FanPost

This Week in Braves History, September 28 - October 4

This week: The 19th century, the 1973 offense, a 34-year-old rookie, Chipper, Spahn, Knucksy, the legend of Ben Sheets, and watching the Red Sox.

September 28

* In 1952, the franchise plays its last game as the Boston Braves, as the visiting team against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Oddly, this historic final game ends in an extra-inning 5-5 tie. The two teams decide to call the game after 12 innings as it is the last day of the season, the game has no playoff implications, and home plate umpire Al Barlick has already left to catch a train. 1B Earl Torgenson went 3 for 6 for the Braves. The Dodgers win the NL pennant and the Braves finish seventh, 32 games behind.

September 29

* In 1877, the Boston Red Caps play the Hartfords of Brooklyn and win the game, 8-4, to cap their season and win the NL pennant with a 42-18 record. Manager Harry Wright pencils himself into the lineup for the only time this season and goes 0 for 4 at the plate; it is his final appearance as a player, although he remains as manager through the 1881 season. For the Hartfords, it is their final appearance anywhere; the franchise folds at the end of the season.

* In 1973, in a home game against the Houston Astros, Hank Aaron and Darrell Evans hit their final home runs of the season off of Astros starter Jerry Reuss. For Aaron, it is his 40th home run of the season, giving the Braves three 40-HR hitters on the season. Evans' is the 41st, and they join Davey Johnson who finishes with 43. Dusty Baker also homers in this game to finish at 21. The foursome combine for 145 home runs, well over half of the team total of 206. The Braves win the game 7-0; Carl Morton pitches a six-hit shutout. Despite it all, the Braves finish fifth in the NL West at 76-85, 22.5 games behind. But Aaron's home run is significant in another way: he ends the season with 713 career home runs, one short of Babe Ruth's decades-old career home run record, and there will be attention focused on Aaron all through the off-season.

September 30

* In 1979, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Phil Niekro pitches a complete-game win against the Reds on the final day of the season. The win brings Niekro's season won-loss record to 21-20. No other MLB pitcher since has reached 20 wins and 20 losses in the same season. The appearance is also Niekro's 44th start of the season, setting a modern-era Braves franchise record. (In the modern era, no other Braves pitcher has made 40 starts in a season; Niekro did it three times.) Niekro allows two runs on six hits and two walks, striking out six. Bob Horner and Jerry Royster hit home runs to power the Braves' offense, and Darrel Chaney drives in two with a squeeze bunt and a sacrifice fly.

October 1

* In 1966, Eddie Mathews – the only player to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta – plays his final game in a Braves uniform. In the first game of a doubleheader in Crosley Field against the Reds, Mathews goes 2 for 4 with a triple, scoring two runs. However, the Reds win the game 11-5. Mathews does not appear in the second game. Over the offseason he will be traded to the Houston Astros.

* In 1978, the Braves end a frustrating season with a heartbreaking 10-8 loss in 14 innings against the Reds in Riverfront Stadium. Atlanta had come back from a 5-run deficit to tie it in the top of the 9th, keyed by run-scoring hits from Eddie Miller, Larry Whisenton, and pinch-hitting Gary Nolan. But reliever Chopper Campbell surrenders a two-run homer to George Foster to end the game in the 14th. The loss caps a seven-game losing streak to end the season, and the Braves finish in last place with 93 losses. It is also Campbell's major league swan song; the next spring, the Braves trade him to the Montreal Expos, and he spends the next three years in their system without ever being called up.

* In 1987, the Braves execute a triple steal against Houston, in the Astrodome. With two out in the top of the 4th inning, the Braves have the bases loaded. Astros catcher Ronn Reynolds is having problems with double-clutching on his throws back to the pitcher. With Braves pitcher David Palmer at the plate, Reynolds double-clutches and all of the runners go. Gerald Perry steals home, Ken Oberkfell swipes third, and Jeff Blauser takes second to complete this incredibly rare play. In spite of this, Houston goes on to win the game 6-5. Another triple steal in MLB didn't occur until 2008.

October 2

* In 1937, Boston Bees pitcher Jim Turner, a 34-year-old rookie, pitches a 9-hit complete game at Braves Field to defeat the Phillies, 7-1. It is Turner's final appearance of the season, and he finishes with a 20-11 record and a 2.38 earned run average, winning the National League ERA title.

October 3

* In 2012, Braves pitcher Ben Sheets starts the day's game at PNC Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sheets, a long-time starter for the Milwaukee Brewers, was signed on July 1 by the Braves after having sat out much of the previous three years with injuries. He has pitched effectively down the stretch for the Braves, helping the team overcome injuries to several other pitchers on the staff. In this game, Sheets throws upper-90s fastballs for one inning, striking out Starling Marte and the Pirates' all-star Andrew McCutchen and getting Alex Presley to ground out. At the end of the inning, in a prearranged event, Sheets announces his retirement, effective immediately. The Braves use a tandem of pitchers the rest of the way, who together shut out the Pirates 4-0. The eight pitchers together allow four hits, striking out 11 and walking none.

* In 1993, the Braves post their 104th win in the final game of the regular season, defeating the Colorado Rockies 5-3 and breaking the franchise record for wins in a season, which has stood since the 19th century. Ron Gant goes 1 for 3 with a triple and two walks, and Tom Glavine combines with Steve Bedrosian and Greg McMichael on the six-hitter. The win gives the Braves their fifth and final NL West title, beating the San Francisco Giants by one game. (The Giants, with 103 wins, don't make the postseason in the pre-wild-card era.) It is also the Braves' final regular season game as a member of the NL West division; realignment over the off-season moves the Braves to the NL East.

October 4

* In 1948, some of the Boston Braves are in the stands at Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians decide who will face the NL-champion Braves in the World Series. The regular season had ended the day before with Boston and Cleveland tied atop the American League standings, and the one-game playoff will determine the pennant winner. Cleveland shortstop Lou Bordreau hits two home runs to propel the Indians to the victory. This is as close as the Braves and the Red Sox ever come to an all-Boston World Series. To this day, the two teams have never faced each other in a postseason game.

* In 1964, the Milwaukee Braves' Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn makes his final appearance in a Braves uniform. He pitches the 9th inning of a 6-0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in County Stadium, allowing no runs, striking out two, and earning the 24th and final save of his career. (The situation would not qualify as a save under current rules.) Over the offseason his contract is sold to the New York Mets.

* In 1969, the Braves, who have won the NL West title, make their first postseason appearance since moving to Atlanta. It is also the first year of division play, and the first-ever League Championship Series game. Unfortunately the Braves lose the game to the NL East champion New York Mets 9-5, and the Mets sweep the best-of-three series. (These 1969 "Miracle Mets" go on to win the World Series.)

* In 2004, the Braves' Chipper Jones becomes only the second switch hitter to homer from both sides of the plate in a postseason game (after the Yankees' Bernie Williams, who did it twice in 2003). In Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Cubs in Wrigley Field, with the Braves needing to win to avoid elimination, Jones bats left to homer off of Cubs righthanded starter Matt Clement in the fifth inning. The two-run homer puts the Braves up 3-1. In the 8th inning, Jones hits another two-run homer, this time batting righthanded against the Cubs LHP Mark Guthrie. The Braves win the game 6-4 to even the Series at 2-2.

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Battery Power.