Land of the Free, Home of the Atlanta Braves 8/15/12

Hey Guys!

Remember how I promised you guys a blog about the team located in the city that hosted the 1996 Olympics? Well here it is:

The Braves were created in 1871 and were originally from Boston. They were called the Boston Red Stockings. They were not officially called the Braves until 1912. In 1914, the Braves made it to the World Series against the Philadelphia A's and swept them. They are called the "Miracle Braves" because they were in last place on July 4, but came all the way back and took the 1914 NL pennant. Other than that year, the Braves did not play good baseball up until the late 1940s. However, Babe Ruth came to Boston in 1935 and hit homer numbers 712, 713 and 714 in the same game against the Pirates. They didn't get to another series until 1948, where they lost to the Indians. After much bad baseball in Boston, the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953. In 1957, with the help of future Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Hank Aaron, they made it to the Fall Classic against the Yankees. Thanks to a masterful 7th game pitched by Lou Burdette, they won the Series four games to three. They could not repeat their success of the prior year though, as they lost the '58 World Series to the Yankees. Not much success came from the Braves, except for Hank Aaron, who was the best all-around hitter in the bigs up until his retirement in 1976. In 1991, they faced the Twins in the World Series, but lost because of an unbelievable pitching performance by Jack Morris, a ten-inning shutout against a young John Smoltz. They tried to avenge their Series loss the next year, but lost to the Blue Jays in six games. Finally, after 38 years, they won their third Fall Classic against the Indians in 1995. They tried to duplicated their success the year after, but lost to the Yanks. They had the same ending to their season in 1999.

The Braves have had many Hall of Famers play for their team; Warren Spahn, Hank Aaron, Rogers Hornsby, Kid Nichols, Phil Niekro, George Sisler, Enos Slaughter, Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner, Ed Walsh, Casey Stengel, Babe Ruth, and Cy Young, just to name the prominent ones. Although the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves might not have the best post-season history, they are still considered one of the best teams in baseball history.