Atlanta Braves Leaving Fulton County: 1991 Worst to First Season

Atlanta Braves Leaving Fulton County: 1991, Worst to First Miracle Season

In the gloom and midst of a terribly hard season to watch the Braves, I like to recall the ‘Good ‘ol Days’ of reigning supreme.

I have been lacking from my posts reflecting on the times of when days were better, with my Leaving Fulton County series. Sometimes, life happens and we have to avert our attention to more pressing matters.

The Worst – 1990

The 1990 Atlanta Braves finished that season an underwhelming 65-97. A .401 winning percentage. The 2016 Braves could be (probably will be) worse in terms of record.

We’re danger close of reaching the 1988 totals of less than 60 wins. The 1988 team went a depressing 54-106.

To First – 1991

No one had the Braves finishing higher than 5th in the then, NL West, in 1991. Everyone wrote off the Braves before Spring Training had even kicked off; except the Braves.

With players like Terry Pendleton, Greg Olson, David Justice, Ron Gant, Mark Lemke, and of course, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and fearless leader Bobby Cox.

In their first 20 games of ’91, the Braves started with a .500 record going 10-10. Nothing to write home about, for sure. Though no one could have seen what Atlanta would go on to accomplish that year.

After the all star break that year, the Braves began the second half with a 14-6 stretch that vaulted them from an 8.5 game deficit to only 4.5 games and good enough for 2nd in the division.

The month of August not only saw them wipe away that 4.5 games, but the Braves ended August with a 2 game lead in the NL West. Something even the Braves faithful, never saw coming.

It would come down to the Braves and Dodgers for NL West Supremacy. In the last week of the 1991 season, the Braves took care of their business. They went 8-1. On the second-to-last-day of the year, Atlanta man-handled Craig Biggio and the Astros winning 5-2.

After the game, and the Dodgers playing on the west coast in San Francisco, the team gathered together, symbolically as they had all year, and watched on the Jumbo-Tron as a live feed was broadcast for them, and their fans, to watch …

For many of us, the days of destitute were over! The Braves, our beloved Braves were Division Champs! The first of 14 consecutive division titles. A record that most probably, will never be matched.

It signaled the end of an era, and ushered in a new one. The Braves were no longer the laughing stock of Major League Baseball.

Deion Sanders carrying Steve Avery on his back, like he did so many times that year, personified this Braves team.

Everyone carried each other. No one player stood out as the clear cut hero or MVP. Everyone from role players like Marvin Freeman, Brian Hunter, or Damon Berryhill to everyday guys like Jeff Blauser, Sid Bream, and Rafael Belliard. This team never quit on themselves, the fans, or the city.

And when Brian Jordan scooped up the final out of the 1991 NLCS, it was bedlam on Peachtree; and Pittsburgh was dubbed “Brokenheartsville”. The Atlanta Braves were going to the 1991 WORLD SERIES! Their first since moving to Atlanta in 1966.

The Series – Minnesota Twins

First, let me preface by saying that no matter how many times you see it, no matter what the excuse, and no matter who you talk to, Kent Hrbek will always, and forever be, a villain to the Braves and Braves fans.

I respect and admire Kirby Puckett. What he did in 1991 was beyond belief, and he was a man possessed in that World Series.

No matter the outcome, the 1991 World Series, to this day, in my most humble opinion, is probably the single greatest (and closest) World Series ever played.

I’m proud as a Braves fan to have seen it and even prouder that I can say our Braves were the best team in the National League in 1991 (1995’s story will come later).

Finale – The Braves WILL Be Back!

2016 has been hard, painful, and many times, embarrassing to even watch. But rest assured Braves Country, the Braves will be back.

My overly exuberant attitude may sound like a severe “glass half-full” attitude. But in trying times, the positivism is needed the most. And, as Ernie Johnson so eloquently quips at the end of the video below: “Look, we can start winning, remember the Braves?”

Next: Learning From Others - The Reyes Effect

I think it’s time that the Braves remembered … the Braves.

And, as uttered “the miracle occurred!”, at the end of the closing credits – When all hope seems lost – miracles can, and do, occur; and can occur again.

“Listen to this crowd!” – Skip Carey