I think some of my friends from Atlanta are surprised at how big the regional following is for the Braves. I’m 50 now, and I suspect my Braves story is similar to a lot of you. Partly because TBS beamed it into our homes every night all summer.
My Grandad and dad grew up in Greenwood, home of a AA Braves team for years (so unlikely for a city of that size today). I’ve got a picture of me and my brother with Hank Aaron in the late 70s when he came by the Greenwood team one day. And I’ve got a baseball that used to be signed by him, except I thought it was so cool I used it to play catch. But we didn’t live next to James Earl Jones from the Sandlot, so I’m out of luck.
My grandad almost never missed a game. It was on TV every time we went to see him. Lots of bad teams, with an occasional good one.
Dale Murphy (installed in the Hall of Very Good, near Cooperstown) was fun to watch, as long as the two-strike pitch wasn’t low and away. My wife says she had her first sports crush as a kid on Damon Berry.
Then things got serious. As a long suffering Braves fan, it’s hard to describe those first few years of dominance. The Sid Bream slide in real time slow motion, and the whole Furman campus (where I was a student) erupted in the Braves chant. And oh, those pitchers. What a set of arms. Holy cow. If it weren’t for those Da** Yankees.
When I got married in 98, my wife’s boss gave us tickets to a game right behind home plate and dinner in the 755 Club. We felt like celebrities. And Maddox pitched a gem.
Then we started having kids, and life happened. And we didn’t watch a lot. But my mother-in-law does. She texts me after nearly every win. She’s an old Conyers GA girl, and she, like my Grandad, never misses a game. When we go visit her, the Braves are the soundtrack.
Lots of fun, and some darn good teams over the years! Tell me your story.
My Grandad and dad grew up in Greenwood, home of a AA Braves team for years (so unlikely for a city of that size today). I’ve got a picture of me and my brother with Hank Aaron in the late 70s when he came by the Greenwood team one day. And I’ve got a baseball that used to be signed by him, except I thought it was so cool I used it to play catch. But we didn’t live next to James Earl Jones from the Sandlot, so I’m out of luck.
My grandad almost never missed a game. It was on TV every time we went to see him. Lots of bad teams, with an occasional good one.
Dale Murphy (installed in the Hall of Very Good, near Cooperstown) was fun to watch, as long as the two-strike pitch wasn’t low and away. My wife says she had her first sports crush as a kid on Damon Berry.
Then things got serious. As a long suffering Braves fan, it’s hard to describe those first few years of dominance. The Sid Bream slide in real time slow motion, and the whole Furman campus (where I was a student) erupted in the Braves chant. And oh, those pitchers. What a set of arms. Holy cow. If it weren’t for those Da** Yankees.
When I got married in 98, my wife’s boss gave us tickets to a game right behind home plate and dinner in the 755 Club. We felt like celebrities. And Maddox pitched a gem.
Then we started having kids, and life happened. And we didn’t watch a lot. But my mother-in-law does. She texts me after nearly every win. She’s an old Conyers GA girl, and she, like my Grandad, never misses a game. When we go visit her, the Braves are the soundtrack.
Lots of fun, and some darn good teams over the years! Tell me your story.