101 Reasons to Love the Braves

I purchased this great little book from Barnes and Noble the other day, "101 Reasons to Love the Braves." The book presents the history of the Braves franchise from its start 1871 in Boston to now (or, rather, 2007 when the book was written.) I have loved reading every reason and learning more and more about my favorite sports team and I thought I'd share a few Braves facts I've learned from my book.

#40 The First Sports Illustrated- On August 16, 1954, the first issue of Sports Illustrated was printed, and its cover featured a shot of Eddie Mathews taking a rip at the plate in Milwaukee County Stadium.

#43 A Spot of Shoe Polish- in Game 4 of the 1957 World Series, The Braves were trailing by a run in the bottom of the 10th when seldom-used Nippy Jones was inserted as a pitch-hitter. a wild pitch by the Yankees' Tommy Byrne bounced near Jones and was oringially called a ball. But the Braves protested, claiming the ball hit Jones, and basing their argument on a spot of black shoe polish on the ball. Umpire Augie Donatelli finally agreed and sent Jones to first, where he was replaced by pinch-runner Felix Mantilla. Mantilla eventually score the tying run on a double by Johnny Logan, before Eddie Mathews ended the game with a two-run homer.

There's a lot of other really cool stuff in this book. I just wish the Braves were doing a little better right now... so maybe there'd be 101 reasons to love the Braves right now. But maybe we'll do a little better against the Angels.

"He's always the homerun king." -Barry Bonds on Hank Aaron

   and nobody better forget it.