79 Fun Facts About Atlanta Braves

From which disbanded Cincinnati club did Harry Wright bring players to Boston in 1871 to launch the Braves franchise?

The Red Stockings. Baseball's first openly professional team went unbeaten in 1869, folded after one more season, and Wright took its name with him to Boston.

What distinction do the Braves hold among North American professional sports franchises?

The oldest in continuous operation. The Cubs' club also took the field in 1871, but it sat out two seasons after the Great Chicago Fire, while the Braves have played every year since.

The Braves' 1912 name saluted which organization their owner belonged to?

Tammany Hall. Owner James Gaffney's New York political machine used Native American imagery, and the club's first Indian-head logo arrived with the new name.

A 1936 fan poll renamed the Boston Braves after which insect for five seasons?

Bees. Braves Field was restyled 'the Beehive' to match, but five years later the club went back to being the Braves.

The 1914 'Miracle Braves' sat in last place in July; how did their season end?

With a World Series sweep. From last place they won the pennant by more than ten games, then beat the defending champion Philadelphia Athletics four straight.

Which legend played his final games for the Boston Braves in 1935?

Babe Ruth. Brought in at 40 as a gate attraction, he homered on opening day but batted only .181 and retired in June, his career total fixed at 714.

What did the Braves manage every season in Milwaukee?

A winning record. From 1953 to 1965 the club never finished below .500, and it still left for Atlanta as its crowds dwindled.

Whom did the Milwaukee Braves beat to win the 1957 World Series?

New York Yankees. Lew Burdette beat them three times in the seven-game Series, twice by shutout, and New York took its revenge in a rematch a year later.

Which other Atlanta team played its first season in 1966, when the Braves arrived?

Falcons. Atlanta built a stadium to lure a baseball team, and once it stood finished in 1965 the NFL handed the city an expansion club as well.

Through 2025, which World Series feat belonged to the Braves alone?

Titles in three cities. Boston and Milwaukee brought one each, and Atlanta's first, in 1995, was the only one its 14 straight division winners managed.

Off which Dodgers pitcher did Hank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th home run in April 1974?

Al Downing. Aaron hit his 1-0 pitch into the Braves' bullpen, ending a chase he had endured through a year of hate mail and death threats.

Hank Aaron hit the last 22 of his 755 homers for which team?

Brewers. He homered in his last at-bat as a Brave in 1974, then went back to Milwaukee, where his big-league career began, for two final seasons.

As of 2025, which career record did Hank Aaron still hold?

Most runs batted in, with 2,297. He also still led in total bases, and would have more than 3,000 hits even if every one of his home runs were taken away.

Where was Hank Aaron born and raised?

Mobile, Alabama. He left at 18 to play shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League, and within months the Braves had bought his contract.

Which media mogul bought the Braves in 1976?

Ted Turner. He bought the team as a draw for his Atlanta TV station, the future cable superstation TBS.

How long did the owner last as the Braves' self-appointed manager in 1977?

One game. With the team deep in a losing streak he put himself in the dugout, lost 2-1 in Pittsburgh for a 17th straight defeat, and was ordered back upstairs.

Which team ended the Braves' run of 14 straight division titles in 2006?

Mets: New York took the 2006 NL East by 12 games for its first division title since 1988, while Atlanta slid to third with its first losing record since 1990.

What was the Braves' 1991 season nicknamed?

Worst to First: Atlanta had baseball's worst record in 1990, then surged after the 1991 All-Star break to clinch the division on the season's next-to-last day.

Whom did the Braves beat in the 1995 World Series for their first title in Atlanta?

Cleveland Indians: they had won 100 of 144 games that year, but Atlanta's pitchers held their hitters to a .179 average over the six games.

Which ace did the Braves sign away from the Cubs before the 1993 season to complete their rotation?

Greg Maddux: his first start for Atlanta was the 1993 opener at Wrigley Field, against the club he had just left, and he beat his old teammates 1-0.

Which Braves ace won his only Cy Young Award in 1996?

John Smoltz: he won 14 straight decisions in 1996 on the way to 24 victories, taking an award that a teammate had held for the previous four years.

Who managed the Braves through the entire 14-division-title run?

Bobby Cox: as general manager he replaced his own manager with himself in June 1990, then stayed in the dugout until he retired after the 2010 season.

Which switch-hitting third baseman spent his whole career in Atlanta and had his number 10 retired?

Chipper Jones: his final game was the 2012 wild-card loss, held up for 19 minutes while fans pelted the field with bottles and cans over an infield-fly call.

Whose number 25 did the Braves retire in 2023?

Andruw Jones: Hall of Fame voters gave him just 7.3 percent on his first ballot in 2018, yet he was elected in 2026, three years after Atlanta retired his number.

Which trade-deadline pickup was named MVP of the 2021 World Series after homering in three Braves wins?

Jorge Soler: one of four outfielders Atlanta added in July after losing its star to a knee injury, he capped the Series with a three-run blast in Game 6.

Whom did the Braves defeat in the 2021 World Series?

Houston Astros: Atlanta beat them in six games despite a losing record at the All-Star break and the loss of Ronald Acuña Jr. to a knee injury in July.

What feat did Ronald Acuña Jr. achieve in his 2023 MVP season?

40 homers and 70 steals in a season: nobody had paired them before, and he did it two years after a torn knee ligament kept him out of Atlanta's title run.

Where is Truist Park, the Braves' home since 2017, located?

Cumberland in Cobb County: the club left a relatively young downtown ballpark after 20 seasons, saying it needed costly renovations and lacked parking.

What was Truist Park, the Braves' stadium, called when it opened in 2017?

SunTrust Park: the name lasted only three seasons, until the bank on the sign merged with BB&T and the combined company rebranded as Truist.

Whose 54 home runs in 2023 broke the Braves' single-season record?

Matt Olson: he grew up in suburban Atlanta and, as a boy, had watched the old record of 51 being set in 2005.

The Braves' home from 1997 to 2016 was originally built for what?

The 1996 Summer Olympics: the athletics stadium was designed to be converted, so after the Games nearly half its seating came out and it reopened as a ballpark.

What was the Braves' first Georgia home, used from 1966 to 1996?

Fulton County Stadium: it was finished in under a year for the 1965 season, then hosted only the minor-league Crackers while a lawsuit kept the Braves away.

Which mascot did the Braves stop using in 1986?

Chief Noc-A-Homa: from 1969 the role belonged to Levi Walker, who had gone to the club to argue that a real Native American should play the part.

Which two-sport star is often credited with bringing the tomahawk chop to Braves games in 1991?

Deion Sanders: he had starred at Florida State, whose fans do the same chopping arm motion, though some accounts credit the Braves' organist with starting the chant's tune.

Who managed the 1982 Braves to a record 13-0 start and their first division title in 13 years?

Joe Torre: Atlanta fired him two years later, and he came back as the Yankees' manager to beat the Braves in the 1996 and 1999 World Series.

Which company bought the Braves from Time Warner in 2007?

Liberty Media: the sale cut the team loose from the cable group whose channel TBS had carried its games since the 1970s, and four months later TBS ended that run.

Which Braves broadcaster shouted 'Braves win!' again and again as Sid Bream slid home in 1992?

Skip Caray: the son of broadcaster Harry Caray, he had joined the booth for 1976 and sat through years of last-place teams before that pennant-winning call.

How did the Braves score the run that beat the Mets in the 11th inning to win the 1999 NLCS?

A bases-loaded walk: Kenny Rogers filled the bases with two intentional passes, then missed on a full count, two days after the Mets had survived on a 15th-inning hit.

Which 103-win rival finished one win behind the Braves in the 1993 NL West?

Giants: San Francisco won 103 games and still missed the playoffs, because Atlanta won 104 for a third straight title in a division it left for the NL East a year later.

Which Braves manager stepped down after the 2025 season, his 49th in the organisation, to take an advisory role?

Brian Snitker: he joined as a minor-league catcher in 1977 and spent almost four decades coaching and managing in the system before getting the big-league job in 2016.

Which Braves slugger hit four home runs in one 1986 game that Atlanta still lost?

Bob Horner: all four came against Montreal on July 6, 1986, yet the Expos won 11-8, the first time in 90 years that a four-homer game had ended in defeat.

Which pitcher's 23 straight starts did the Braves win between 2010 and 2012, setting an MLB record?

Kris Medlen: the streak spanned his 2010 elbow surgery, and when he left the bullpen in mid-2012 he went 9-0 with a 0.97 ERA in 12 starts.

Which accessory did outfielder Joc Pederson turn into a fan craze during the Braves' 2021 title run?

A pearl necklace: fans turned up in replica strands through October, and after the victory parade he donated the original to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Game 6 of the 1995 World Series was a 1-0 combined one-hitter by Mark Wohlers and which starter?

Tom Glavine: he gave up one hit in eight innings and was named Series MVP, as a single solo home run was enough to end Atlanta's wait for a title.

Greg Maddux's 355 career wins beat which rival's total by one?

Roger Clemens: he stopped at 354 in 2007, and Maddux's win in his final start a year later lifted him past his rival into eighth place all-time.

In which other sport was Braves pitcher Tom Glavine drafted by a Los Angeles team in 1984?

Ice hockey: the Los Angeles Kings took him in the fourth round of the NHL draft, but he signed with the Braves, who had picked him in baseball's second round.

Which pitching coach guided the Braves' rotation through all 14 straight division titles before leaving for Baltimore?

Leo Mazzone: he never pitched in the majors himself, yet three of his Atlanta starters won six Cy Young Awards in eight seasons.

John Smoltz is the only pitcher in MLB history to record what combination?

200 wins and 150 saves: elbow surgery cost him the whole 2000 season, so he came back as a closer and saved 55 games in 2002 before returning to the rotation.

John Smoltz duelled which boyhood hero in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series?

Morris: Smoltz matched Jack Morris with seven and a third scoreless innings, but the Twins' ace pitched all ten and Minnesota took the title 1-0.

What is Chipper Jones's real first name?

Larry: he shares the name with his father, a high-school coach, and relatives nicknamed the lookalike baby a chip off the old block.

Bobby Cox holds the all-time MLB record for what?

Ejections: umpires even threw him out of two World Series games, in 1992 for hurling a batting helmet onto the field and in 1996 for arguing a call at second base.

Which other team did Bobby Cox manage, between his two Braves stints?

Toronto Blue Jays: he took the young club to 99 wins and a single victory short of the 1985 World Series, then went back to Atlanta as general manager.

Who hit the two-run single that scored Sid Bream to win Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS?

Francisco Cabrera: a seldom-used reserve sent up to pinch-hit with two out and the bases full, he lined a single to left that turned a 2-1 deficit into a pennant.

Which Pirates left fielder's throw did Sid Bream beat to the plate in 1992?

Barry Bonds: his throw home arrived a split second late, and it proved his last act as a Pirate before he left for San Francisco as a free agent.

Home runs earned the Braves' 1966-1996 ballpark which nickname?

The Launching Pad: the park sat more than 1,000 feet above sea level, and the thin air helped fly balls carry over the fences.

Warren Spahn won 363 games despite losing three seasons to what?

Military service: he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and came home with a Purple Heart, missing the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons.

Which Hall of Famer is the only player to have played for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta?

Eddie Mathews: he later returned to manage the club, and was in the dugout as skipper when his old teammate Hank Aaron hit home run number 715.

Which Braves outfielder won back-to-back NL MVP awards in 1982 and 1983?

Dale Murphy: he reached the majors as a catcher, was tried at first base, and only then moved to the outfield, where he became a Gold Glove centre fielder.

Phil Niekro is the only pitcher to win 300 games throwing mainly what pitch?

The knuckleball: yet when he won his 300th game, a shutout at the age of 46, he did not throw a single one until the final batter.

Only Andruw Jones, Willie Mays and which other centre fielder won ten Gold Gloves?

Ken Griffey Jr.: Jones won his ten in a row from 1998, two years after he homered in his first two World Series at-bats as a 19-year-old.

Which Caribbean island produced both Andruw Jones and Ozzie Albies?

Curaçao: Jones signed with Atlanta's scouts there at 16 and was in the majors at 19, and two decades later the same small island sent the club Albies.

Which Brave won the 2020 NL MVP award?

Freddie Freeman: three weeks before the delayed season opened he was laid up with COVID-19 and a high fever, yet he recovered in time to play and won the award.

Which country is Ronald Acuña Jr. from?

Venezuela: he did not debut until late April 2018, when he was 20, yet he still finished that season as the National League's Rookie of the Year.

Which two 1948 Boston Braves aces inspired a famous rhyme about hoping for bad weather?

Spahn and Sain: a sports editor's poem in the Boston Post was boiled down to 'Spahn and Sain and pray for rain' as the pair drove the club to the 1948 pennant.

Braves Field, the club's home from 1915 to 1952, is now Nickerson Field at which school?

Boston University: it bought the park in 1953 for football, and the right-field stand and the old ticket-office building still survive there.

Which Braves closer set a major-league rookie record with 46 saves in 2011?

Craig Kimbrel: he saved at least 42 games in each of his four full Atlanta seasons, then was traded to San Diego on the eve of the 2015 opener.

Which first baseman did the Braves land from San Diego in a July 1993 trade?

Fred McGriff: nicknamed the Crime Dog, he homered in his first game for Atlanta, and his second-half tear rallied the club to the 1993 division title.

Which Braves outfielder was NL Rookie of the Year in 1990 after a fan favourite's trade opened up right field?

David Justice: five years later his sixth-inning homer was the only run of the game that clinched the 1995 title.

Which Braves catcher hit 43 home runs in 2003 and then left for Baltimore?

Javy López: he had batted just .233 the year before, then hit .328 with those 43 homers in only 129 games.

Which Braves starter led the majors in wins in 2023 after being drafted out of Clemson?

Spencer Strider: he lasted until the fourth round of the 2020 draft, debuted the next October, and two years after that won 20 games with 281 strikeouts.

Which general manager, hired from Kansas City in 1990, built the Braves teams that won 14 straight division titles?

John Schuerholz: his first winter's signings helped carry Atlanta to the 1991 World Series, and in 1995 he became the first general manager to win titles in both leagues.

Which nickname did the Braves pick up in the 1980s from their games on the cable station TBS?

America's Team: the superstation carried hundreds of their games a year into homes all across the country, winning fans far from Georgia.

Which former Colorado Rockies manager took over as Braves manager for the 2026 season?

Walt Weiss: Colorado had hired him in 2012 straight from coaching a high-school team, and he then spent eight seasons as Atlanta's bench coach.

Which free-agent signing won the 1991 NL MVP award in his first season with the Braves?

Terry Pendleton: he had hit .230 for St. Louis the year before, then won the batting title at .319 in his first season in Atlanta.

Which ballpark was the Braves' home for the 13 seasons between Boston and Atlanta?

County Stadium: the Braves were its first tenants in 1953, and after they left the park went four seasons without a big-league club of its own.

Which Braves GM resigned and was banned after a 2017 probe into international signing violations?

John Coppolella: baseball put him on its permanently ineligible list and stripped Atlanta of 13 international prospects, though he was reinstated in 2023.

Whose broken ankle in spring training 1954 opened a place in the Braves' lineup for rookie Hank Aaron?

Bobby Thomson: the hitter of the 'Shot Heard Round the World' had just arrived in a trade, and the day after his injury the 20-year-old Aaron started in left field and homered.

Which former Giants pitching great became president of the Boston Braves when Emil Fuchs's syndicate bought the club?

Christy Mathewson: tuberculosis that followed a wartime gas accident left him able to do little more than lend his name, and he died in 1925.

Which ballpark did the Boston Braves borrow late in 1914 after outgrowing their own?

Fenway Park: the Red Sox lent their two-year-old ballpark, and a year later the Braves returned the favour by lending brand-new Braves Field for the 1915 World Series.