The MLB playoffs are upon us and the Atlanta Braves find themselves right in the thick of the action. They won their 19th Division Title this year. And while it never gets old, I always harken back to the first one I remember in 1991. They won a couple before that, in 1969 and 1982, but I can’t really talk about either of those from experience.
The division title from 1991, which oddly enough was when the Braves were in the Western Division, was the capper of a worst to first turnaround that almost nobody was expecting. I was 14 years old and had spent most of my baseball youth watching the Braves lose 80+ games every year. I loved the game and loved the team. But I didn’t live and die with every game back then. I didn’t know any better because I didn’t expect to compete with the Darryl Strawberry’s, Ozzie Smith’s, Jose Canseco’s, and George Brett’s of the world.
For many years during my childhood, we only had one legitimate superstar in Dale Murphy. Murph was a fan favorite in Atlanta but was well liked throughout most of the league. A Dale Murphy poster in those baby blue uniforms was a kid from the south’s dream possession! Murphy was the big bat, the player on all the media material, the cover player for 1988 Donruss, and even a star in a milk commercial. He was also the player that we all pretended to be in the front yard in South Georgia.
But beyond Murphy, we relied on players like Gerald Perry, Bob Horner, Glenn Hubbard, Rafael Ramirez, and Bruce Benedict. And while I had my favorites among those players too, they weren’t perennial all-stars. Bob Horner hit four home runs in a game in 1986. Gerald Perry hit .300 and was an all-star in 1988. And Glenn Hubbard has one of the coolest baseball cards ever in 1984. But Dale Murphy was the only consistent star in Atlanta during the 80’s.
Then, things started to slowly change in the late 80’s. We had a couple of players coming up in the farm system that were about to change the course of history. We had a pitcher named Tom Glavine that chose baseball over hockey. There was a second baseman named Ron Gant that had a unique combination of speed and power. There was a left handed slugger named David Justice. And then there was a left handed pitcher drafted in 1988 named Steve Avery.
While our farm system was a big part of the surge that started in 1991, we also made some key trades and free agent signings along the way. We traded Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers in 1987 for a minor leaguer with a 5-10 record named John Smoltz. We signed veterans Terry Pendleton and Sid Bream in December of 1990. We signed Deion Sanders in January of 1991. And we traded for Otis Nixon in April of 1991. It was these moves that would turn a 65-97 team in 1990 into a 94-68 team in 1991. That record was good enough to win the West by 1 game.
That year was full of exciting and memorable moments. Deion Sanders played for both the Braves and Falcons during the season. Otis Nixon stole 72 bases. Ron Gant was a member of the 30/30 club. Tom Glavine won 20 games. Terry Pendleton was the 1991 NL MVP. And three Braves pitchers combined for a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in a 1-0 game.
But none of those highlights could prepare us for what would happen in the playoffs. First, we faced off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the best record in the National League. The Pirates had three All-Stars in the outfield with Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, and Barry Bonds. Their lineup was scary. The series went 7 games and included three games that finished with scores of 1-0. The Braves won Games 6 and 7 to take the series and send Atlanta to their first World Series appearance. Steve Avery won the NLCS MVP and John Smoltz pitched a shutout in Game 7, capping off a 22 consecutive scoreless inning streak for the Pirates in the series. 1-0 games will even give a 14 year old gray hair! I still remember my mom wearing the shirt with Greg Olson jumping in Smoltz’s arms for years after that.
Of course, we all know what happened in the World Series that year. I’ve written about it here before. That World Series went 7 games and featured FIVE 1 run games and 3 extra inning games. Life was an absolute roller coaster for a a couple weeks at my house. We had 10-15 people over for every game and it was my indoctrination into sports tension. I still believe it is the greatest 7 game series in the history of baseball. It’s too painful to dredge up game by game again; but it still marks the beginning of one of the most epic playoff runs by one team in history.
We had several more unforgettable moments over that stretch of 14 consecutive division titles. The very next year was one of the most memorable moments in Braves history with the Sid Bream slide in Game 7 of the NLCS against those same pesky Pirates from the year before. We finally won our World Series in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians and their tremendous offensive lineup. We welcomed players like Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Javy López, Fred McGriff, Andres Gallaraga, and Andruw Jones over the years. We enjoyed the greatest announcers of my youth; Skip Carey and Pete Van Wieren. We sent Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Chipper, and Manager Bobby Cox to the Hall of Fame. It was truly an amazing time to be a Braves fan.
And here we are in 2019, about to embark on another playoff appearance. Though the players aren’t the same as they were when I was 14, the excitement from this season reminded me a lot of those glory days. Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies are exciting youngsters. Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson are the cagey veterans. Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Dallas Kuechel, and Mike Foltynewicz lock down the rotation. Austin Riley provides some rookie pop. Nick Markakis is the calming force. Brian McCann is the fiery catcher. Dansby Swanson is the slick shortstop. Then the bench reminds me of the depth we had with Lonnie Smith, Vinny Castilla, Francisco Cabrera, and Deion Sanders. And lastly, Brian Snitker is channeling his inner Bobby Cox.
I’m hoping for a deep run to the World Series, as is the rest of Braves Country. We have our work cut out for us with a hot St. Louis Cardinals team in the NLDS. If we make it past them, we will either run into the best record in the National League with the Dodgers, Milwaukee, or possibly our old division nemesis, the Washington Nationals. The American League is stacked with the Astros, Yankees, Rays, Athletics, and….wait for it….those old Minnesota Twins that we faced way back in 1991. In a dream scenario, we would get another crack at them and slay the dragon of the past. I could fully heal and move on from one of the biggest heartbreaks of my childhood. And I could finally get @junkwaxtwins off my back!
Let’s Go Braves! Chop On!
J-Dub