City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Spectator Sports

Telephone: (404) 522-7630

Address: 755 Hank Aaron Dr.

Description: Play ball! Atlanta took its first step toward the World Series and an unprecedented string of fourteen divisional championships on April 12, 1966, when major-league baseball came to town. The newly relocated Milwaukee Braves brought with them future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro. In 1969 the Braves took the National League West title but lost the pennant in three games to the “Miracle Mets.” In 1973, Hank Aaron, Dave Johnson, and Darrell Evans made the record books by each hitting more than 40 homers. Then came the big moment: On April 8, 1974, millions watched Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium as Aaron smashed his 715th home run, besting Babe Ruth’s long-standing record (a moment now immortalized in a large statue outside the stadium). In 1953, the Braves were one of the first teams to move west, heading for Milwaukee. There, the Braves—led by Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews, and Hank Aaron—beat the New York Yankees in the 1957 World Series but lost a rematch the next year. But dwindling attendance in Milwaukee, just like in Boston, led the team to move again, this time to Atlanta. Despite the championships and the stars, the stay has not always been easy. Back in the early 1980s, Braves games sometimes felt more like minor-league contests. Owner Ted Turner tried a number of gimmicks, including ostrich races and managing the team himself. Attendance at games was often below 10,000; fans roamed the stadium freely and sat where they liked. But all that changed in 1982 when the Braves set a new record for the most games won (13) at the beginning of a season. Suddenly the Braves weren’t a joke anymore, and Atlantans by the thousands spent their lunch hour standing in line for tickets. In 1982 and 1983, Dale Murphy won back-to-back National League Most Valuable Player awards, helping the Braves capture the Western Division title in ’82 and finish second in ’83. Then came the biggest shock. In 1990 the basement Braves chafed under the worst record in baseball. One year later, the amazing Braves brought the World Series to Atlanta for the first time, becoming the first team in baseball history to go from worst to first in a single season. Records were set for Atlanta wins (94) and for attendance (more than 2.1 million). In the first World Series ever played in the South, the Braves held on until the end, losing to the Minnesota Twins 1–0 in the 10th inning of game seven. Even though the Braves lost, the city was wild with excitement. Atlanta honored the Braves with a downtown parade that drew 750,000 people—far more fans than turned out in Minneapolis to cheer the victorious Twins. That began a series of 14 straight divisional championships, interrupted only by the strike year of 1994. First in the West Division, then in the East, the Braves had their share of runaway pennant races and those that went down to the last inning of the last game of the regular season, providing some dramatic moments along the way. In 1992, the Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in a heart-stopping seven-game series to win the National League pennant. In the bottom of the ninth of game seven, down one run but with two runners on base, backup catcher Francisco Cabrera hit a double that scored Sid Bream sliding under the catcher’s tag at the plate to win the game. The Braves became the first National League team since the 1977–78 Dodgers to win back-to-back pennants. Again, Atlanta hosted the World Series, but again the Braves came up just short, losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. More records were set in 1993 as the team won 104 games (53 on the road) and drew almost 3.9 million fans to the ballpark. Ten games behind at the All-Star break, the Braves battled back to grab the division title from the San Francisco Giants in the final game of the regular season. Atlantans were again talking World Series, but this time the honor went to the Philadelphia Phillies, who took the pennant in six games but lost the Series to the Toronto Blue Jays. When the players’ strike ended the 1994 season, the Braves were in second place in the National League East, where they had moved in the league’s realignment, with a record of 68 wins and 46 losses. In 1995, their 30th season in Atlanta, the Braves clinched the East Division, then beat the Colorado Rockies three games to one in the playoffs. The Braves swept the Cincinnati Reds for the National League championship. The Atlanta Braves’ third World Series appearance got off to a good start when the team beat the American League champion Cleveland Indians in game one (3–2) and game two (4–3) in Atlanta. When the action moved to Cleveland, the Indians bounced back: They took game three (7–6), lost game four to Atlanta (5–2), and won game five (5–4). The Indians kept their dream alive until the end, but the Braves held on to win game six 1–0 and take the series four games to two. The Braves returned to the World Series in 1996, their last year in Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. After winning the first two games on the road against the New York Yankees, they blew a 6–0 lead in game four, falling to the American League champions in six games. In 1997 and 1998 the Braves won the East Division handily, but lost first to the wild card Florida Marlins and then to the San Diego Padres in the next two National League championship series. In 1999, the World Series finally came to Turner Field, but it wasn’t easy. First, the Braves had to overcome injuries to three of their key players from the previous year, but they found new stars to go with the old ones to win more than 100 games. Third baseman and fan favorite Chipper Jones put together a career year and was rewarded with the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. The Braves and the New York Mets battled down to a three-game series in Atlanta in the last month of the regular season before the Braves prevailed to win the division. But the Mets battled back, and the rivalry renewed with intensity in the series to determine the pennant. The Braves broke out to a three-games-to-none lead, but watched as the Mets won two games in a row. The Braves knew they had been in a fight when they wrapped up the pennant in game six in Atlanta. It was more New York in the World Series. A strong Yankee team was defending a world championship and facing the Braves for the title of Team of the Decade. The Yankees showed their power, sweeping the Braves in four games. The Braves’ march through the record books came to a stalling point after 2005. That year, the Braves won their 14th consecutive division title, a first in all of Major League Baseball. It also marked the first time in MLB history a team made postseason playoffs with more than four rookies who each had 100 Abs. Those rookies were Brian McCann, Pete Orr, Wilson Betemit, Ryan Langerhans, and Jeff Francoeur. The season ended with a loss to the Houston Astros in four games. Changes in general managers and owners (now Liberty Media) only added to frustrations with injuries and poor performance in the next few years. In 2009, the Braves returned to solid pitching but stopped short of the playoffs. Beloved coach Bobby Cox announced the 2010 baseball season would be his last.