Originally Posted by
BornaBrave
As a kid, when I was supposed to be in bed, I was listening to Ernie and Milo, holding a yardstick as a bat and timing my swing with Ernie's "Here's the windup, and the pitch!" Most of those years I kept my own stats based on the boxscores in the newspaper. To the last day of the season, I would hope for a win to move us from 5th to 4th in the division, or to keep us from having the worst record in all of baseball!
In 1991, newly married, it was alot of fun watching the first half of the season on TBS as we had a winning record! Reality started happening as we slipped to 9 1/2 games behind the hated Dodgers at the All Star break. I moved to Asheville, NC into the woods and out of reach of cable, so I was back to the radio every night. There was no local station carrying the Braves, so I depended on good weather to pick up Atlanta's 750 AM station, fading in and out - having to move from the front porch to the back porch to the car, fine-tuning constantly - often not sure if I was hearing the crowd roaring or just static. (It took me 10 frustrating minutes to finally figure out that David Justice had actually hit a home run against the Reds!)
That was the most fun I have ever had in my career as a Braves fan! So I usually went to Atlanta for one series every year, and this year I went out on a limb and decided to buy tickets for the last series of the year against the lowly Houston Astros. I wanted so bad for that series to actually mean something, but I was afraid that I would jinx the Braves by even thinking that. Oh my gosh, it went perfectly as the series neared, we were on a tear and on my way to Atlanta, my hopes were at an all time high as we were in a dead tie for first with the Dodgers after winning six in a row. It was absolutely magical! Friday night and Saturday night as we were winning, I was listening to the radio and getting updates on the Dodgers/Giants games - I would announce it to the folks in my section and we would all cheer together. I will never forget after winning the Saturday night game, all the Braves players gathered at the pitcher's mound to watch the end of the Dodgers game on the big screen with the rest of us. If I remember correctly, Will Clark had the big hit for the Giants to seal the game and I was jumping up and down, hugging strangers all around me, with tears rolling down my face! What a celebration as the Braves players circled the entire field thanking us fans for being a part of it all!
The postseason was magical (getting to see the Braves on NETWORK TV for the first time!) beating the Pirates in seven (Smoltzie!). To top off the year, after being down 0-2 in the World Series, my uncle calls me up and says that his buddy has a personal issue and therefore he has an extra ticket to the first World Series game ever in Atlanta! I dropped everything and took off to Atlanta to see an unbelievable 12 inning masterpiece of a game, ending with Lemke's RBI single barely getting Justice across the plate.
Even though that historic series ended with some serious heartbreak, nothing will ever top that year and that team will always be my very favorite!