Chapter 17-1965…In 1965, the tumult of the ’60’s thundered on. It often felt as though the warp and woof of the fabric of American culture was being torn asunder. The tearing was as diverse and divisive as “dropping out”, mass marches and murder…the mood of America went from free love to revolution; with a multitude of varying opinions in between. Hundreds of demonstrators, including Dr. Martin Luther King, are arrested in Selma, AL, protesting against voter registration. Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem. In August, thousands are arrested during the Watts riots. The war in Viet Nam continues to escalate with the deployment of 150,000 troops to that region; U.S. planes bomb North Viet Nam and U.S. Marines invade Da Nang. More Marines are sent to quell problems in the Dominican Republic. Public sentiment, especially on college campuses, against the war in Viet Nam continues to grow. Several hundred war protesters in Berkeley-many who are University of California students-burn their draft cards in front of the draft board office. Around the world; Gambia and Maldives declare their independence. Prime Minister Ian Smith declares Rhodesia independent from Great Britain. The India-Pakistani situation escalates from hostility to war. France joins the Space Age by launching a satellite…and withdraws their Atlantic Fleet from NATO. Ferdinand Marcos is inaugurated President of the Philippines. Mary Quant introduces the mini-skirt in London…
it’ll be in the U.S. in about 14.7 nanoseconds. The Beatles perform in Shea Stadium and on Ed Sullivan again. Sony Corp. debuts its brand new Betamax “Video-corder”. Ralph Nader’s book, Unsafe at any Speed, is critical of the lack of automobile safety in American cars with special emphasis on the Chevrolet Corvair. From Beat/Hippie poet, Allen Ginsberg, the term, “Flower Power”, is added to our collective vocabulary…perhaps to our collective philosophic stance…?!?! Speaking of new Vocabularies: “UFOs” are being “sighted” in increasing numbers…!! Sadly, we lost Sir Winston Churchill and Nat King Cole…and others…
Unemployment is 5.2% and the Federal Debt is just a smidge over $322 billion. The average U.S. income is $6,500…the average U.S. house costs $13,000…a car is sorta kinda $2.600 and tuition to Harvard is under $1,800 per year. Movie tickets are $1.25; gasoline is 31 cents a gallon and a stamp costs a nickel. At the grocery store sugar is 11cents a pound; Vitamin D milk is $1.05 a gallon; ground coffee is 87 cents a pound; eggs are 35 cents a dozen; fresh-ground hamburger is 42 cents a pound and a loaf of bread is 21 cents…my Dad says he’ll write to us from the poor-house…
At the movies you could see The Sound of Music, Dr. Zhivago, Thunderball and Help! If you stay home and watch the TV, you can choose (ba da da da da da da da…..) Batman, Hogan’s Heroes, The Andy Griffith Show or I Spy. The popular soap, The Days of our Lives, debuted in 1965 as did the now-annual, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Your local Top 40 included, “Back in my Arms Again” by The Supremes, “Downtown” by Pet Clark, “8 Days a Week” by The Beatles, “Get Off of My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones, “Hang on Sloopy” by The McCoys, “Help Me Rhonda” by the Beach Boys and “I Got You, Babe” by Sonny and Cher. For those who may remember and care; Bob Dylan got no end of happy harangue for “going electric” at The Newport Folk Festival.
The mood in Milwaukee was mostly muted, yet diverse…the most vociferous were the “negatives”; “let ‘em go”, “they can have ‘em”, “who needs ‘em anyways”, “we’ll just boycott ’em”; others, many others, were sorely conflicted…they were wary of the words of Braves, Inc.; they’d had all winter to digest the taste, the feelings concomitant with lies, deceit and betrayal…and yet, there was virtually NO animosity toward the players…these are our guys…we still love these guys!! The ramifications of this fan conflict will be in play all season!!! Bobby Bragan will be booed practically every time he comes out of the dug-out.
January opened quietly…old friend, Ray Boetel, veteran Miami Herald sportswriter and photographer, stopped by Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach to pick up his parking permit and a current team roster (3 pages, legal size).
While Spring Training is still over a month away, Bob Allen, Braves’ statistician and PR assistant, gets out a memo to all teams and players who will be at the Florida sessions regarding changes since 1964.
Braves’ concessions’ manager, Earl Yerxa, makes certain he gets the mail-order list of trinkets/memorabilia/collectibles available to fans into their hands early. It’s also another reminder to those fans to buy tickets. I love these…there are a couple items on there that I’ve never seen…!!!
The Milwaukee Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America held their annual Diamond Dinner on January 24th. The MC for the evening was Sentinel Sports Editor, Lloyd Larson. Joining him at the head table were Governor Knowles; Mayor Maier; County Board Chairman, Eugene Grobschmidt: TEAMS, Inc. prexy, Edmund Fitzgerald; Phillies’ GM, John Quinn; Judge Robert Cannon and a veritable coterie of Braves’ players, past and present. Mary Schoendienst (Red’s wife), sang The Star-Spangled Banner; Lee Maye sang; Steve Swedish’s Orchestra played music; Quinn, Cannon, Grobschmidt and Fitzgerald spoke; awards were presented to County Stadium manager, Bill Anderson; Wisconsin Semi-Pro Baseball Association President, Dick Falk; MVP-Joe Torre; ROY-Rico Carty and Most Distinguished Alumnus-Red Schoendienst. They ate and drank and a wonderful time was had by all!!
In a sort of Blast-from-the-Past, old favorites, Jolly Cholly Grimm and Jack Dittmer, were Diamond Dinner guests who added to the fun and festivities…and, certainly, to our good memories!!
From the tenor of Governor Knowles letter to our old friend and HUGE Braves fan and supporter, Max Margolis, it seems Max may have leaned toward the “boycott camp”. Regardless of where you stand on how you did or might respond to the loss of the Braves, please keep in mind all the great stuff Max has given to the Braves players over the years…and, also, that we all have differing responses to being hurt…to grief…to pain…
On February 1st, the Braves traded veteran catcher, Ed Bailey, to the San Francisco Giants for veteran reliever, Billy “Digger” O’Dell.
On February 5th, outfielder Wycliffe Nathaniel “Bubba” Morton was sold to the Cleveland Indians for cash.
On or about February 11th, Braves (Low-on-Cash) Inc. invited fans to be “partners in the last season”. Under the agreement, Braves, Inc. would donate to TEAMS, Inc. five cents per paid admission up to 766,921 (which was the total of paid admissions in 1962), plus, 25 cents for every paid admission over that number up to one million and one dollar for every paid admission over one million. The deal was accepted by TEAMS, Inc. as they had nothing to lose. Many, many fans saw it as a thinly disguised ploy by Braves, Inc. to further abuse them by taking more of their money after having already taken their team…and they stayed away in droves!!!
Many young, upcoming ballplayers were assigned to The Florida Instructional League. Generally these young men were thought to have promise and were not assigned to some faraway minor league team but were kept close so their progress could be monitored. The added advantage to the players was that in this milieu they got to play every day instead of sitting on some ML bench. This is the 1965 roster. We know some of these guys!!
Since Spring Training is just around the corner (March 1st), this seems like a good time to look at who will be moving on and who will be the “new guys”. We have already noted the departures of Gus Bell, Len Gabrielson, Roy McMillan, Phil Roof, Billy Hoeft, Ron Piche John Braun and, of course, the garrulous and ginormously beloved, Warren Spahn.
Ethan Blackaby-He was sent down at the end of the ’64 season, ostensibly for more seasoning/experience. He later played with the Angels and until fairly recently was still in baseball with the Arizona organization.
Merritt Ranew-He was also sent down after the ’64 season. He was with the Angels in ’65. In recent years he’s enjoyed some celebrity as a successful horse-trainer.
Cecil Butler-He showed serious promise in ’62: 2-0; 2.61 ERA; in ’64 he got hit pretty hard and went back down at the end of the season.
Bill Southworth-Bill was one of a number of guys who were sent down at the end of the ’64 season. He did, however, re-surface later in both the White Sox and Mets systems.
Jack Smith-In spite of my having his uniform, Jack was sent to Denver (PCL) in ’64 where he had a 2.90ERA in 59 IP’s. Rumor has it he was a barber in the Atlanta Airport…I never found him there…
Dan Schneider-As you recall, he was a school-boy phenom who got sent down after ’64 for more experience. It worked; he was up again in Atlanta and, later, was with the Astros.
A couple of the “new” guys aren’t actually new-they’ve been here before…Notice the paucity of new guys? Think about it…
Tommie Aaron-Tommie was with the parent club during parts of the ’62 and ’63 seasons. He spent ’64 with Denver in the PCL and served up good numbers…and he’s back in “the bigs”.
Don Dillard-Don broke into organized ball in ’59. He was up, briefly, in ’63. He had good numbers at Toronto (Int’l) in ’64 and, therefore gets another shot.
Mack Jones-Mack is a very familiar face…he was up for parts of ’61, ’62 and ’63. He hit .317 with 39 homers for Syracuse (Int’l) in ’64 and got the call.
Dan Osinski-As noted earlier, Dan came over in the off-season trade with the Angels (they got Phil Roof and Ron Piche). Used as a reliever, he was 4-2 in 47 games in ’63 and 2-2 with two saves in 47 games in ’64. He will work in relief for the Braves.
With spring training about to start there are a couple notable changes from last year. If you’re someone who dates pictures by uniforms, the names of the players came off for the ’65 season-Braves’ uni’s only had names on the back during the ’63 and ’64 seasons. Also, as a result of all the negativity, no one was interested in sponsoring the Braves on radio or TV…so…there was NO television coverage in Milwaukee. In a very last minute deal, TEAMS, Inc. (plus a local ad agency and a couple of local radio stations-WOKY and WOKY-FM) underwrote $110,000 in costs and gave free broadcast rights to some 45 Wisconsin stations who broadcast the entire season.
Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training on March 1st. A local West Palm Beach car dealer supplied five courtesy vans for the Braves to use for daily transportation. Posing with the new vans are (L-R): Eddie Mathews, Joe Torre, Denis Menke, Bob Sadowski and Hank Aaron.
Catcher Gene Oliver demonstrates his wry sense of humor and his valuable versatility posing with his jack-of-all-trades gloves/mitts. He will play in the outfield, at first base or handle catching duties as needed.
Position players reported to West Palm Beach on March 5th. The stalwart Milwaukee (Braves????) Boosters, for the first time in their 13-year history did not go to Florida to support the team!! Instead, the Boosters went to cheer on the guys they’d been cheering on for years…who were now playing with other teams who did their spring training in Arizona. The tour promised trips to the Grand Canyon, horse racing and general sight-seeing…none of which could begin to compare to the emotional reunions with “old friends”…and all for $289 per person…!!!
Neither of these spring training scorecards is scored, making it nearly impossible to date them precisely. However, both have Dan Osinski which makes them 1965. The Wolfie’s SC, from a game with the Yankees, is auto’d by Lou Klimchock and Dan Osinski. The Old Milwaukee roster has the Phillies’ roster on the reverse but, like in past years, no place to actually score the game. In addition to Braun and Osinski, it is auto’d by Frank Lary.
In addition to Braun, Alomar and Osinski auto’s on the cover, The Coke SC is auto’d on the inside by Denis Menke and Andy Pafko (now a minor league manager).
A memo from Bill Steineke (remember the FL Instructional League roster…), coach and business manager, regarding a fan injury. Note the funky letter-head on this report to the home office…different from the Milwaukee version.
On March 20th, veteran right-hander, Frank Lary, was sold to the New York Mets for cash.
Since this envelope full of 8×10’s (24) came from Bob Allen’s files it might be safely surmised that he (PR) was in charge of getting team-issued pictures produced. Pacific Coast Sports Publishing no longer exists but certainly did in 1965. Turnaround time must have been pretty good as this is dated 3/31/65 and opening day is April 15th.
On April 4th the Braves traded promising young infielder, Michael “Mickey” Sinnerud (.278 in 139 games at York [Eastern] in ’64) to the Astros for one-time power-hitter, Frank Thomas…he was with the Braves most of the ’61 season.
On their way north to Milwaukee, the Braves played an exhibition game against the Yankees on April 8th in Jacksonville, FL…the first of 19 games that would be telecast in Atlanta during the season. On the 9th, 10th and 11th they played a three-game series against the Tigers in Atlanta’s brand new stadium…some 106,000 attended. This placemat notes a couple of Braves games scheduled in Atlanta.
On April 11th, National League President, Warren Giles, named John Quinn (Phillies), Joe Brown (Pirates) and John Holland (Cubs) to work with TEAMS, Inc. regarding the future of baseball in Milwaukee. This was, to some extent, as a result of TEAMS, Inc. having already met with all the NL clubs as well as Commissioner Ford Frick and Giles.
The Braves opened on the road in ’65 with two games in Cincinnati. New Braves’ ace, Tony Cloninger, pitched a two-hitter for a 4-2 win; helped by successive home runs by Eddie Mathews and Joe Torre (Torre had two round-trippers on the day)…that was Monday. When Cloninger boarded the bus after the game, he was greeted with a round of spontaneous applause!! Tuesday night, April 13th, Blasingame started, gave up three runs in the first and was replaced by Lemaster. Unfortunately, Reds’ rookie first-baseman, Tony Perez, hit his first-ever ML home run-a grand slam-that iced an 8-3 Cincy win.
The Braves flew home after the game. They got in very late…it was 39 degrees outside and…no one was at the airport to greet them…unheard of in the past. Once again fans were quick to point out that their absence was NOT aimed at the players; but, at the owners. The disparity of attitude among the fans (using, once again, the jilted lover analogy) was undergoing some subtle changes…not so much in the group whose attitude was “We’re done with ‘em”, “You can have ‘em”. In fact this group had buttons that said “Bye Bye Braves” or “Support your (with “your” crossed out and “their” inserted) and the like. Some group of fans (not the Braves Boosters) put together a bag of items to be given to fans with these kinds of buttons and the like…one such item was a song about John McHale sung to the tune of “MOTHER” (an old fave of our parents if you youngsters need to hear the tune):
M is for the Many things he told us,
C is for the Clever way he won,
H is for the Helpless way he left us,
A is for the Arguments that’re done,
L is for the Letdown we are feeling,
E is for the Ease with which they moved,
Put them all together
They spell McHale…
Nicest guy in all the world to us.
No…this group hadn’t changed much…Maybe vented, let it out a little more…The change was among the rejected who’d hoped, at least for a time, to win her back. Many, many of these fans joined in with the TEAMS, Inc. folks to demonstrate to Major League Baseball…and to the world that Milwaukee IS a Major League City!!!
April 15th was Opening Day in Milwaukee. TEAMS, Inc. bought out the entire stadium and declared it “Stand Up For Milwaukee Day”. In the deal with Braves, Inc., TEAMS, Inc. guaranteed $35,000 to the Braves. TEAMS, Inc. would pay stadium rent and such monies as belong to the National League and to the Cubs as the visiting team. The remainder would go to TEAMS, Inc. to continue to promote Milwaukee as a Major League city.
In addition, TEAMS, Inc. brought in the players and manager Charlie Grimm from the 1953 Opening Day as a “Reunion”. Included (from left) were: Max Surkont, Bob Buhl, Warren Spahn, Lou Burdette, Eddie Mathews, Sid Gordon, Johnny Logan, Earl Gillespie (Voice of the Braves), Andy Pafko, Jack Dittmer and Charlie Grimm.
As the players were introduced to the crowd (after about a bazillion pictures were taken), they jogged out to their respective positions on the field…The ovation was thunderous…and prolonged!!
The temperature on Opening day was a chilly-but-not-freezing 52 degrees; 35,098 tickets were sold; 33,874 were in attendance.
For the Braves, Bob Sadowski pitched a four-hitter plus beat out an infield hit to start a three-run rally…the final score was 5-1, Braves…TEAMS, Inc. made $13,800.
The game was boycotted by a few fans and…the LaSalle Corporation…in their entirety…which just underscored what one wag noted: “Resentment against management was thicker than a southern chocolate malt”.
Friday the 16th was a day off. It snowed…lightly…on Friday so the field was muddy and it was cold. Several sources held it should have been postponed…it wasn’t…
Some 3,362 fans showed up. These empty seats are a Technicolor indication of fan frustration and grief. A mere 26,330 fans showed up for the next 10 home games…into May. In toto, the Braves were six-six for the month of April…and there were rain-outs…
The fortunes of the team did not change appreciably from April into May and, in spite of Cloninger getting his third win, May 4th’s “crowd” of 913 was the smallest in County Stadium history.
This undated memo was to inform fans that Friday night games would start at 7:30P instead of 8:P…probably an economic decision…???
On May 13th, Phil Niekro (who in 1964 had pitched 15 innings allowing 15 hits with seven walks and eight strike-outs), got his very first ML win…in relief. As of this same date, he had acquired neither the nickname “Knucksie” nor an additional 317 life-time wins.
In the middle of the month the Braves strung together a four-game winning streak that included wins by O’Dell, Cloninger, Sadowski and Blasingame.
The win by Sadowski involved an at-bat by rookie Sandy Alomar that drove in three runs and allowed him to also score on this run-down play wherein the Mets pitcher missed the tag (reported by Uecker from the upper deck…just kidding…!!!)
The fourth of those four-in-a-row saw former Brave fave, Warren Spahn, in his first start against his old teammates, lose to Blasingame, 7-1. A humorous irony involved a running vociferation (in good old days and nights gone by) between Spahn and Mathews as to who would do what to whom if they ever faced each other in a game. Spahn struck Mathews out in the first inning, got him to ground out in the fourth; but, gave up a booming, dooming grand slam in the fifth.
In all fairness; Blasingame was brilliant on the night!! He threw a one-hit, complete-game winner for the Braves…it was a night of very mixed emotions for the faithful…
Steady, reliable outfielder and outstanding doo-wop singer, Lee Maye, was traded on May 23 to the Houston Astros for pitcher Ken Johnson (L) and 1B Jim Beauchamp (R).
The Press Box in County Stadium was always buzzing…it was news if we won…it was news if we lost. Some of the scribes took sides…some didn’t…or kept it to themselves.
The end of May was just a smidge better that April: 15 wins; 13 losses for a 21-19 season-to-date. Cloninger was 6-4, Lemaster was 2-4, Sadowski was 3-2, Blasingame was 5-4 and O’Dell was 3-2 in relief. On the offensive side the big relief among fans is having Hank Aaron back in the line-up…injuries have certainly hampered the Braves early on. Hank is hitting .338 with 5 HRs, Eddie is hitting .269 but has 10 HRs and 36 RBI. Joe Torre is hitting .329 with 12 HRs and 29 RBI.
June started with a bang!!! O’Dell, Ken Johnson (new guy), Blasingame and Cloninger reeled off four consecutive wins to open the month of spoons, moons and brides!!! After splitting the double-header on Sunday the 6th, they traveled to Chicago on Monday.
On Tuesday the 8th, tied 2-2 in the 10th inning, those Big Bats boomed out four homers that scored six runs to beat the Cubbies, 8-2…Cloninger, 8-4, was the winning pitcher. Crossing the plate (top to bottom, left to right): Joe Torre (15), Felipe alou (29), Hank Aaron (44) and Gene Oliver (12).
On June 9th Braves, Inc. once again attempted to buy their way out of their contract with the Milwaukee County Board. The offer, once again, was $500,000; with $400,000 offered to break the lease and $100,000 offered to TEAMS, Inc. The offer was immediately rejected by TEAMS, Inc.
On June 10th the Braves began another four-game win streak. The pitchers were Cloninger, Lemaster, Johnson and Blasingame. The team was in second place…four games behind the league-leading Dodgers.
This check is far more interesting to a long-time Illinois resident than to many other folks. Forty-some years later, even in Illinois, most people don’t remember much about Paul Powell. As concisely as I can: Paul Powell was Secretary of State in Illinois from 1965 until his death in 1970. In fact, he never had an annual salary in excess of $30,000. Allegedly, Illinois has some history of corruption in government. There are a multitude of stories about the life of Mr. Powell wherein some hold he was part of said corruption…some don’t. In fact, two days following Mr. Powell’s death in 1970, some $800,000 in cash was found in a closet in his room/suite at the St. Nicholas Hotel in Springfield. The money was in shoe-boxes, metal boxes, envelopes and, maybe, a briefcase. In addition, there were also found 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios and two cases of creamed corn. The question…?? Why would the Wisconsin-based Milwaukee Braves be writing a check for $601.60 to Paul Powell??? Maybe there’s some connection to the Cubs…??? Veddy Eenterrresting…!?!?!
On June 16th, at their regularly scheduled monthly meeting, the Milwaukee County Board voted, 24-0, to also reject Braves, Inc.’s buy-out bid.
Also, on June 16th, the Braves traded pitcher Bobby Gene Tiefenauer to the New York Yankees for pitcher Tom Dukes. Dukes never played in Milwaukee.
This quote precedes the story in the 1966 (SN) Official Baseball Guide: “…Braves management added to its long list of misadventures in Milwaukee…”. Braves, Inc. barred Milwaukee Sentinel sportswriter, Lou Chapman from entering their clubhouse on the 20th of June, “for writing stories of a negative nature” and because of the “disquieting effect you (Chapman) have had on the players in the clubhouse, the employees in the ticket office and throughout the stadium”. A formal protest was drawn up by the Milwaukee Chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association (The Diamond Dinner guys) and the ban was rescinded the next day.
With the exception of another mixed-emotions win over Spahnie and the Mets on June 29th, the remainder of June was relatively uneventful. The two four-game winning streaks accounted for half of June’s win total as they went 16-14 on the month; 37-33 on the season. They’re tied with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for fourth, five-and-a-half games out of first. Hank Aaron is batting .343 with 13 HRs and 30 RBI. Joe Torre is batting .332 with 15 HRs and 38 RBI. Eddie Mathews has 14 HRs and 38 RBI. Milwaukee leads the league in batting with a .275 average. Blasingame is 7-5 with a 2.60 ERA in 92 innings. Ken Johnson is 5-2 with a 3.56 ERA in 86 innings. O’Dell is 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA; Sadowski is 4-2, 3.79 ERA. Cloninger is 10-4 with a 3.81 ERA in 111 innings and Lemaster is still hurting/struggling at 4-7, 6.13 ERA.
Early in July, for reasons unknown here, Ralph Del Forge, original member of the LaSalle Corporation and Braves, Inc. board member (secretary and assistant treasurer), resigned…but agreed to stay on in a consultant/advisory position until the end of the season. For the Braves, the interval prior to the All-Star break netted a lackluster four and six record; fifth place, five-and-a-half down.
The 1965 All-Star Game was held on July 13th at Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Metropolitan Stadium. Once again starters (position players, not pitchers) were chosen by vote of managers, coaches and players-you couldn’t vote for your own teammates. The starting eight for the National League were: 1B-Ernie Banks; 2B-Pete Rose; 3B-Dick Allen; SS-Maury Wills; LF-Willie Stargell; CF-Willie Mays; RF-Hank Aaron and C-Joe Torre. The NL jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on HRs by Mays and Torre. Stargell added a two-run HR in the second to make it 5-0. The AL tied it all up in the fifth. Willie Mays got a base-on-balls in the seventh; went to third on Aaron’s single and scored what proved to be the winning run on Santo’s single…Final score: NL-6; AL-5. There were 46,706 in attendance. NBC carried the game on radio and TV. It was, again, sponsored by The Gillette Safety Razor Company and The Chrysler Corporation. Joe Garagiola and Jack Buck handled the play-by-play on TV; Herb Carneal and Bob Prince did the radio. Net receipts were reported at $205,147.06.
On Wednesday, July 14th, the Braves played a double-header vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Cubbies won the opener, 5-2, with former Brave, Bob Buhl, getting the win. In the second inning of the second game the Cubs pulled off an unusual triple play…the Braves had already scored two runs and had Rico Carty on third and Mack Jones at first with nobody out. It started when Braves’ shortstop, Woody Woodward, hit a pop foul near the screen that was caught by Cubs’ catcher, Ed Bailey. Mack Jones faked running to second after the catch, drawing a throw from Bailey to Cubs’ SS Don Kessinger to stop Jones.
On the throw, Carty broke from third trying to score. Kessinger threw to pitcher, Bill Faul, covering the plate…Carty was out by a mile.
Faul then whirled and threw to 2B Glenn Beckert who put the tag on Jones who had run when Kessinger threw home…Triple Play!!! Odd…but three outs just the same…Fortunately, the Braves, behind Hank Fischer’s pitching, went on to win the game. It was win number one in what was to become a 10-game winning streak.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday Johnson, Blasingame and O’Dell each won against the Pirates.
On Sunday the 18th, Tony Cloninger and Dick Kelley pitched Milwaukee to its first double-header sweep of the season!! The victims were the Mets. Cloninger, 11-8, allowed just six hits for a 5-1 victory…Mathews contributed his 18th and 19th home runs on the year. Kelley, in seven relief innings (of Fischer) got the second win, 5-4. Gene Oliver hit a two-run homer (#8) to decide the game…that’s six-in-a-row!!!
On Monday, Ken Johnson (10-4) allowed only six hits while taking the Mets to task again. It was the Braves’ first shut-out of the year as they won, 6-0. Helping with homers were (L-R): Felipe Alou (#15), Eddie Mathews (#20), Ken Johnson w/ball, Joe Torre (#18) and Hank Aaron (#18)…seven in a row!!!
On Tuesday, Hank Fischer (4-3), allowed five hits and just one run in seven innings as the Braves won, 7-1. Hank Aaron hit a homer (#19) in the seventh. O’Dell (above) came in for the final two stanzas and gave up nothing…eight in a row for the Braves…10th loss in a row for the Mets…!!!
Wade Blasingame got the ninth-in-a-row win on Wednesday while ending a six-game win streak by the league-leading Dodgers. Aaron hit another home run…final score: Braves-6, LA-4. O’Dell got save #7 with 2 1/3 innings of shut-out relief.
After the game it was announced that the Braves had traded outfielder Gary Kolb to the Mets for catcher Jesse Gonder.
On Thursday the 22nd Cloninger (12-8) and Braves’ batters defeated LA once again, scoring four runs in the first inning and getting the 5-2 victory…Aaron and Carty homered. O’Dell got his eighth save with another 2 1/3 innings of shut-out ball.
Then they went to SF and lost three in a row…then they went to Houston and won three in a row.
In the second game at Houston, when Torre and Alou hit home runs, the Astrodome’s million-dollar scoreboard, instead of spewing fireworks like it did for Astros homers, said, “TILT”. In response, Gene Oliver set out a couple of those big, old sparklers in front of the Braves dug-out…Wow…I wish I’d gotten to meet him…!!!
The content of this memo is fairly self-explanatory…what is not immediately evident is why the meeting is being held in Atlanta…
generally stockholders meetings were held in Chicago…more on this later…
Two more losses-tough losses-to San Francisco, at home in County Stadium, marked the close of July. In spite of the dreary ending, July was 17-12…that’s .586 ball, up from .533 in June…54-45 on the season and .545 overall…an improvement…not enough…but certainly better!! Cloninger was 13-8 with a 3.85 ERA; Johnson was 11-5; Blasingame was 12-7 and O’Dell was 6-4 in relief. Aaron was hitting .332 with 21 HRs and 55RBI; Torre was .307 with 20 HRs and 60 RBI; Carty was .302 with 8 HRs and 30 RBI; Alou was hitting .300 with 50 RBI; Jones was .272 and 43 RBI. Mathews’ BA was down (.243) but he had 60 RBI. We need a MONSTER August!!
Mid-summer saw an outpouring of off-the-field activities. Somewhere near late July, the Wisconsin State Legislature gave their approval to a bill that permitted Milwaukee County to own and operate a Major League baseball team. Said bill also gave the county authority to appropriate funds to buy a franchise and support a non-profit corporation for ownership of said team. At this juncture, County Board Chairman, Eugene Grobschmidt, submitted an application for a franchise to the National League.
Shortly thereafter, incorporation papers were filed by a group of six Milwaukee businessmen to form “The Milwaukee Brewer Baseball Club, Inc.” The name was certainly in fond remembrance of Milwaukee’s long-time loyalty to their American Association team. Four of the six were also associated with TEAMS, Inc.: Edmund B. Fitzgerald, local industrialist and one of the board members voted out of Braves, Inc.; Robert A. Uihlein, Jr., President of Schlitz Brewing Company; automobile executive, Allan H. Selig and clothing executive, Jack Winter. Selig was named as President of the Brewers.
Also in the summer of ’65, the State of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County filed separate lawsuits against Milwaukee Braves, Inc. (and the National League) charging that federal anti-trust were violated by the Braves and the NL clubs regarding the move of the Braves from Milwaukee to Atlanta. The suits requested that the Braves be ordered to play in Milwaukee OR Milwaukee be given a new franchise OR a Milwaukee group be allowed to buy the Braves.
Back on the field…August began with a 1957-like tingle of exhilaration!!! The Braves, at home and behind solid pitching from Cloninger and Blasingame, swept both games of Sunday’s double-header with the Giants. Jones hit a home run in the first game; Oliver and Mathews each hit one in game two. As an aside; in his first outing with his new team, Spahnie pitched two innings of relief without allowing an earned run. Probably to honor the great left-hander, 14,864 fans attended the game!!
They won again on Monday, 4-2 over the Giants…newly acquired
Jesse Gonder got a pinch-hit, bases-loaded double for three RBI and would have scored the fourth run except he was replaced by a pinch-runner. Johnson (12-5) got the win. Tuesday got rained out so Wednesday we split a double-header with Los Angeles…Kelley, Fischer (WP), Osinski and O’Dell (save) beat Drysdale, 4-3…Aaron and Oliver homered. Lemaster (4-9) got the loss in the second game in spite of home runs by Carty and Aaron. The split with LA put the Braves at 58-46; in third place, 2 ½ games out of first behind the Dodgers and the Reds.
On Thursday, the 5th, the Braves acquired versatile Billy Cowan from the Mets for two players to be named later. Unfortunately they lost to the Dodgers. On Friday and Saturday they won one and lost one to Houston.
Without a doubt Billy O’Dell was the Hero of the Heroes of the Day on Sunday, August 8th. That is to say, there were numerous heroes in that double-header but, O’Dell’s brilliance in relief got the save in game one and the win in game two. Blasingame pitched seven solid innings in the first game and Eddie Mathews had six RBI with two HRs (#23) and a double…final score: Braves-8; Astros-5. Lemaster started game two but got wild and came out without giving up any runs. Neither Fischer nor Osinski were able to keep Houston in check and O’Dell came on in the fifth and pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way. Alou, Torre and Bolling helped out with home runs. Monday was a day off…on Tuesday the Cardinals came in for a three-game series.
Cloninger (16-8) beat Bob Gibson and the Cards, 5-3, on Tuesday with help from Mathews and Oliver who hit home runs…that’s Oliver (L) and Torre (R). Johnson (13-6) pitched a complete game win on Wednesday with HRs by Aaron (who had two) and Alou providing all the scoring, 5-2. Thursday was a tough loss for the Braves and rookie, Phil Niekro…it went 13 innings. On that same day, the brand-new corporation, Brewers, Inc., made application to the National League for a franchise.
There’s a certain sadness in recounting mid-August’s adventures with the Braves: it was probably the most exciting period of the entire season…and it all happened on the road. Far fewer of the fan faithful were there, live and in-person, to relish it and provide enthusiastic, ecstatic encouragement…!!!
The wildest part of the wild ride began in Chicago on (believe it!!) Friday the 13th, 1965. Denny Lemaster, who, in a hard-luck, sore-arm year, hadn’t won a game since June 11th, threw a complete-game, six-hitter!! Almost every Brave got a hit; Alou, Jones and Mathews had doubles; Mathews (#26) and Oliver (#s 13&14) had homers…Final score: 8-3; Braves!! On Saturday, Aaron and Mathews each had two doubles; Mack Jones had a home run, Oliver had two (again) and Cloninger got win #17…his seventh straight win!! On Sunday, with the score tied at 3-3 in the 12th inning (thanks to two homers by Aaron and one by Jones), the Braves loaded the bases on singles by Menke, Cline and Alou. With one away and the Cubs at double-play depth, up to the plate stepped the speedy Don Dillard. Dillard hit the ball on the ground toward third and beat the relay to first as Menke crossed the plate with the go-ahead run-Final, 4-3. O’Dell got the win in relief. Following the Chicago sweep it was on to St. Louis for four games. On Monday the 16th, it was Eddie Mathews again!! He had a home run, a double and a single to give the Braves an 8-4 lead until Tim McCarver hit a grand slam to tie it up in the eighth. Alou singled to open the ninth, Aaron got an intentional pass, a wild pitch advanced both runners and Mathews hit a solid single for his fourth hit of the day. Both runners scored giving him six RBI (again). O’Dell (9-4) got the win (again) in relief!!
On Tuesday Lemaster (6-9) pitched another complete-game win allowing just three hits, one earned run and striking out seven for a 4-1 victory. Alou went four-for-five and Aaron had a two-run homer (#27).
On Wednesday, the Braves sold right-handed pitcher, Dave Eilers, to the New York Mets for cash. He’d seen limited action in ’64…still less in ’65…still “one of our guys”!!!
The culmination…the wildest of the wildest…Cloninger got win #18; Mack Jones hit a homer; Don Dillard hit a homer and Hank Aaron hit a homer…but Hank’s was called back…for you trivia buffs…this was Hank’s “lost home run”. It was the eighth inning, Curt Simmons, in the darkening twilight of a very respectable career, was the Cardinal pitcher. While the wily left-hander had always been problematic for Aaron, in these late days his “stuff” was less than it once was. He lobbed Hank a slow-curve or change-up that was outside…Aaron held up…and then another…closer…Aaron did a little crow-hop forward in the batter’s box…and hit it on top of the Pavilion roof in right field for an apparent home run. After circling the bases, Hank came to home plate to find he’d been called out by home plate umpire, Chris Pelekoudas. In the ensuing “discussion”, Bobby Bragan was ejected and filed a protest. As it happened, Don Dillard’s 9th inning home run was questioned but allowed and the Braves won, 5-3. As the Dodgers had lost on the west coast…in 13 innings…
THE BRAVES WERE ALONE IN FIRST PLACE IN THE NL BY ONE-HALF GAME OVER LA…YYAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!
Wags immediately posed the question…if the Braves went on to win the pennant, where would the World Series be played?? Base- ball Commissioner, Ford Frick, responded with equal alacrity: Home games would be played in Milwaukee!!
Given the different time zones, it could be safely supposed that Braves’ fans had sorta kinda 20 hours…give or take…to savor, to treasure this moment in the sun.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports cartoonist, Amadee Wohlschlager’s gift to Bobby Bragan notwithstanding; on Thursday, the Braves lost and the Dodgers won and we were a half game out again…and worse yet…we’ll slide farther losing eight of the next ten games…
Not all is doom and gloom, however…On Friday night, in Pittsburgh, behind the complete-game pitching of Wade Blasingame, the Braves regained first place when the Dodgers lost to the Giants. Of longer range significance; Eddie Mathews hit the game-winning home run (#28) with Aaron on base to establish a new, all-time record for Home Runs by Teammates (794)…a record that still stands at this writing!!!
They lost again on Saturday, 3-0; Friend out-pitched Lemaster…
back to second place…and again on Sunday…Osinski walked in the winning run in the 11th inning and got the loss.
On Monday, in Cincinnati, the Braves had a 7-1 lead after six when the Reds mounted a furious comeback. However, Johnson (14-7) and O’Dell (save #14) were able to check it in the nick of time for a 7-6 win. Gene Oliver hit his 17th round-tripper and Felipe Alou had two RBI.
Then came the aforementioned slide: Three consecutive losses to Cincinnati; followed by three consecutive losses to the Cubbies.
On August 29th, 1965, Paul Waner, Hall of Fame outfielder, passed away in Sarasota, FL. He was 62. He had coached Braves’ batters during spring training for many years during the ‘50s. He is seen above working with Billy Bruton. Waner was regarded by many as the best-ever batting coach. “Big Poison” as he was called, along with his brother, Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner, are regarded as probably the best brother outfield in baseball history.
On Monday, the 30th, everybody got the day off. On Tuesday, the Braves were in Cincinnati…in the rain. They ended the six-game losing streak by winning, 5-3…Cloninger got win # 19…Woodward got a triple and scored…Aaron, Oliver and Mathews hit home runs. The second game was postponed until the next day due to the rain.
For the month the Braves were 18-13 (.581) and 72-58 on the year. They were in fourth place, tied with Cincinnati, two games out of first. O’Dell had a 2.29 ERA and was 9-5 in relief. Johnson was 15-8 with a 3.45 ERA. Blasingame was 16-9 and 3.47. the workhorse of the pitching staff was Cloninger at 19-9 and a 3.53 ERA. Braves’ pitching was ranked fourth in the league with a team average ERA of 3.66 at the end of August. Hitting, with the occasional lapse, was Gangbusters!! At month’s end Aaron was hitting .325 with 28 HRs and 75 RBI. Carty was hitting .320 with 9 HRs and 31 RBI. Alou was .299 with 21 homers and 65 RBI. Torre’s BA was .296 with 25 homers and 72 RBI. Mathews was at .258 with 30 HRs and 88 RBI. Average daily attendance for 17 home games in August was 11,513. The game with the highest attendance was the Sunday, August 8th double-header when they won both games (20,882).The games with the lowest attendees was the day prior-8/7/65-when only 3,778 came out.
This reminder to Braves’ players was regarding the use of the locker room by the Green Bay Packers. It was probably in reference to a 1965 pre-season game in County Stadium.
Well…sadly…we started off September losing both ends of the twi-night double-header resulting from the previous day’s rain-out. Cincinnati jumped into first place in the NL by a percentage point over the Dodgers.
However, we won the Thursday game in the eleventh when Mathews singled, Bolling bunted and Mathews went to third on an errant throw. Mike de la Hoz hit a sacrifice fly that got Eddie home with the winning run. It knocked the Reds out of first. Fischer (6-6) got the win; Niekro got the save.
On Friday, back home against Pittsburgh, throwing errors by Clemente and Clendenon allowed us to squeak out a 4-3 win. Mathews hit to Clendenon who threw home-low-and Cowan was able to slide in for the decider.
On Saturday, September 4th, in a seven-and-a-half inning, rain-shortened game, Tony Cloninger beat Bob Friend, 8-3, for his 20th win of the season. Alou and Jones homered.
Certainly the rain factor was instrumental as a mere 2,471 of the Milwaukee faithful were on hand to celebrate with the event with Cloninger, et al.
The 1:30PM start of the game was delayed by the rain…it was delayed two hours and eleven minutes in the first inning and with one out in the eighth it was held up another 42 minutes until the umps called it after seven and a half innings at 8:06PM. It worked out to four hours and 15 minutes of waiting time and two hours and 21 minutes of playing time with Cloninger warming up twice before the game started and once again after the first-inning delay. Joe Torre said of Cloninger’s perseverance: “It was like pitching a double-header”. Sunday, the 5th, the Braves lost another close one, 2-1. We got eight hits but only one run.
On Monday, September 6th, the Braves, at home swept a double-header with the last-place-by-30-some-games-Mets. Fischer (7-6) got the win in the early game with Niekro getting the save. Carty went 3 for 4 with three RBI; a single, a double and a homer…Final score: 4-2. Blasingame (16-9) got the win in game two with Niekro getting his second save of the day. In the 3-1 win, Carty and Torre had RBI doubles.
Tuesday was a league-wide day off. In spite of homers by Aaron and Torre, they lost to the Phillies at home on Wednesday. The second game, scheduled for Thursday, was rained out.
However, on Thursday, September 9th, the Braves purchased catcher Johnny Blanchard from Kansas City. For perspective, the majority of Blanchard’s career (since ’55) was spent with the Yankees as back-up to Yogi Berra and Elston Howard…good credentials…
On Friday, in New York, Blasingame, O’Dell and Niekro threw a one-hitter against the Mets and won,3-1…Alou had a home run.
On Saturday the 11th, Tony Cloninger (21-9) threw a complete – game one-hitter and handed the Metsies their eighth consecutive loss; a 9-0 shut-out…and hit a home run…the first of his ML career!! The Braves lost the third game of the series, 1-0, in extra innings with Sadowski, who took the loss, going the distance on Sunday.
In Philadelphia for three games, they lost the first two (Monday and Tuesday) but, helped by an error, got Cloninger his 22nd win on Wednesday the 15th.
In spite of Bolling’s third inning triple (above; with Dick Allen taking the late throw); Mathews 476th home run (breaking a seventh place tie-all time-with Stan Musial) and an early 6-2 lead; the Braves lost to the Phils on Thursday.
However, on Friday the 17th, back home again against the league-leading-winners-of-14-straight-games-Giants, the Braves won, 9-1. Juan Marichal (22-11) got the loss. The win streak was the longest in the league since 1951. Phil Niekro [R], in his first-ever ML start, got the win!! Billy O’Dell [L] got his 15th save and Hank Aaron [C] had two home runs (#s30-31) and three RBI. It was a fine day!!!
Sadly, the next few days were somewhat less fine…from the 18th through the 21st, they lost all four…two to San Francisco and one each to Philadelphia and Los Angeles. All were relatively close games and all had some level of excitement.
In Monday’s (20th) game with the Phillies, Hank Aaron hit his last home run as a Milwaukee Brave…#32 of the season…#398 of his career.
A record low number of fans (812) were in attendance to witness Hank’s homer. It was a make-up game plus it was played in the rain.
Wednesday, September 22, 1965, was a special day of mourning for the Milwaukee Braves’ faithful.
This was the last game the Milwaukee Braves would ever play in Milwaukee County Stadium.
In her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross proposed that grief has five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Ultimately she notes that these may occur in any order and are not limited only to the grief of death and dying, but to any grief over a grave loss. About 12,577 showed up in various states of sadness and grief.
The Braves took the field at 7:30PM under a dark sky. By the third inning they’d built up a 6-1 lead and routed LA’ Sandy Koufax…on Frank Bolling’s first-ever grand slam home run…and home runs by Mack Jones and Gene Oliver.
Sadly, it was not to be…the Dodgers tied it up in the fifth and it stayed tied into the eleventh when they finally won it…
Undoubtedly we’ll never know if these fans were in denial…or among those within whom hope springs eternal…or maybe…
This guy, Dick Emmons, is well-known to Milwaukee fans as he has long played “CHARGE” to lead Braves’ cheers. Here, as the game is about to end, he plays “TAPS”.
This is the last fan-a-gram message to Milwaukee loyalists as they file out for the last time as Milwaukee Braves fans.
For some this might border on secular sacrilege…at least to the true fanatic…however, for others it is merely the detritus of an already half-forgotten reverie.
Since first I saw this picture I’ve thought it one of the most eloquent depictions of the not-so-sweet elements of parting and loss…Hank and Eddie…going up the tunnel to the clubhouse for the last time…in Milwaukee…
Thursday the 23rd was a day off…for travel. The Braves were already on the way to San Francisco for three games to close out their schedule with the Giants. Both the Journal and the Sentinel had front-page, above-the-fold articles of “hail and farewell”. As had been the case for some years, the Journal article had more edge, was more cynical and had less warmth. The Sentinel’s piece was reminiscent, evocative, affectionate. Both probably mirrored to some extent the various states of mind of its readers…and regardless of your mental/emotional state…there were still 10 games left to play…on the road.
Friday they won, 8-2…Cloninger pitched a four-hit complete game for win #23; plus he drove in three of those runs. Mack Jones hit a home run. Saturday (25th): not so much…they lost, 7-5.
The game was memorable, however, insofar as it included Eddie Mathews’ last homer as a Milwaukee Brave…#32 on the year and #477 of his career.
For the trivia buffs, newly-acquired Johnny Blanchard also hit one out that day.
Also, on the 25th, Ernie Bowman and Lou Klimchock were sent to the Mets to complete the 8/5 Billy Cowan deal.
On Sunday, they won, 3-2; knocking the Giants into a tie with the Dodgers for the league lead. Fischer got the win; Marichal got the loss…Gene Oliver hit HR #20.
In Houston for three games, they lost the first on Monday the 27th, 4-3, in the 10th inning. On Tuesday Cloninger had another complete-game win…#24. Ken Johnson pitched a five-hit, complete-game winner on Wednesday; final score: 5-1. Jones hit home run #31.
In LA on Thursday the 30th, they got three scattered hits off Drysdale and lost, 4-0.
On Friday, October 1st, Denny Lemaster again arose to the occasion and pitched a five-hit, compete-game shut-out (2-0) to snap LA’s 13-game win streak. On Saturday, Sandy Koufax allowed four hits, struck out 13 Braves and won, 3-1.
Six Dodger pitchers allowed only three hits on Sunday as the Braves lost the last game of the 1965 season to the pennant-winning Dodgers.
Mike de la Hoz, #7; Phil Niekro, #35; Tony Cloninger, third from the right-wearing the jacket; and teammates check out the crowd in LA’s Dodger Stadium.
…and just like that the sui generis reign of the Braves in Milwaukee…Baseball Capitol of the World…was over. In sports franchise histories it was transcendent…extraordinary…singular in ardency, fervor and the duration of the excitement, devotion and passion. Unique, unprecedented, unheard of, unequaled anywhere-before…or since…and yet…over…!!!
The letdown…or exhaustion…in September and October was costly: we were 14-18 for the “month”; 86-76 on the year; in 5th place, 11.5 out. Once again, the hitting was pretty doggone good: Hank led the league in doubles (40); was second in Batting Average (.318) and Slugging Average (.560) and had 32 homers and 89 RBI. Rico Carty, who missed about half the season with back injuries, hit .310, 10 homers 35 RBI. Felipe Alou hit .297, had 23 homers and 78 RBI. Joe Torre ended up at .291 with 27 HRs and 80 RBI. Mack Jones had 31 HRs and 75 RBI. Eddie Mathews tied with Hank at 32 homers and had 95 RBI. This year, even better than last year, the Braves had SIX guys who hit 20 or more home runs: Eddie and Hank with 32 each; Mack Jones-31; Joe Torre-27; Felipe Alou-23 and Gene Oliver-21; definitely a record!! The team, not surprisingly, led the league in HRs with 196…at the end of the season Eddie and Hank’s all-time record was at 803!!
Pitching, again, was the problem area. Tony Cloninger’s 24-11 was terrific-a personal (and as it turned out, a career…) best. He was second in the league (to Koufax) in wins. He also led the league in bases-on-balls (119) with Blasingame a close second at (116). Overall Blasingame went 16-10 with a 3.78 ERA in 224 innings pitched. Ken Johnson also was 16-10 with a 3.43 REA in 231 IP.
Billy O’Dell was outstanding in relief: He won 10 and lost six with 18 saves and a 2.17 ERA in 112 IP. Osinski (2.82 ERA in 83 IP and Niekro (2.88 ERA in 75 IP) were also solid in relief with another 12 saves between them. No other pitchers had winning records but several showed moments of greatness. No one ever stepped up into the fourth starting pitcher slot…and it really took its toll. Whether management didn’t notice, didn’t care or couldn’t afford it is a moot issue now…however… to balance that to some extent; the gain of Ken Johnson outweighed the loss of fan fave and pop-music fave, Lee Maye…we had hitters…we needed pitchers!!
Save for certain mumbles, mutters and murmurs regarding the lawsuits filed against Braves, Inc. by the County of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin, the remainder of October, November and December were fairly anticlimactic. The morass of litigation had little effect on Braves management. Most of the staff had already moved their offices to Atlanta…some prior to the ’65 season. The rest packed up and moved when the season was over…Their plan was to play in Atlanta in 1966. At various times during the season Milwaukee execs Bill Eberly (Business Manager-Ticket Director) and Bob Allen (Assistant Public Relations Director) resigned…as did long-time usher, Walter Pelzek.
The annual Major League Winter Meetings were held December 1st-3rd. Representatives of Brewers, Inc. approached both NL and AL owners regarding a new franchise. The NL said “No, there will be no expansion in 1966”. The AL took the matter “under advisement”, but said they had no expansion plans.
We would be remiss if we failed to mention one more warrior in the battle for the Braves. Dominic Frinzi was an attorney-at-law in Milwaukee and “colorful” seems to be a widely-held description of a man often portrayed as “a lover of the opera and the law”. Mr. Frinzi was a champion of the underdog and the needy. Born in Milwaukee’s third ward, the son of a butcher, he was president of the Italian Community Center as well as a board member of The Florentine Opera Company and The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. In the picture above Mr. Frinzi (on the right) verbally jousts with Braves, Inc. VP, Tom Reynolds, at the December 10, Braves, Inc. stockholders meeting in Chicago. Mr. Reynolds represents the majority stockholders; Mr. Frinzi represents the minority stockholders (remember those folks who bought stock in the Braves back in the spring of 1963).
Shown here with minority stockholder, Mr. Harry Zaiding (L) of Milwaukee, who is holding his stock certificate, Mr. Frinzi (R) is holding his proxy to represent another stockholder. Mr. Frinzi told Reynolds he is prepared to file a $2 Million mismanagement lawsuit against Braves, Inc.
One last anecdote: Early on the Braves brouhaha, Mr. Frinzi and a group of friends were able to gain legal rights (in Wisconsin) to the name “Atlanta Brave