Could it be that the worst team the Braves have fielded in a decade in a half is bringing out the most devoted and fanatical fans. Friday night at the Ted saw what has to be a record number of Player's Fan Clubs making an appearance.
The first appearance of an Atlanta Braves Player's Fan Club was in 2002 with the emergence of Sheff's Chefs, the fan club for former Braves outfielder Gary Sheffield. Once he left after the 2003 season, the clubs disappeared. Last year with the emergence of Jeff Francoeur in the middle of the season, the first fan club returned in the form of Francoeur's Franks - several guys dressed in full body hotdog suits.
This year the ranks of the Fan Clubs began with the arrival of McCann's Cans, several guys dressed in cloth mockups of soda cans with a big Atlanta `A' on them. The Cans are four guys, Andy Middleton, Matthew and Andrew Wright (brothers), and Chris Camela (not pictured). When I spoke with them during Friday's game they were a little dismayed at how the AJC portrayed them in an article. They said the paper made them look psycho and that it misquoted them when it said that they "really love Brian McCann." They had said that they "really love the Atlanta Braves, and are big fans of Brian McCann," but that they by no means have a man-crush on him. Like a lot of these fan clubs, they have a MySpace page. You can check it out here.
One of two fan clubs for Adam LaRoche was at the game. LaRoche's Ladies has three members, Robbi and Amy Fountain, both sisters, and Heidi Zellner (not pictured). Their MySpace page is located here. Adam's Army, the other LaRoche fan club apparently did not get the memo and was not at the game.
The James Gang, named after starting pitcher Chuck James, is less of a fan club and more of a collection of high school friends of Chuck James. Many of them played with James at Pebblebrook high school, and some of them played against him while he attended Pebblebrook, located in Mableton, Georgia. The James gang is Anothy Barns, Brad Pope, Darryl Malloy, Kyle Erris, and Josh Turner. Many of these guys by their accents and mannerisms reminded me of Chuck James, who is as much of a down to earth southern boy as you will find.
There were a couple of other fan clubs at the game on Friday night. They included Chippers Chips, a large group of multicolored shirt wearing kids supporting Chipper Jones, and Andruw's Brew Crew, the cornerstones of the Chop Shop beyond the center field stands. Andruw's Brew Crew might be the most regular attendees of Braves games, as they can be spotted in the outfield for just about every home game. There were also some guys dressed in fairly elaborate tomahawks with the words Tomahawk'n displayed on their get-ups.