THE POP EXPOSE – The Atlanta Braves Celebrate 150 Years Story by Mitchell Smith!
Hello everyone, Baseball’s fall classic is among us, today’s game is full of super human athletes and awesome stadiums to play in, but the sport has changed over many decades to become what we see today. A sport that was created in the eighteenth century by combining Cricket and the game Rounders, and later in the U.S. in 1839 Abner Doubleday was credited in the creation of American Baseball. Later on in the century the National League was created and one of the first and longest continuous teams the Boston Red Stockings, not to be confused with the Boston Reds, or the Boston Red Sox, began their franchise and now are the Atlanta Braves.
I love looking at old baseball footage but the beginning years had no cameras just averages. Although equipment and training was much different back then there are still some all time greats that still hold records today. Some notable Braves players set records that lasted a long time such as Rabbit Maranville you played 23 straight seasons ending his streak in 1935 upon his retirement. Pete Rose broke his record in 1986. Eddie Mathews played in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta the only player to do so for the Braves alongside all time great Hank Aaron for a good many years including their 1957 World Series championship. Babe Ruth started out with the Boston Red Sox, became famous in New York, but on May 30th 1935 he played his last game as a Boston Brave.
Kid Nichols was a pitcher in the 1800s and into the 1900s. Nichols retired with 362 wins, 208 losses, 1,881 strikeouts, a 2.96 ERA, and 5067.1 innings pitched. Something unheard of in today’s game. The next closest pitcher with 5008.1 innings is another Brave great Greg Maddox who is currently 13 on the all time MLB list. I became a Braves fan when Sid Bream came around to score and beat Pittsburgh in the NLCS. There were many hard years after that with awesome players with only 1 Championship in 1995. Some of my all time favorite players include John Smoltz, Jeff Blauser, and a local star to me Mark Lemke.
I recently got back into watching baseball but unfortunately I do not get many Braves games so I don’t know the current players very well. It’s nice to see them in the playoffs again but they will have their work cut out for them as they face LA in this years NLCS. I wish the best for this years team. It’s always interesting to look back at how the game has changed and I hope to take care of 1 of my bucket list lines by visiting the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown not far from where I live. Some of America’s greatest hero’s live on at the hall of fame. Hats off to them and many more decades for the Braves organization.
