Glory Days T he Braves have called three cities home The team started in Boston Massachusetts as the Red Stockings in 1871 in the earliest days of professional baseball More than 50 years would pass before fans started calling them the Braves In 1876 Boston was one of eight cities that formed the National League NL The team changed its name to Red Caps that season The Red Caps had many of the best players in baseball including Deacon White Jim O’Rourke and Tommy Bond The team’s manager was Harry Wright His brother George played shortstop for the Red Caps In the 1880s the club became the Beaneaters A new group of stars led this team including Hugh Duffy Tommy McCarthy Bobby Lowe Mike King Kelly John Clarkson and Kid Nichols Each is now in the Hall of Fame In all Boston won the NL pennant eight times during the 1800s 6
LEFT John Clarkson won 149 games in five seasons for Boston RIGHT This card of David Shean from 1911 shows the team name as Rustlers By the early 1900s the team’s stars had all retired Boston struggled to win without them and went many years without a competitive club The Beaneaters tried everything to reverse their fortunes They even changed their name three times first to the Nationals then to the Doves and finally to the Rustlers Nothing worked In 1912 the team changed its name again this time to the Braves Two years later Boston found itself in last place in the middle of July Then something wonderful happened The Braves got hot and rose in the standings They were baseball’s best team by the end of the season and won their first World Series The Braves went 34 years before they reached the World Series again In 1948 Boston faced the Cleveland Indians but lost in six games 7
team Five years later the Braves made headlines off the field From 1901 to 1952 shared Boston they had with another the Red Sox Unfortunately there were not enough baseball fans in the city to support both clubs The Braves moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1953 It was the first time a baseball team had changed cities in 50 years Baseball fans in Milwaukee came out to see the Braves by the millions The Braves gave them plenty of thrills The team had a good mix of young stars led by Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews Older players such as Warren Spahn and Andy Pafko added experience to the roster The Braves rewarded their fans by winning the pennant twice and claiming their second World Series championship in 1957 LEFT Hank Aaron was the NL’s top player in 1957 the same year he led the Braves to a World Series championship ABOVE Eddie Mathews teamed with Aaron to give the Braves two great sluggers 9
