Atlanta Braves Morning Chop for 8/8
100 Years Ago: The 1914 Braves’ New World
BRYSHOLM.BLOGSPOT.COM (from July 2nd)
Editor’s Note: the Atlanta Braves are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Miracle Braves with 1914 pricing – $1 seats (in the General Admission nose-bleed section) for the August 16th game vs. Oakland. Tickets are limits are were announced via @braves twitter yesterday.
- The Braves will have a pregame tribute commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the 1914 Braves World Series championship
- Both teams will be wearing retro 1914 uniforms
- BravesVision will take on the look of a 1914 scoreboard
- Fans can enjoy Ragtime music in the Plaza prior to the game
Meanwhile, here’s a story about those 1914 Boston Braves:
This year is the century anniversary of the 1914 Boston “Miracle” Braves. That team is famous for being dead last on the Fourth of July, far behind the New York Giants who seemed well on their way to a fourth straight National League pennant, and going on to not only win the pennant decisively but to sweep the heavily favored, far superior Philadelphia Athletics–winners of three of the four previous World Series–in the 1914 Fall Classic.
100 Years Ago: The 1914 Braves’ New World
There had in fact been positive vibes about the Boston Braves going into the 1914 season. George Stallings had taken over a team the previous year that had not lost fewer than 90 games since way back in 1903 (when they lost 80 in a 140-game schedule), and guided them into fifth place with a 69-82 record. The Braves were clearly getting better, and even though a writer for The Baseball Magazine, the preeminent publication on the sport at the time, thought Stallings had a sufficiently formidable club to maybe finish as high as third or even second in 1914, nobody expected them to beat out the Giants–who had averaged 101 wins in winning the NL pennant each of the three previous years (after which they lost the World Series each time). And so it was surely a disappointment that the Braves started so badly, losing 16 of their first 19 games, that they were already in a 10-1/2 game hole less than 20 games into the season.
On the day the country celebrated its 138th birthday, the Braves dropped both games of a doubleheader to Brooklyn, leaving them with a 26-40 record . . . in last place . . . with seven teams ahead of them . . . 15 games behind the pace-setting New York Giants. (click here for the rest of the story)
Note: in the photo above: first row, 4th from right is Walter James Vincent ‘Rabbit’ Maranville – member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame, a Boston Brave from 1912-1920, 1929-1935.
Pete Van Wieren, Atlanta Braves Broadcaster, Dies at 69
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / AUG. 7, 2014
Editor’s Note: 2 reasons for including this today: (1) the Braves will offer a brief memorial time for the Professor prior to tonight’s game in Atlanta; and (2) to ask this question: where have these guys been for the past week??? The New York Times seriously needs to wind its watch occasionally.
Pete Van Wieren, the last surviving member of the broadcast team that carried Atlanta Braves games throughout the nation on Ted Turner’s “Superstation,” died on Saturday in Atlanta. He was 69.
The cause was cancer, the Braves said.
Known as the Professor for his encyclopedic knowledge of the game and the extensive research he did for each broadcast, Mr. Van Wieren spent 33 years with the Braves before retiring in 2008, shortly after the death of his longtime partner Skip Caray.
Team Report – Atlanta Braves
THE SPORTSXCHANGE / YAHOO SPORTS
SEATTLE — The Atlanta Braves are certainly happy to be coming home.
After an eight-game stretch that marked the franchise’s worst road trip in 65 years, the Braves can’t get out of the West Coast fast enough. Atlanta got swept in three consecutive series in Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle to go 0-8 on the trip — marking the first time since 1949, when the Boston Braves went 0-8 — that the franchise has gone winless on a road trip of at least eight games.
“We’re a better team than we’ve played on the road,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “It’s time to get back home and get on a winning streak.”
The bad news for Atlanta is that the upcoming homestand is the most challenging of the season, with division leaders Washington, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland coming to town. It won’t get any easier for the Braves.