Boston Braves (1876-1952)

Historical Moments:

1876: After the National Association (the first full professional league) folds, the Boston Red Stockings who were founded by George and Harry Wright, the people behind the birth of professional baseball in Cincinnati in 1869, joins the newly formed National League. On April 22nd the Red Stockings played in the very first National League game, scoring two runs in the ninth inning to beat the home standing Philadelphia Athletics, 6-5, before a crowd of 3,000. Boston would go on to finish in third place with a 39-31 record.

1877: The Red Stockings use strong pitching to lead them to a 42-18 record, which was good enough to earn them a National League Pennant.

1878: The Red Stockings win a second consecutive National League Pennant with a 41-19 record, despite hitting just .241 as a team. Durable pitcher Tommy Bond starts 59 of the team's 60 games and wins 40 for the second year in a row.

1879: After two straight championships the Red Stockings fall five games short by finishing in second place with a record of 54-30.

1880: After four straight winning seasons the Red Stockings suffer through their first losing season finishing in sixth place with a record of 40-44.

1881: The Red Stockings go through their second straight losing season finishing in sixth place again with a record of 38-45.

1882: Under new Manager John Morrill the Red Stockings become contenders again finishing in third place with a record of 45-39.

1883: To avoid confusion with Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association, Boston's National League franchise changes its name to Beaneaters. The Beaneaters would go on to finish with an impressive 63-35 record, while collecting their third National League Championship.

1884: The Beaneaters have another terrific season finishing with a solid record of 73-38, but they would finish ten and half games out of first in second place.

1885: The Beaneaters suffer through another disappointing season finishing in fifth place with a record of 46-66.

1886: The Beaneaters struggle again finishing in fifth place with a record of 56-61.

1887: After several years of lackluster performances, the Beaneaters acquire Mike "King" Kelly, unquestionably the most popular player of his day. Boston would give Kelly a then unheard of Kelly's salary of $10,000, which stunned the world. With the addition of Kelly the Beaneaters will finish in fourth place with a record of 61-60.

1888: The Benaeaters are never a factor in the Pennant race as they finish in fourth place with a record of 70-64.

1889: The Beaneaters battle New York down to the wire for the National League Pennant. However, Boston's 83-45 was only good for second place, one game behind the powerful Giants.

1890: The Beaneaters take a minor step backwards falling to fifth place with a record of 76-57.

1891: The Beaneaters win 18 in a row and 23 of their last 30 to finish 87-51 and win the National League pennant. The Chicago White Stockings, who came in second, protested that Eastern teams helped Boston win, but on November 11th, the league ruled that the pennant belonged to the Beaneaters.

1892: The National League experiments with a split season; having the winner of each half play each other in a best-of-nine playoff at the end of the season. The Beaneaters finish with a 52-22 first half to hold off the Brooklyn Bridegroom for the first half title. The Beaneaters would also put together a solid at 50-26, but finish behind the Cleveland Spiders. However, Boston would go on to crush the Spiders in five straight games to claim their second straight National League Pennant.

1893: The Beaneaters continue their domination of the National League with an 86-43 record, to claim their third consecutive League Championship.

1894: The Beaneaters quest for a 4th straight Championship would fall eight games short as they settle for third place with a record of 83-49. Hurting the Beaneaters Championship quest was the loss of their beautiful ballpark's twin spires as a fire destroys the South End Grounds and much of the neighborhood. The Braves would quickly rebuild the ballpark, but it would not be as grand as the twin spires were lost forever.

1895: The Beaneaters are never quite in the playoff picture as they fall to fifth place with a record of 71-60.

1896: The Beaneaters struggle in the middle of the pack again finishing 17 games out of first in fourth place with a 74-57 record.

1897: The Beaneaters once again climb back to the top of the National League, and win their seventh Pennant with a 93-39 record, to hold off the Baltimore Orioles by two games.

1898: The Boston Beaneaters win their record eighth National League Championship, and second in a row by completing an impressive 102-47 season that would be the franchise's best season ever in Boston.

1899: The Brooklyn Superbas buy the Baltimore Orioles and raid their talent to become a super team. This would bring an end to the Beaneaters Championship reign, as they finished in second place with with a 95-57 record.

1900: After a solid decade the Beaneaters start the 20th century on the wrong foot finishing in fourth place with a 66-72 record.

1901: The Beaneaters struggle with mediocrity again finishing in fifth place with a 69-69 record.

1902: After two straight losing seasons, the Beaneaters post a winning record of 73-64 while finishing in third place.

1903: While the Beaneaters struggled for the fourth season in a row finishing with a woeful 58-80 record, Boston's American League team would go on to win the very first World Series. This would cause of shift in allegiance to many fans in Boston, who now regarded the American League team as their team.

1904: The Beaneaters struggles continue as they finish in seventh place while narrowly avoiding 100 losses with a 55-98 record.

1905: The Beaneaters are unable to avoid 100 losses this time as they finish in seventh place with a record of 51-103.

1906: The Beaneaters never quite get it going and finish in last place with a 49-102 record that was aided by a franchise worst 19-game losing streak.

1907: After two consecutive 100-loss seasons, the Beaneaters are sold to the Dovey brothers, who change the name of the franchise to the Doves. The Doves quite take flight and finish in seventh place with a 58-90 record.
1908: The Doves struggles continue as finish in fifth place with a record of 63-91.

1909: Another nickname change for the franchise comes as the club adopts the name, which was used to indentify Boston's American League team. However the name change does not change the club's fortunes, as they close out a bad decade with a last place 45-108 record.

1910: Once again there is not much reason for the Pilgrims to give thanks as they finish in last place with a 53-100 record.

1911: The trying times continue for the Pilgrims who again finish in last place with a miserable record of 44-107.

1912: After three consecutive 100-loss seasons, the team undergoes another name change. At the suggestion of John Montgomery Ward, the team adopts the name Braves. The name Braves is due to the fact the club's new owner James Gaffney is a member of political organization in Tammany Hall, which called themselves the Braves. However, the name change does not change the franchise's fortunes as they finish in last place with a 52-101 record.

1913: There appears to be no end in site for the Braves struggles as they endure their 11th straight losing season with a record of 69-82.

1914: After an indistinguishable 69-82 season, the Braves acquire 2B Johnny Evers from the Cubs. The move would be the catalyst to the team's turn around as Evers collects the Chalmers Award, as the surprising Braves with the National League Pennant with a 94-59 record. The Braves pitching is keyed by the 1-2 punch of Dick Rudolph, who win 27 and Bill James who collect 26 wins, as the Braves earn a trip to their first World Series. In the World Series the Braves face the Connie Mack's powerful Philadelphia Athletics who are seeking fourth World Championship in five years. The Braves win the series opener 7-1 behind the pitching of Dick Rudolph, and hitting of catcher Hank Gowdy, who singles, double, and triple. Game 2, would turn into a pitcher's duel between Braves Bill James, and Eddie Plank of the A's. The Braves would score the games only run in the ninth inning as Charlie scores after a one out double. The series shifted to Boston, as the Braves borrowed Fenway Park. The A's would take a 3-2 lead with a run in the tenth inning, but the Miracle Braves would strike again in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to take a 3-0 series lead. The Braves would go on to complete the miracle sweep with a 3-1 win in Game 4.

1915: The Braves, who stunned the World by winning the 1914 World Series, are rewarded by a brand new stadium Braves Field, which at the time is the largest in Baseball. In their first year at the new stadium, the Braves finish in second place with an 83-69 record.

1916: The club sees a change in ownership as a Boston syndicate purchases the club for $500,000. The Braves would go on to finish third with an 89-63 record.

1917: After three straight winning season the Braves expense frustration again as they fall into sixth place with a disappointing record of 72-81.

1918: The Braves would struggle again falling a step lower to seventh place with a record of 53-71.

1919: The Braves are sold again, as legendary athlete Jim Thorpe is added to the team. However, the Braves still suffer their third straight losing season, finishing a distant sixth place, with a 57-82 record.

1920: George Stallings the Manager who led the Braves to an improbable Championship is fired after a fourth straight losing season sees the Braves finish with a record of 62-90.

1921: Under new Manager Fred Mitchell the Braves snap a string of four straight losing season by finishing in fourth place with a 79-74 record.

1922: The Braves come crashing back down into the cellar with a woeful 53-100 record.

1923: The Braves struggles continue as they reach the century mark in losses for the second year in a row while finishing in seventh place with a 54-100 record.

1924: The Braves suffer their third straight 100-loss season finishing in last place with a 53-100 record.

1925: The Braves end a string of three consecutive 100-loss seasons, by finishing in fifth place, with a 70-83 record.

1926: The Braves continue to struggle finishing in seventh place with a record of 66-86.

1927: The Braves continue to be among the worst teams in baseball finishing in seventh place with a record of 60-94.

1928: The Braves acquire Rogers Hornsby to be the club's player-manager. At the plate Hornsby is a success win the National League Batting Crown with a .387 average. However, it does not translate into wins as the Braves finish in seventh place with a 50-103 record. After the season the Braves decide to part ways with Hornsby who takes a similar role in Chicago with the Cubs.

1929: The Braves close out the decade by finishing in last place again with another awful record of 56-98.

1930: The Braves continue to struggle as they finish in sixth place with a record of 70-84.

1931: The Braves post their 10th straight losing record finishing in seventh place with a record of 64-90.

1932: Ordinarily a 77-77 record would not be much to be happy about but after ten straight terrible seasons it is a promising sign for the future.

1933: The Braves end a string of losing season, by putting together a solid 83-71 season, which was good enough for fourth Place in a competitive National League.

1934: The Braves post their second straight winning season finishing in fourth place with a 78-73 record.

1935: In attempt to draw more fans, the Braves sign an aging Babe Ruth. However at the age of 40, The Babe's best years are behind him. Ruth would homer in his first National League at bat, but there would not be much success that followed. The Bambino hit only .187 and had only four dingers heading into June before The Babe had one last hurrah. In a game at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field the Babe blasted 3 homers in a game against the Pirates. A few days later Babe Ruth would retire with an All-time record 714 career Homers, a record that would last 40 years. While Babe Ruth was struggling to come up with the form that made him a legend, the Braves were just hoping to win a game. The Braves would suffer their worst season in franchise history with a record of 38-115.

1936: In an attempt to turn the club's fortunes the team changes its colors to blue, and yellow, and change their nickname to the Bees, thanks to the result of a fan poll. Although the Bees don't put together a winning record, at 71-83 it is a major improvement over the previous year.

1937: The Bees manage to post a winning record by finishing with a 79-73 mark while placing fifth in the National League.

1938: Casey Stengel takes over the managerial reigns leading the Bees to a fifth place finish with a record of 77-75.

1939: After two straight positive season the Bees fall back below .5500 finishing in seventh place with a record of 63-89.

1940: The Bees continue to buzz around the bottom of the National League finishing in seventh place with a 65-87 record.

1941: After five indistinguishable years, the team goes back to its original color scheme, and once again becomes the Braves. Back as the Braves the team still is in the second Division finishing in seventh place, with a 62-92 record.

1942: The Braves continue to struggle finishing in seventh place again with a record of 59-89.

1943: Casey Stengel is fired in the middle of the season as the Braves finish in sixth place with a poor record of 68-85.

1944: In Bob Coleman's first full season as manager the Braves do not fare any better finishing in sixth place with a record of 65-89.

1945: Del Bissonette takes the managerial reigns in the middle of the season as the Braves finish in sixth place again with a record of 67-85.

1946: Coming back from the war, the Braves begin to show some promise as Left Pitcher Warren Spahn has a solid first full season to help the Braves to an impressive 81-72 record.

1947: With 3B Bob Elliot earning MVP honors, the Braves put together a solid 86-68 season, which was good enough for third Place.

1948: Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain was the theme for the Braves as the two star pitchers combine for 39 wins. While Sain, clearly was the ace with a league high 24 wins, Spahn, a lefty pitcher with unlimited potential, gave the Braves a formidable 1-2 punch on the mound. Meanwhile SS Alvin Dark hit a team high .322, while earning Rookie of the Year honors. The Braves would go on to win the National League Pennant with a 91-62 record. For most of the season the city of Boston was all abuzz, as the Red Sox and Braves were in first place most of the season. However, the dreams of an all Beantown Series were dashed as the Cleveland Indians charged a head of the Sox and into the World Series against the Braves after a one game playoff. The Braves took the first game of the series as Johnny Sain out dueled Bob Feller 1-0. The Indians would comeback to tie the series the next day as Bob Lemon, and Larry Doby combined to beat the Braves 4-1. As the series shifted to Cleveland the Braves hitters continued to struggle losing the next two games by a combined score of 4-1. Facing elimination in Game 5 the Braves finally broke out of their slump with an 11-5 win to send the series back to Boston. However the Indians would go on to take the series in six games with a 4-3 victory.

1949: The Braves followed up their National League Championship with a disappointing 75-79 record, as Johnny Sain struggled to finish with a 10-17 record.

1950: The Braves bounce back nicely and finish with a solid 83-71 record as outfielder Sam Jethroe earns National League Rookie of the Year honors.

1951: The Braves battle trough another mediocre season as they finish in fourth place with a record of 76-78.

1952: The Braves continue to struggle in the stands and on the field as attendance falls below 500,000 during a seventh place season with 64-89 record. However rookie 3B Eddie Matthews makes a big splash by slamming three home runs in the final game of the season at Braves Field on September 27th. That game would also be the last for the Braves in Boston, as the team relocated to Milwaukee in 1953.