Here's a little game for those long, boring nights with no baseball: Make a chain of Braves players, from the beginnings of the franchise in 1871 to the present. The rules: Each player has to have been on the Braves roster continuously from the beginning to the end of the time period named (possibly with partial years at the ends), and each player must have been on the roster together, for at least one day, as the next player in the chain. Stints on the DL or injury rehab assignments don't count as breaks in the chain, but being optioned to the minors does. (And I realize that for the early players, this may be impossible to verify; we'll do the best we can with it.)

Here is my first, quick-n-dirty go at it:

George Wright SS 1871-1878
Jack Burdock 2B 1878-1888
John Clarkson P 1888-1892
Kid Nichols P 1890-1901
Fred Tenney 1B 1894-1907
Bill Sweeney IF 1907-1913
Hank Gowdy C 1913-1923
Johnny Cooney P 1921-1930
Wally Berger OF 1930-1937
Al Lopez C 1937-1940
Al Javery P 1940-1946
Warren Spahn P 1946-1964
Phil Niekro P 1964-1983
Bruce Benedict C 1978-1989
John Smoltz P 1988-2008
Martin Prado IF/OF 2006-present

16 players. Is this chain actually complete and without gaps? Can you make a shorter one? How about one with only pitchers, or without any pitchers? What other combinations can you come up with?