Boston Braves
The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club named in honor of Chief Tamanend that originated in Boston, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to Milwaukee. Then in 1966 they were moved to Atlanta, where they were renamed the Atlanta Braves.
During its 82-year stay in Massachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including the Red Stockings, Red Caps, Beaneaters, Rustlers, Bees, and "Braves". While in Boston, the team won 10 National League pennants and a World Series championship in 1914 that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname "Miracle Braves". In 1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, who inspired the Boston Post slogan "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise moved to Milwaukee in 1953.
The Boston franchise played at South End Grounds from 1871 to 1914 and at Braves Field from 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is now Nickerson Field of Boston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise.
The Boston Braves had an overall win–loss record of during their 77-year major-league tenure in Boston. Six former Boston Braves players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
History
Early history
The Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-manager Harry Wright then went to Boston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams—with brother George Wright and two other Cincinnati players joined the Boston Red Stockings, a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. Two players hired from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, were pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes.File:King Kelly 0554fu.jpg|thumb|King Kelly cigarette card
Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings won four of the National Association's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the "Red Caps". Boston came to be called the Beaneaters by sportswriters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color.
Boston won the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters won eight pennants during the 19th century. Their manager was Frank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well. The 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century.
In 1894 the Braves became the first major league baseball team to wear letterforms on their uniform caps when they added a monogram-style device to their front.
In 1897, the Beaneaters, as runner-up in the National League, took part in the 1897 Temple Cup championship series against the Baltimore Orioles, losing in five games.
They only managed one winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 or more games six times. In 1907, the renamed Doves eliminated the red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected. The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, changed his team's name to the Red Sox in place of the "Americans".
When George and John Dovey acquired the club in 1907, the team was named the Doves; when purchased by William Hepburn Russell in 1911 reporters tried out Rustlers. The team adopted an official name, the Braves, for the first time in 1912. Their owner, James Gaffney, a member of New York City's Tammany Hall, tributed the team to Tamanend, "The Patron Saint of America," with the name and his image as the logo.
1914: Miracle
Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leading New York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses. On September 7 and 8, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16–16. They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12.Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves entered the World Series as a heavy underdog to Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series —to win the world championship. Meanwhile, former Chicago Cubs infielder Johnny Evers, in his second season with the Braves, won the Chalmers Award.
The Braves played the World Series at Fenway Park, since their normal home, the South End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park, Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park.
1915–1935: Losing years
After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves spent much of the next 19 years in mediocrity, during which they posted only three winning seasons. The lone highlight of those years came when Giants' attorney Emil Fuchs bought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching great Christy Mathewson, back into the game. Although original plans called for Mathewson to be the principal owner, he had never recovered from tuberculosis that he had contracted after being gassed during World War I. By the end of the 1923 season, it was obvious Mathewson could not continue even in a reduced role, and he would die two years later, with the result that Fuchs was permanently given the presidency. In 1928, the Braves traded for Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby who had a very productive year in his only season with Boston. He batted.387 to win his seventh and final batting championship.Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years before his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in 1933 and 1934 under manager Bill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to the Great Depression.
Babe Ruth returns to Boston
Looking for a way to get more supporters and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire Babe Ruth, who had, coincidentally, started his career with the Boston Red Sox. Fuchs named Ruth vice president and assistant manager of the Braves, and promised him a share of team profits. He was also to be consulted on all player transactions. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936.At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece the team needed in 1935. On opening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over the Giants. However, this could not last. Opening Day proved to be the only time the Braves were over.500 all year. A 4–20 May ended any realistic chance of contention. At the same time, it became apparent that Ruth was finished even as a part-time player. While his high living of previous years had begun catching up with him a year earlier, his conditioning rapidly declined in the first month of 1935. While he was still able to hit at first, he could do little else. He could no longer run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. Ruth soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some of his money in the team.
Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1, only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career, in what remains one of the most memorable afternoons in baseball history. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park. By this time, the Braves were 9–27, their season all but over. They ultimately finished 38–115, easily the worst season in franchise history. Their.248 winning percentage is tied for the seventh-worst in baseball history, and the sixth-worst in National League history. It is the second-worst in modern baseball history, and the worst in modern National League history.
1936–1940: the Bees
Insolvent like his team, Fuchs was forced to give up control of the Braves in August 1935, and new owner Bob Quinn tried to change the team's image by renaming it the Boston Bees. This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnate Lou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves.1948: National League champions
In 1948, the team won the National League pennant by capturing 91 games to finish 6 places ahead of the second–place St. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fans to Braves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The pitching staff was anchored by Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September, The Boston Post writer Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair:The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as "Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain" or "Spahn, Sain and two days of rain", entered the baseball vocabulary. Ironically, in the 1948 season, the Braves actually had a better record in games that Spahn and Sain did not start than in games they did.
The Braves lost the 1948 World Series in six games to the Cleveland Indians. This turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston.