A Carlisle native (1992)

Sid Bream played for the Braves (in Atlanta) from 1991 to 1993. He was born on August 3, 1960 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He batted left and threw left. The Braves took off in the early 90′s. He was a big part of it. He was 30 when John Schuerholz became manager and signed him as a free agent to bring some “maturity” to the young Braves team.

He came to Atlanta from Pittsburgh. He had helped them win the National League East the year before. The most famous moment of Bream’s career came in Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series. Bream was the Atlanta first baseman, and the Braves were playing his old team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the NLCS.

The Pirates carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning under the pitching of their ace, Doug Drabek, needing just three outs to make the World Series. However, Drabek gave up a leadoff double to Terry Pendleton, then allowed another runner (David Justice) on an infield error by second baseman José Lind. After Drabek walked Bream to load the bases, Pirates manager Jim Leyland pulled him out of the game. Reliever Stan Belinda replaced him on the mound, and managed to get two outs, despite giving up a run on a sacrifice fly by Ron Gant. Then, Braves third-string catcher Francisco Cabrera belted a single to left field, and Justice scored easily to tie the game. Pirates left fielder and eventual National League MVP Barry Bonds fielded the ball as Bream (known as a slow runner, possibly one of the slowest in baseball) plodded around the bases toward home plate. Bonds’ throw arrived first, but it was slightly offline towards the first-base line. As soon as catcher Mike LaValliere received the ball, he desperately lunged toward the plate to tag Bream out, but Bream was able to slide just underneath the tag to score the winning run and send the Braves to the World Series for the second consecutive year.

The Three Little Steam Shovels (1944)

The war continues. 1944, however, brought new life to the Braves (then in Boston). Lou Perini, Guido Rugo and Joseph Maney purchased the Braves. Bob Quinn who headed the previous syndicate move on to be President of the club. The new owners were known as the “The Three Little Steam Shovels.” OK, they were contractors in real life.

So, they “shoved” Casey Stengel out as the manager. Did it really take all three of them to do that?

They brought on Bob Coleman. He had some minor league experience but none in the bigs. He did about as good as Casey had the previous year which wasn’t too good. The Braves ended up 40 games behind the leader. That was “good” enough for a sixth place finish with a 65-89 record.

Atlanta Braves History - 1919 Summary

1919 was not a very good year for the Braves. They were in Boston playing at Braves Field. The attendance for the year was 167,401 (7th of 8). Not overwhelming fan support.

They had a 57-82 record, finishing 6th in the National League. George Stallings is the manager. This is not George's best year since he won the World Series in 1914. One more year and he will be out. Always sad to see that.

When you look at their run totals, that kind of tells the story. They scored 465 runs and allowed 563 runs.

I like the year 1919. Not because of the Braves because they kind of stunk but because my dad was born on July 4th in 1919. Because of that, I enjoy poking around what was going on with the Braves that year.

Atlanta Braves History: How bad can it get? (1929)

How bad can it get in a season? I don’t know if 1929 was the worst but the depression started and the Boston Braves hit a new low. That was pretty depressing for sure. The went 56-98 ending up eighth and 43 games behind. It was so bad the owner, Judge Emil Fuchs, managed the team. In fact, he managed the whole season.

While this is hard to believe, the team had actually been slightly worse the year before. So, in 1929, the improved 6 whole games and managed not to lose 100+ games. But, when you are in last place, everything is relative. They hadn’t been in last since 1924.