Atlanta Braves

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1876
• Home ballpark: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
• Owner: Liberty Media
• Team colors: Navy blue, scarlet red, and white

Overview

The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that plays in the East division of the National League. Originally founded in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings, the modern Atlanta Braves first took the field on April 12, 1966. Over the course of their long history, the Braves have won several World Series championships and numerous other accolades. At the end of the 2023 season, the team had an all-time record that included 11,025 wins and 10,876 losses for an overall .503 win/loss record. Known for their on-field skill and supportive fan base, the Braves are traditionally viewed as one of professional baseball’s most competitive and popular teams. The Braves are also a financially successful MLB franchise, worth an estimated $2.6 billion in 2023.

In addition to their on-field activities, the Atlanta Braves also maintain an active commitment to philanthropy. As part of that commitment, the team created a social responsibility platform known as Braves Care. Through Braves Care, the team seeks to serve the Atlanta community through various efforts focused specifically on addressing key social causes such as promoting health and wellness, investing in education, supporting the development of youth baseball and softball programs, and encouraging community service. At the forefront of the team’s charitable work is the Atlanta Braves Foundation. The Atlanta Braves Foundation is the team’s primary fundraising and giving organization. Created in 1994, the foundation directly supports an array of community organizations located through the Atlanta metropolitan area.

History

The history of the Atlanta Braves began with the incorporation of a professional baseball team called the Boston Red Stockings by sports executive and businessperson Ivers Whitney Adams in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871. A short time later, the Red Stockings became one of the nine founding members of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players, which was the forerunner to the National League (NL). When the NL and American League (AL) were formed in 1876, the Red Stockings officially joined the former as the Boston Red Caps. In the years that followed, the team played under a variety of names—including the Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, and Bees—before ultimately settling on the Braves as their permanent moniker.

In their more than eight decades in Boston, the Braves won numerous NL pennants and were often considered to be among the league’s best teams. The club’s greatest success in those years came during the so-called “Miracle Braves” season of 1914. That season, the Braves enjoyed a remarkable turnaround that culminated in one of the team’s most historic wins. After struggling through the first half of the season and being in last place by July, the Braves went on a run that took them into the postseason and all the way to a World Series matchup with the Philadelphia Athletics. In that series, the Braves ultimately swept the Athletics to win the first World Series championship in franchise history.

However, over the next several decades, the Braves’ fortunes took a downward turn. In the thirty-eight seasons after their World Series championship, the Braves posted losing records in all but twelve years. As a consequence of their on-field decline, the Braves gradually lost most of their fans to the Red Sox, Boston’s superior AL franchise. By the early 1950s, the Braves were struggling to survive. In hopes of avoiding a complete collapse, the team opted to move to Milwaukee in 1953. Once they started playing in their new home, the Braves quickly rebounded and again became one of the league’s best teams. In addition to winning a pair of NL pennants in the latter half of the 1950s, the team also won a second World Series championship in 1957. Unfortunately, this period of success did not improve the franchise’s long-term viability. By the early 1960s, the Braves were again struggling to attract fans to their games. Left with no choice but to relocate once more, the team moved to Atlanta following the 1965 season.

The Braves made their Atlanta debut on April 12, 1966. Through their first ten years in their new home city, the team enjoyed little meaningful success. The most notable achievement the Braves earned during this time came when they won a divisional title in 1969. While the team continued to struggle on the field, its image received a major boost in 1976. That year, media mogul Ted Turner purchased the Braves and began airing their games on his TBS Superstation network. While critics argued that the middling Braves should not have received such a prominent national television presence, the exposure won the team many new fans.

After another largely difficult decade in the 1980s, the Braves finally became contenders again in the 1990s. With a rebuilt roster of talented players, the Braves went on a historic run that included fourteen consecutive division titles between 1991 and 2005, as well as five World Series appearances. The height of the Braves’ 1990s success came in 1995, when they defeated the Cleveland Indians to win a third World Series championship.

After the 2005 season, the Braves’ hot streak came to an abrupt end. For several years, they failed to make the postseason at all. Although they eventually returned to the playoffs again in 2010, their run ended in the first round. The Braves looked to be rebounding in 2011, but a historic collapse in the last few weeks of the season derailed their chances of postseason contention. Despite making the playoffs in both 2012 and 2013, the Braves ultimately failed to make it past the opening rounds. Over the next few years, the team staged a rebuilding effort that produced immediate results. In 2018, the Braves won ninety games after losing ninety games the previous year. Still, postseason success did not come easily. In both 2018 and 2019, the team was again eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In the latter season, the Braves won a total of ninety-seven regular season games and claimed a divisional title before being bounced from the playoff hunt. In the 2020 postseason, the Braves finally made it past the first level of competition, beating the Cincinnati Reds and the Miami Marlins in the Wild Card Series and the Division Series, respectively, before losing the Championship Series.

During the 2021 season, the Braves won eighty-eight games to win the NL East division title. Their success continued into the postseason, making short work of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division series before beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. The team went on the face the Houston Astros at that year's World Series. The Braves won the series four games to two, earning their fourth World Series trophy.

Notable players

A number of former Atlanta Braves players have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Chief among these honorees is noted right-fielder and first baseman Hank Aaron, who is hailed not only as the greatest Braves of all time, but also as one of the best to ever play the game. Spending all but two years of his twenty-three-season career with the Braves, Aaron recorded 755 home runs, 2,202 runs batted in (RBIs), and 6,591 total bases; his success with the Braves allowed him to break the career home run record long held by Babe Ruth. He was also a twenty-four-time All Star and NL MVP in 1957, a year in which he played a pivotal role in the Braves’ World Series championship. Pitcher Phil Niekro played for the Braves between 1964 and 1983 and distinguished himself as one of the team’s all-time greats during that time. Best known for his knuckleball, Niekro recorded 2,912 strikeouts, 44 shutouts, and 268 wins. Third baseman Chipper Jones was one of the Braves’ key players from the 1990s to the early 2010s. Over the course of his nineteen-year career—which he spent entirely with the Braves—Jones recorded 2,726 hits, 468 home runs, and 1,512 walks. He was also a six-time All Star. Tom Glavine pitched for the Braves from 1987 to 2002 and became known for his pinpoint accuracy during that time. Over the course of his run with the team, Glavine recorded more than 2,000 strikeouts and put up a 3.41 earned run average (ERA). Braves legend Greg Maddux is widely regarded as the best defensive pitcher of all time. In eleven seasons with the Braves from 1993 to 2003, Maddux recorded more than 1,800 strikeouts and put up a 2.63 ERA. He also won eighteen Gold Glove Awards. John Smoltz is another of the Braves’ all-time great pitchers. Playing twenty of his twenty-one MLB seasons in Atlanta, Smoltz earned 210 wins as a starter and 154 saves. He also recorded 3,011 strikeouts.

There have been many other notable Atlanta Braves as well. Ronald Acuña Jr. began playing for the Braves in 2018 and quickly established himself as one of the league's best young players. Acuña won Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and added a National League Most Valuable Player Award in 2023. Andruw Jones distinguished himself as one of the best centerfielders to ever play the game. During his time in Atlanta in the 1990s and 2000s, Jones hit 368 home runs and won ten consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He also became the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run in the World Series in 1996. Dale Murphy played outfield and first baseman during a run with the Braves that stretched between the 1970s and the 1990s. In that time, he amassed 371 home runs and put up a .268 batting average. Murphy also won numerous MVP awards, Silver Slugger awards, and Gold Glove awards. Warren Spahn, who played for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves from the 1940s to the 1960s, is often considered to be the best pitcher in the entire history of the Braves’ organization. Over the course of his career, he recorded 356 wins, 63 shutouts, and 2,583 strikeouts.

Bibliography

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