#2 FRANK BOLLING
Second Baseman
What Came Before: One big reason the 1966 season was a series of catastrophies was the collapse of their reliable second baseman, Frank Bolling. A Gold Glove winner in Detroit, the Braves locked on him in 1961 as the heir to Red Schoendienst and he was an all-star his first two seasons in Milwaukee.
Never a significant hitter, he was at least steady as a rock on defense and had played at least 120 games in each of his six seasons in Milwaukee. He capped his 1965 season with a September grand slam against Sandy Koufax.
While at Detroit, he and older brother Milt became the fourth set of brothers to play the same position for the same team.
That 1966 Season: Was it the heat? The humidity? Age? Something did not agree with Mobile native Bolling, who played in only 75 games in 1966 (.211-1-18) and was done by mid-September, when Denis Menke took over at second during the Braves' late charge. Bolling was released within one day of the end of the regular season.
What Happened Next: Retiring when no job offers were forthcoming, Frank went back to Mobile and eventually founded the Frank Bolling Adaptive Baseball League, the first Little League for mentally and physically challenged children. Frank was named to the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, two years after his Milwaukee and Atlanta teammate, Hank Aaron.
Older brother Milt, also a Mobile Sports Hall inductee, retired to Mobile as well. Milt passed away in 2013 at the age of 82.
