Jeremy Morrow

GPC Student 2007

My Grandfather and the Braves

            When I was a child, I loved going to the Atlanta Braves games with my grandfather.  I learned to recognize many of the players, such as Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and David Justice.  I also loved the story that my grandfather would tell me about the Braves and their first years playing baseball in Atlanta.

            My grandfather told me about his excitement back in 1966, when the Braves announced they were leaving Milwaukee and coming to Atlanta.  Getting their first professional baseball club caused him to be ecstatic.  He was tired of watching the minor league team, the Atlanta Crackers, playing at Ponce de Leon Ballpark. The idea of watching the new Atlanta Braves at the newly built Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was very exciting to my grandfather.  This gigantic stadium set off a sense of amazement in my grandfather.  He had never seen a stadium that could hold as many as 50,000 fans. 

            My grandfather went to many games for the Braves throughout the sixties and seventies.  He saw Hall of Fame baseball players such as Sandy Koufax, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds.  However, his favorite player of all time was Hank Aaron.  It was safe to assume the Braves would have a victory, if Hank Aaron came up to bat and came through with a homerun.

            The Braves were not as talented back then, as they are today.  My grandfather was at the games, rain or shine.  He would tell me about their disappointment year after year, as they finished in last place.  Since the Braves had a habit of history repeating itself, tickets were sold very cheaply.  The tickets for one game would cost my grandfather two dollars per ticket.  Today these tickets would cost almost $60. 

            When my grandfather would get to the stadium and to his seat in the upper deck, he would bring out the binoculars.  He would search for the perfect seat with these binoculars.  Once he found the seat he wanted, he made his way through the stadium to that special seat.  He usually wound up somewhere around the dugout or behind home plate.  Since the Braves were so lousy at that time, he was able to sit in the seat of his choice.  The ushers were not concerned, because the stadium was so empty.  Even though the Braves were lousy, my grandfather went to as many games as he could without ever giving up on his home team.

            My grandfather has been watching the Braves play for over forty years.  If he is not watching the game at the stadium, he is watching it on television. Every time we go to the Braves game together, he reminds me that the Braves have not always been good.  He again begins to tell me the story about the Braves and their first years of baseball.