A History Of The Boston Braves

The story of the beloved baseball team that kept the city cheering through the Great Depression and two world wars—includes photos. For those lucky enough to have passed through the turnstiles of Braves Field, the Boston Braves will forever live in the corridors of their collective memory. Baseball legend Babe Ruth finished his career on the historic diamond at Braves Field, while Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews was just getting started. When the franchise moved the team to Milwaukee in 1953, the Boston Braves helped usher in the modern age of Major League Baseball. Travel back to the Wig-Wam with author William J. Craig, to a time when players arrived at the ballpark by trolley car and a seat in the bleachers cost sixty cents. From the astounding 1948 pennant season to the final inning, Craig pays tribute to a team that Boston fans will never forget.

Hall of Fame sportswriter Harold Kaese chronicles the ups and downs of the storied baseball franchise's 82 seasons in Boston.

On March 13, 1953, the Boston Braves left their hometown after playing 76 seasons of baseball in Boston. They ended up in Atlanta via Milwaukee, but their rich history was already made in New England, where they captured ten pennants and one world championship. The 1914 World Series, a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Athletics, was considered by the Associated Press to be the greatest sports upset of the first half of the twentieth century. In Images of Sports: The Boston Braves, author Richard Johnson tells the story of this beloved team. Thirty-eight Boston Braves represent the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, including players as famous as Rabbit Maranville and Babe Ruth and as colorful as Kid Nichols and Warren Spahn. The Braves left more than just a baseball legacy in Boston. In 1947, Braves' management founded the Jimmy Fund, now an internationally known organization, to raise funds for cancer research and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In 1950, outfielder Sam Jethroe made history as Boston's first African-American major leaguer.

For 52 years, Boston was a two-team Major League city, home to both the Red Sox and the Braves. This book focuses on the two teams' period of coexistence and competition for fans. The author analyzes the Boston fan base through trends in transportation, communication, geography, population and employment. Tracing the pendulum of fan preference between the two teams over five distinct time periods, a deeper understanding emerges of why the Red Sox remained in Boston and the Braves moved to Milwaukee.

Long before the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season, Boston’s now nearly forgotten “other” team, the 1914 Boston Braves, performed a baseball “miracle” that resounds to this very day. The "Miracle Braves" were Boston's first "worst-to-first" winners of the World Series. Shortly after the turn of the previous century, the once mighty Braves had become a perennial member of the National League’s second division. Preseason pundits didn't believe the 1914 team posed a meaningful threat to John McGraw’s powerful New York Giants. During the first half of that campaign, Boston lived down to such expectations, taking up residence in the league’s basement. Refusing to throw in the towel at the midseason mark, their leader, the pugnacious George Stallings, deftly manipulated his daily lineup and pitching staff to engineer a remarkable second-half climb in the standings all the way to first place. The team’s winning momentum carried into the postseason, where the Braves swept Connie Mack's heralded Athletics and claimed the only World Championship ever won by Boston’s National League entry. And for 100 years, the management, players, and fans of underperforming ball clubs have turned to the Miracle Braves to catch a glimmer of hope that such a midseason turnaround could be repeated. Through the collaborative efforts of a band of dedicated members of the Society for American Baseball Research, this benchmark accomplishment is richly revealed to the reader in The Miracle Braves of 1914: Boston's Original Worst-to-First World Series Champions. The essence of the “miracle” is captured through a comprehensive compendium of incisive biographies of the players and other figures associated with the team, with additional relevant research pieces on the season. After a journey through the pages of this book, the die-hard baseball fan will better understand why the call to “Wait Until Next Year” should never be voiced prematurely. Includes: FOREWORD by Bob Brady THE BRAVES Ted Cather by Jack V. Morris Gene Cocreham by Thomas Ayers Wilson Collins by Charlie Weatherby Joe Connolly by Dennis Auger Ensign Cottrell by Peter Cottrell Dick Crutcher by Jerrod Cotosman George Davis by Rory Costello Charlie Deal by Charles F. Faber Josh Devore by Peter Gordon Oscar Dugey by Charlie Weatherby Johnny Evers by David Shiner The 1914 Evers-Zimmerman Incident and How the Tale Grew Taller Over the Years by Bob Brady The Evers Ejection Record by Mark Sternman Larry Gilbert by Jack V. Morris Hank Gowdy by Carol McMains and Frank Ceresi Tommy Griffith by Chip Greene Otto Hess by Gary Hess Tom Hughes by Greg Erion Bill James by David Jones Clarence Kraft by Jon Dunkle Dolf Luque by Peter Bjarkman Les Mann by Maurice Bouchard Rabbit Maranville by Dick Leyden Billy Martin by Bob Joel Jack Martin by Charles F. Faber Herbie Moran by Charles F. Faber Jim Murray by Jim Elfers Hub Perdue by John Simpson Dick Rudolph by Dick Leyden Butch Schmidt by Chip Greene Red Smith by Charles F. Faber Paul Strand by Jack V. Morris Fred Tyler by John Shannahan Lefty Tyler by Wayne McElreavy Bert Whaling by Charles F. Faber George “Possum” Whitted by Craig Hardee MANAGER George Stallings by Martin Kohout COACH Fred Mitchell by Bill Nowlin OWNER Jim Gaffney by Rory Costello The Braves’ A.B.C. by Ring Lardner 1914 Boston Braves Timeline by Mike Lynch A Stallings Anecdote 1914 World Series by Mark Sternman “I Told You So” by O.R.C. The Rest of 1914 by Mike Lynch How An Exhibition Game Contributed To A Miracle by Bob Brady The National League Pennant Race of 1914 by Frank Vaccaro The Press, The Fans, and the 1914 Boston Braves by Donna L. Halper Return of the Miracle Braves by Bob Brady Miracle Teams by A Comparison of the 1914 Miracle Braves and 1969 Miracle Mets by Tom Nahigian An Unexpected Farewell by The South End Grounds, August 1914 by Bob Ruzzo The Time(s) the Braves Played Home Games at Fenway Park by Bill Nowlin The Kisselkar Sign The Trail Blazers in Indian File by R. E. M. - poems for 1914 Braves, collected by Joanne Hulbert The Story of the 1914 Braves by George Stallings “Mr. Warmth” and “Very Superstitious” – two George Stallings anecdotes by Bob Brady By the Numbers by Dan Fields Creature Feature by Dan Fields

A history of sports in Boston told through its parks and arenas.

In 1914 the Boston Braves experienced the greatest come-from-behind season in baseball history. A perennially woeful team, the Braves rose from the ashes of last place—fifteen games behind on July 4th—to battle in the World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, one of the most dominant teams of all time.Baseball fans witnessed one of sport’s most spectacular comebacks, and Boston’s National League team earned a new designation: “The Miracle Braves.” Baseball’s Greatest Comeback: The Miracle Braves of 1914 follows the Boston Braves through this rollercoaster year, from their miserable start to their inspiring finish. A collection of likeable, determined, and highly unconventional ballplayers, the Braves endeared themselves to fans who rooted enthusiastically for the team. Sitting in last place midway through the season, the youthful group of castoffs and misfits, many of whom had been rejected by other major league teams, followed the lead of Walter “Rabbit” Maranville, Johnny “The Crab” Evers, and George “Big Daddy” Stallingsto turn things around. The Braves battled their way up the standings, finishing the second half of the season with a miraculous 52 and 14 record. They went on to defeat John McGraw’s powerful New York Giants for the pennant and found themselves face-to-face with the talented Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. On the 100th anniversary of this memorable season, the 1914 Boston Braves are still remembered as one of the greatest comeback teams in baseball history. Full of timeless images and memorable characters—including a fanatically superstitious manager, a cheerfully madcap star, and an obsessively driven, yet highly sensitive captain—this book will inform and entertain baseball fans and sports historians alike.

1996 marked the 125th season of the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America: the Atlanta Braves. This comprehensive reference begins with the team's birth in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings, and follows them to Milwaukee in 1953 and to Atlanta in 1966, playing under such a variety of names as Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Braves, Bees, and back to the Braves. Because of this transient past, much of the franchise's history has been misplaced over the years—until now. Beloved not only by their tomahawk-chopping local fans but by baseball fans everywhere, the Braves have become one of today's most successful sports organizations. The Braves Encyclopedia brings it all together. 150 player profiles—from Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn, and Eddie Matthews to all-time greats Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, and Terry Pendleton to today's stars like David Justice, Greg Maddux, and Steve Avery 600 photographs of players, game highlights, and memorabilia extensive statistics, including box scores, team and individual records, and trades season-by-season descriptions bring to life the great moments, the World Series championships, the managerial strategies, the personalities, and the milestones a comprehensive history of the ballparks a wealth of little-known facts and surprising anecdotes Author note: Gary Caruso is the editor of Chop Talk a monthly magazine covering the Atlanta Braves. As a sports reporter for nearly 25 years, he has written for the Atlanta Journal has been executive sports editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and a senior editor and writer for The National Sports Daily.

"In this elaborately illustrated book filled with vintage photographs, veteran Braves sportscaster Pete Van Wieren teams up with bestselling baseball author Bob Klapisch to provide the definitive account of the Braves franchise from its first game to the present day. It's a dramatic season-by-season, often play-by-play chronicle of heart-breaking droughts redeemed by miracle years like 1914, 1957, and 1991, when the team rocketed from the cellar to the World Series."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The story of the "Miracle" Braves is one of the most memorable in baseball history, but less well known is what the club did after that spectacular season. In 1915, they were strong contenders for the National League pennant, and almost won it again in 1916. This book is the first to look at the team in a larger context. Under innovative manager George Stallings, the Braves swept the mighty Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series, the National League's only victory from 1909 to 1919. The Braves under Stallings were a roistering, pugnacious crew that battled the opposition, the umpires, and sometimes each other.