Boston The Way It Was part 3 - 'Boston Braves'

Oh he poked feebly at balls he formally would smashed out of the ballpark sorrowfully the Sultan of Swat realized that the time had come to quit it was a relief to drop the Braves uniform on the bench or in his heart Babe Ruth had never stopped being a Yankee Babe Ruth was 40 years old when he retired from baseball in 1935 after a career that started in Boston and ended here and a salary that final year $35,000 an opening day the babe even hit a home run but by the end of the season he said goodbye to baseball forever the lost uniform he wore said Braves Boston Braves when the offer this is Jim Brett bringing you the story of the brave family direct from the wigwam involved cog giveaways and fan appreciation day to things that were standard fare in the days of the Braves this was a team that called their fans family this man is the Braves family and believed in making their fans feel good about a visit to the wigwam the owners of the Braves decided to show their gratitude the tribal fans by giving away a packard deluxe sedan to a lucky ticket holder over the years the Braves were known by various names the red caps the red stockings the doves the rustlers but their identity as Braves very politically incorrect by today's standards was perfectly acceptable in the 1920s until the 1930s their home ballpark near Boston University was the largest major-league field in the country a box seat cost Tuvok a grandstand one doll and Alisha see only 50 sets no one to the fans couldn't wait until Opening Day I guess must have been in 1927 was the first time that I went to a ballgame she used to see the braves and we still go up that big ramp up to the to the grandstand that was the greatest thing in the world walking up the ramp and looking out in the field and watching the players in practice it was just just one that couldn't wait I like the Braves far better than the Red Sox yeah they were some herethat they they had a a different feeling at that ball packed there was a warm of feeling at Fenway pack you were just sitting there and you weren't part of the game some hard but if Braves you got right into it and to some rather the ballplayers would look up to you and waved here even though they didn't know you from a hole in the wall here Bobbitt right and Tommy Holmes give a few tips to some Braves of the future neither of these stars was ever too busy to give helpful hints to boys more than 1 million two hundred and seventy eight thousand members of the family saw their favorites of the Wigwam oh I always had a great feeling I just felt I was at home you know even for the ushers were friendly the the security there they just everybody was so solicitous of our well-being you walked in and you sort of had the place to yourself and we would get there early and we would walk all around the park the Braves dugout was on third base and we would sit in a box seat and talk to the players I remember the very first game I went to and the field itself was just took me by is so so huge and the game itself was just something that I just didn't believe you know maybe an instant fan well my father thought that I was quite interested in to the end of the Boston Braves he immediately went to picked up a registered me is a nut whole gang member I think it cost him a dollar for the ky4 for the whole year and with the Braves - due to a sweat us young fellows into the left-field pavilion because they never used on my field Pavilion in a ways and that's where we still go watch the ball games and we're allowed into the game set free as long as we had that time more than 30,000 saw ten-year-old Lewis horn of a South End boys club present a hand-carved practically Southworth at a cfox alan belonged to the class of 42 at the jeremiah burke school for girls she was a die-hard Braves fan who says that the Braves were in her destiny we had a class prophecy and we all contributed to this but some of them said you know as they looked into the crystal ball they saw there was a deceive ox the first woman sports announcer and when I think back now I laugh a medical technician at Harvard Medical School Addis he attended as many Braves games as she could her favorite player Tommy Holmes this is Tommy Holmes longtime Braves favorite at every game he and his teammates would look up for a tecee and Palala Hopkins the lady with the tootsie rolls lolli would come armed with twisty rolls and would throw them out to the visiting teams the the local team she would give during batting practice and the visiting team she would throw them out in between you know when as they were approaching the bench coming in off the field Molly Hopkins was a great fan of the Braves and she was there at every game with a megaphone and whenever tommy holmes one of the other ball players get a hit or such she would yell it out and naturally she'd had the backing of all the other fans behind her and many of the ballplayers just smiled back a wave back to law and the fans it was as we always said these dog Braves in the in the end the fans were much closer to we you know there was like a family I you know felt the skinship to her and never never questioned the fact that these women were going out to ballgames and and so forth and escorted or being subject to criticism at all in fact it was quite the opposite during a morning practice session in 1947 Tommy Holmes presented lolly Hopkins and appreciation gift before the players didn't want any fanfare they in a quiet sort of way merely wanted to let lolly know how deeply they appreciated her loyal before I meant all of the prominent sports writers and they all called me young Hemi they called my dad Hemi when Jack Hamilton went to watch the Braves he sat in the press box with his dad Billy Hamilton who was the sports editor at the Herald travelin I had entree to the garden to the arena to every place because I just show up oh this is hammies kid thank you walk in I'd take a pal with me that's where kids used to fight to come with you another with Manny Fernandez griller against Brooklyn when his perfect dolphin by the time he was a teenager Hemis kid got a job as a scorekeeper at Braves field but more than a few times the fan in him got the better of his attention and what showed up on the manual scoreboard was proof of that I had to watch the umpire and I do it and if I was wrong there would be a buzz in the meantime I'm so interested in watching them and saying come on I forget to put up the names of the teams that are coming so I get a call hey get on the ball put the teams up that occur so Nick rather what's his name the cartoonist for the globe gene Mac the next day had a little bit in his cartoon the skull boy boy put two new teams into the league wash land and cleaving tanam everybody loved the Braves and that was the year that the Red Sox lost the playoff turn to Cleveland Indians they would they would have been a Boston World Series but they lost the playoff that game that day and the Braves just weren't good enough to beat the Indians they had spine insane but the Indians were a little bit better we had people ball players like Alvin dark and Eddie stanky and Bob Elliott and Tommy Holmes real torgeson they all just got together and just had a terrific year it was just disappointing that they lost the World Series but just nevertheless they did make that win the pennant they did get into the World Series and that was a quite a thrill the wife included Billy Southworth Johnny Cooney Earnie white bill mathe although 1948 didn't bring Boston a city series the Red Sox also lost in the playoffs but the Braves did bring a closeness to their fans that was unusual in the 40s and is long gone by the 90s by 1953 Boston could no longer support two major leagues and so the Braves were sold to Milwaukee 1953 was just real empty there the grass is growing the grass was so high and it just looked like a vacant someone just you know just packed up and left it's so sad every time I go there and see that the bridge that moved because that was my ills there I remember many of days just standing a Babcock Street waiting for the ball players come in to get their autograph as a parting thought to you young ball player if you play good heads-up baseball and develop the four fundamentals which are to be able to run pro field and hit you will help yourself to a baseball career the play is it when I was a fan they played in the hot Sun not at night like these guys too they traveled by train not by plane you know I well it was you know in those days they went by train and you know they they played every single day and didn't complain if they did they kept it to themselves it wouldn't have done them any good anyway

Channel: shawmutfinlay

Views: 76,573

Keywords: boston

Id: JycSH_0uRfc

Length: 11min 30sec (690 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 23 2011