by David Brown

Created on: May 25, 2010

This is a title I can really relate to.  Moving to Atlanta in 1970 at the age of 6, I had no idea what being an Atlanta Brave’s fan would be all about.  It took me some time, well, not long to become a Brave’s fan and to really get the hang of it.  Being a Braves fan throughout the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s and then now through the 2010s, has been no less a roller coaster, nail biting, edge of the seat ride and adventure. 

Through thick and thin, I have been and always will be a Brave’s fan not only for the love of baseball but because they are hard to hate.

Through the 1970s, I remember going to many Braves games with my now deceased brother Jeff, who succumbed to cancer in 1994, one year before the Brave’s won their first World Series against the Cleveland Indians. 

We would be one of maybe ten (just kidding) a hundred, ha-ha! Fans who would endure long, ugly seasons with the Braves being a well-below par team. 

I truly remember two things that happened during the late 1970s and early 1980s:  one, Ted Turner, the Brave’s owner at the time, fired the manager and took over the team. 

He was not supposed to do that, so he survived less than a full game.  My brother and I were so disgusted that we used to yell, “Fire the Owner!”  I think they eventually heard us. 

The second was when Pascal Perez, infamous for getting lost on the Perimeter, was pitching a very long game due to a rain delay and a major fight broke out between the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves. 

This is when Bob Horner, a long ago third baseman, would not let anyone get to his pitcher and stood in the way of any Padre that wanted to get to him.  What was even funnier is when Pascal Perez picked up a baseball bat to protect himself.  These were fun times.

Then I remember going to a ballgame with a few of my friends in the early 1980s and getting caught on national television holding a beer in my hand, shirt unbuttoned and the National Anthem was being played.  Oh, oh, stardom is right around the corner.  NOT!

In the early 1970s, I remember vividly Chief Nokahoma coming to my late mother’s day care center and spending a couple of hours with us kids.  That was a ball.  We even used to hang out with him in the outfield in his tee-pee.  He was a great mascot.

There was nothing greater than when the Braves went on their 14 division title run.  What a feat that was.  This was the time to make sure that you had strong nails, a good cushion on your chair and a twelve pack for your nerves.  The Braves were and still are a great team and soon, they will win another World Series.

Do not count Larry “Chipper” Jones in the Hall of Fame yet, folks.  Oh, I am sorry; he does have a good chance.  If you count how many times a professional baseball player is on the disabled list with a broken fingernail.  Sorry Chipper, you aren’t bad, but you certainly are not great either.

GO BRAVES!

Learn more about this author, David Brown.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.