that time, their manager was Frank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well. The 1898 team finished 102-47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century.

The team was decimated when the American League's new Boston entry set up shop in 1901. Many of the Beaneaters' stars jumped to the new team, which offered contracts that the Beaneaters' owners didn't even bother to match. They only managed one winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 games five times. In 1907, the Beaneaters (temporarily) eliminated the last bit of red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected (as noted in The Sporting News Baseball Guide during the 1940s when each team's entry had a history of its nickname(s). See details in History of baseball team nicknames). The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, wasted little time in changing his team's name to the Red Sox, in place of the generic "Americans". Media-driven nickname changes to the Doves in 1907 and the Rustlers in 1911 did nothing to change the National League club's luck. The team became the Braves for the first time in 1912. Their owner, James Gaffney, was a member of New York City's political machine, Tammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol.

1914: Miracle

Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4-18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26-40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leading New York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves started to put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1914&t=BSN On September 7th and 8th, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16-16. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1914&t=NY1 They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12.

Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves entered the World Series as a heavy underdog to Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics--the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the 1907 Series had had one tied game)--to win the world championship. Meanwhile, Johnny Evers won the Chalmers Award.

The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few games of the 1914 season) at Fenway Park, since their normal home, the South End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park, Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park.

1915-1953

After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves only twice posted winning records from 1917 to 1932. The lone highlight of those years came when Judge Emil Fuchs bought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching great Christy Mathewson, back into the game. However, Mathewson died in 1925, leaving Fuchs in control of the team.

Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in 1933 and 1934 under manager Bill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to the Great Depression.

Looking for a way to get more fans and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire Babe Ruth, who had, ironically, started his career with the Red Sox. Fuchs made Ruth team vice president, and promised him a share of the profits. He was also granted the title of assistant manager, and was to be consulted on all of the Braves' deals. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down--perhaps as early as 1936.

At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece team needed in 1935. On opening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4-2 win over the Giants. However, that proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. Events went downhill quickly. While Ruth could still hit, he could do little else. He couldn't run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. It soon became obvious that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some of his money in the team.

2007: More struggles

The Braves made their first moves by re-signing Bob Wickman to a one year deal and picking up John Smoltz's option in September 2006. Then they traded starting pitcher Horacio Ramírez to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Rafael Soriano, an American League reliever with a solid 2.20 ERA in 2006. They also denied arbitration to pitcher Chris Reitsma and second baseman Marcus Giles. Then the Braves signed utility-man Chris Woodward to fill a spot on the bench. The biggest trade in the offseason involved first baseman Adam LaRoche and a minor league player for Pittsburgh Pirates closer Mike González and a minor league infielder, Brent Lillibridge. Gonzalez, who converted 24 of 24 save opportunities in 2006, joined Soriano as a set up man for Wickman in the bullpen. The team then signed first baseman Craig Wilson to a one year deal to platoon with Scott Thorman. The Braves also had solid relievers in Macay McBride, Blaine Boyer, and Tyler Yates. In addition, the majority of the Braves' offense, which was second in the NL in runs scored in 2006, returned in 2007. However, Mike Hampton was sidelined for the entire 2007 season with yet another surgery. Mike González was later sidelined for the season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Braves' bullpen and offense came through in the clutch early on, helping the Braves to a 7-1 start, their best start since winning the World Series in 1995. The team finished April with a 16-9 record, but struggled during May, finishing 14-14. The Braves also struggled during interleague play, finishing with an NL-worst 4-11 record. On June 24, the Braves fell to .500 for the first time in the 2007 season, but rebounded by winning the next 5 games.

On July 5, Chipper Jones surpassed Dale Murphy for the Atlanta club record of 372 home runs by belting 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. On July 31 2007, the Braves finalized the deal to acquire slugger first baseman Mark Teixeira and LHP Ron Mahay from the Texas Rangers for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and four minor-leaguers. The Braves also acquired Octavio Dotel from the Kansas City Royals for Kyle Davies and also traded LHP Wilfredo Ledezma and RHP Will Startup to the San Diego Padres for Royce Ring. On August 19, 2007 John Smoltz passed Phil Niekro for 1st place on the Braves' all-time strikeout list. After struggling during the second half of the 2007 season, Atlanta finished over .500 and missed the post season again. On October 12, 2007, John Schuerholz stepped aside from his General Manager position to take over as the team's president. Schuerholz's former Assistant GM Frank Wren took over as the new Atlanta General Manager.

2008

In December, the team announced it would not re-sign center fielder Andruw Jones (who later would sign with the Dodgers). Another major move was acquiring OF Gorkys Hernandez and RHP Jair Jurrjens from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for SS Edgar Renteria and cash considerations. Next, LHP Tom Glavine was signed to a one-year contract.

The team's first new move for 2008 was acquiring OF Mark Kotsay from the A's (to replace Jones) in exchange for RHP Joey Devine, RHP Jamie Richmond and cash considerations. Days later, Wren traded Willy Aybar, outfielder Tom Lindsey, and infielder Chase Fontaine to the Rays in exchange for left-hand reliever Jeff Ridgway.

Season records

This list only covers the franchise's season-by-season results while in Atlanta. For a full season-by-season list, see Atlanta Braves season records. |- |colspan="6"| Atlanta Braves

|- |1966 || 85 || 77 || 5th in NL || |- |1967 || 77 || 85 || 7th in NL || |- |1968 || 81 || 81 || 5th in NL || |- |1969 || 93 || 69 || 1st in NL West || Lost NLCS to New York Mets, 0-3. |- |1970 || 76 || 86 || 5th in NL West || |- |1971 || 82 || 80 || 3rd in NL West || |- |1972 || 70 || 84 || 4th in NL West || |- |1973 || 76 || 85 || 5th in NL West || |- |1974 || 88 || 74 || 3rd in NL West || |- |1975 || 67 || 94 || 5th in NL West || |- |1976 || 70 || 92 || 6th in NL West || |- |1977 || 61 || 101 || 6th in NL West || |- |1978 || 69 || 93 || 6th in NL West || |- |1979 || 66 || 94 || 6th in NL West || |- |1980 || 81 || 80 || 4th in NL West || |- |1981 || 50 || 56 || 5th in NL West || |- |1982 || 89 || 73 || 1st in NL West || Lost NLCS to St. Louis Cardinals, 0-3. |- |1983 || 88 || 74 || 2nd in NL West || |- |1984 || 80 || 82 || 2nd in NL West || |- |1985 || 66 || 96 || 5th in NL West || |- |1986 || 72 || 89 || 6th in NL West || |- |1987 || 69 || 92 || 5th in NL West || |- |1988 || 54 || 106 || 6th in NL West || |- |1989 || 63 || 97 || 6th in NL West || |- |1990 || 65 || 97 || 6th in NL West || |- |1991 || 94 || 68 || 1st in NL West || Won NLCS vs Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3. Lost World Series to Minnesota Twins, 3-4. |- |1992 || 98 || 64 || 1st in NL West || Won NLCS vs Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3. Lost World Series to Toronto Blue Jays, 2-4. |- |1993 || 104 || 58 || 1st in NL West || Lost NLCS to Philadelphia Phillies, 2-4. |- |1994 || 68 || 46 || Season not completed due to Players' Strike|| No Playoffs. |- |1995 || 90 || 54 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Colorado Rockies, 3-1. Won NLCS vs Cincinnati Reds, 4-0. Won World Series vs Cleveland Indians, 4-2. |- |1996 || 96 || 66 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0. Won NLCS vs St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3. Lost World Series to New York Yankees, 2-4. |- |1997 || 101 || 61 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Houston Astros, 3-0. Lost NLCS vs Florida Marlins, 2-4. |- |1998 || 106 || 56 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Chicago Cubs, 3-0. Lost NLCS vs San Diego Padres, 2-4. |- |1999 || 103 || 59 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Houston Astros, 3-1. Won NLCS vs New York Mets, 4-2. Lost World Series to New York Yankees, 0-4. |- |2000 || 95 || 67 || 1st in NL East || Lost NLDS to St. Louis Cardinals, 0-3. |- |2001 || 88 || 74 || 1st in NL East || Won NLDS vs Houston Astros, 3-0. Lost NLCS to Arizona Diamondbacks, 1-4. |- |2002 || 101 || 59 || 1st in NL East || Lost NLDS to San Francisco Giants, 2-3. |- |2003 || 101 || 61 || 1st in NL East || Lost NLDS to Chicago Cubs, 2-3. |- |2004 || 96 || 66 || 1st in NL East || Lost NLDS to Houston Astros, 2-3. |- |2005 || 90 || 72 || 1st in NL East || Lost NLDS to Houston Astros, 1-3. |- |2006 || 79 || 83 || 3rd in NL East || |- ||2007 || 84 || 78 || 3rd in NL East || | |- !Totals (1871-2007) || 9864 || 9726 || || |- !Playoffs || 79 || 79 || || |- !Playoff Series || 14 || 17 || ||

• 3 World Series Championships (1914, 1957, 1995)

Uniforms

The Braves currently have four uniforms. The first is a white home jersey with Braves written across the breastplate. The away jersey is gray with Atlanta written across the chest. Their alternate home jersey is a red jersey with Braves written across the chest. The red jerseys are only worn on Sunday home games, and they were worn the last time the Braves made the playoffs, in 2005. On opening night of the 2008 season against the Nationals, they debuted an alternate dark blue away jersey with Atlanta written in the same dark blue with white outline.

There are three hats that the Braves wear; the standard game hat is one worn with the white home and gray away jerseys and has a red brim and navy blue top with a white A on the front for Atlanta. The hat worn with the Red Jerseys is the same color scheme as the standard game hat but has a red A with a tomahawk across the A. The hat worn with the blue road jerseys has a navy blue top and brim with a white A on the front, similar to the team's away hat from 1966-1969. It is sometimes worn with the gray road jerseys. Also, the standard game hat has been worn with the blue road jersey.

Quick facts

• Founded: 1871 in Boston, Massachusetts as the Boston Red Stockings, a charter member of the National Association. The club became a charter member of the National League in 1876 and has remained in the league without a break since then. The Braves are the oldest continuously operating sports franchise in North American sports. Arguably, they can trace their ancestry to the original Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-1870, baseball's first openly professional team. When the N.A. formed, Cincinnati's backers declined to field a team in the new league, and Red Stockings player-manager Harry Wright along with three of the best players from that team moved collectively to Boston and took the nickname with them.
• Formerly known as: Boston Braves (1912-1952), and Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965). Prior to 1912, the Boston team had several unofficial nicknames: "Red Stockings" and "Red Caps" in the 1870s and 1880s; "Beaneaters" in the 1890s and early 1900s; "Doves" (when the Dovey family owned the franchise, 1907-1910) and "Rustlers" (when William Russell owned the franchise, 1911). Following the 1935 season, after enduring bankruptcy and a series of poor seasons, new owner Bob Quinn asked a team of sportswriters to choose a new nickname, to change the team's luck. The sportswriters chose "Bees", which was adopted in 1936, though it never really caught on, with Quinn even refusing to use it, although their home uniforms in this interval were changed to feature a large block letter B ("bee"). The team dropped the nickname in 1941, using only the official name "Braves" from 1941 on.
• Ownership: Liberty Media
• Team Colors: Navy, Scarlet, White, Gold (1987 through present); Royal Blue, Red, White (1970 through 1986); Navy, Red, White (1966 through 1969)
• Logo design: The script word "Braves" above a tomahawk
• Team mottos: "Atlanta's Pastime Since 1966" and "Welcome to the Bigs."
• Spring Training Facility: The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
• Playoff appearances (20): 1914, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1969, 1982, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
• World Series Titles (3): 1914, 1957, 1995
• National League Pennants Won (9): 1914, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999
• National Association pennants won (4): 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875
• Official television stations: FSN South, SportSouth, WPCH-TV/Peachtree TV (Atlanta market, with simulcasts by CSS in the southeast US)
• Official radio station: WUBL-FM, WGST (AM) (flagship)

Miscellaneous facts

• Eddie Mathews is the only Braves player to have played for the organization in all three cities that they have been based in. Mathews played with the Braves for their last season in Boston, the team's entire tenure in Milwaukee, and the Braves' first season in Atlanta.
• Until Barry Bonds eclipsed the 714 home runs hit by Babe Ruth, the top two home run hitters in Major League history had at one time been Braves. Henry Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before asking to be traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, while Ruth finished his career as a Boston Brave. Interestingly enough, Bonds spent one day as an unofficial Brave, before his deal fell through and he went to the San Francisco Giants from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Braves signed pitcher Greg Maddux instead.
• Braves manager Bobby Cox now holds the all-time MLB record for most career ejections by a manager.http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070814&content_id=2148876&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
• The Braves are the only team in Major League Baseball history to have resided in a state on the East Coast, but played in the West division.

Retired numbers

As displayed at Turner Field:

Milwaukee Braves

Atlanta Braves

• Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Names in Bold Inducted as Braves

* Has no insignia on his cap or doesn't wear a cap due to either never wearing a cap, or playing at a time when caps bore no insignia.

Current roster

Minor league affiliates

• AAA: Richmond Braves, International League; In 2008, the Braves announced that the Richmond Braves would become the Gwinnett Braves in 2009. The team announced that the AAA club would move to Gwinnett County, Georgia, approximately forty miles northeast of Atlanta.
• AA: Mississippi Braves, Southern League
• Advanced A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Carolina League
• A: Rome Braves, South Atlantic League
• Rookie: Danville Braves, Appalachian League
• Rookie: GCL Braves, Gulf Coast League

Radio and television

After years of stability, the Braves are facing a period of transition in their radio and television coverage.

The 2007 season was the last for Braves baseball on the TBS Superstation. TBS showed 70 games throughout the country, then cleared the decks to make way for a new national broadcast package that will begin in earnest with the 2007 postseason, and will expand to Sunday afternoon games in 2008. Chip Caray, one of the Braves' current broadcasters, is expected to call play-by-play for the national package, which will include the Division Series every season and alternating coverage of the American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series. Braves baseball has been seen on TBS since it was WTCG in 1971 and has been a cornerstone of the national superstation since it began in 1976. WPCH-TV/Peachtree TV, formerly WTBS Atlanta, will still carry Braves games after this point, but only in parts of the Southern United States. The Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast cable sports network will also simulcast these games on cable systems throughout Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina, and outside of Metro Atlanta in Georgia.

After the 2004 season, longtime radio flagship station 750 WSB was replaced by WGST 640AM. Due to WGST's weak signal at night, which fails to cover the entire Atlanta metropolitan area, all games began to be simulcast on FM radio when the rights were transferred. The games first appeared on 96.1 WKLS (formerly "96rock") in 2005, but moved to country music station 94.9 WUBL ("94.9 The Bull") in 2007 after WKLS underwent a change in format from classic rock to active rock and became Project 9-6-1.

The Atlanta Braves radio network currently serves 152 radio stations across the Southern United States, including 19 in Alabama, 5 in Florida, 71 in Georgia, 4 in Mississippi, 18 in North Carolina, 14 in South Carolina, 15 in Tennessee, 1 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2 in Virginia, and 2 in West Virginia.

In addition to Chip Caray, the other broadcasters are Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Joe Simpson, and Jon Sciambi. Don Sutton was released after the 2006 season and is now a broadcaster with the Washington Nationals.

Van Wieren does all 162 regular season games on radio working primarily with Skip Caray. Chip Caray, Joe Simpson, Jon Sciambi and Mark Lemke have also teamed up with Van Wieren on radio broadcasts during 2007. Chip Caray works all games carried on TBS. Simpson is the color commentator for all games he does on TV.

Braves games can also be seen on FSN South and SportSouth (which changed its name from Turner South shortly after the 2006 baseball season ended). Jon Sciambi is the play-by-play announcer and Simpson is the color commentator.

See also

• Atlanta Braves all-time roster
• Braves award winners and league leaders
• Braves statistical records and milestone achievements
• List of Atlanta Braves broadcasters
• List of Atlanta Braves managers
• List of sports team names derived from Indigenous peoples
• Native American Mascot Controversy
• Active MLB playoff appearance streaks
• Braves-Mets rivalry
• 2007 Atlanta Braves season
• 2006 Atlanta Braves Draft

References

External links

• Official Braves website
• Team index page at Baseball Reference
• Milwaukee Braves informational website

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