1) Hank Aaron hitting his 715 home run to break Babe Ruth's all-time home run record in Atlanta Fulton County stadium on April 8th, 1974. I remember a couple of things about this historic game, the first was hoping that he would break the record in Atlanta. This was the fourth game of the 1974 baseball season but the first home game of the new season. In the fourth inning he hit a home run which drove in Darrell Evans and tied the game with the Dodgers (who would go on to win the National League pennant that year). Another interesting fact is that the manager of the Braves was Eddie Matthews who is the only Braves player to play in all three of the Braves cities (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) as well as teaming up with Hank Aaron to hit the most home runs (863) of any two teammates in baseball history (they surpassed the record held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig).
2) The Slide - Sid Bream in game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship versus the Pittsburgh Pirates scored the winning run from 2nd base on a off-balance throw by Barry Bonds (who was out of position) from left field. Sid Bream, who by all account was the slowest base runner in history - no kidding, beat the throw and the Braves won 3-2. In the celebration that followed one of our starting pitchers, Kent Mercker was injured and couldn't pitch in the world series against Toronto. The time it took for Sid Bream to round third and make it to home plate is roughly equal to cooking a pizza in a very slow oven . . .
3) Double Duty - Playing against the New York Yankees in the 1996 World Series, after winning the World Series in 1995, game 1 was supposed to be John Smoltz's coronation. It ended up being rookie Andruw Jones game to remember as he became the only the second player in baseball history to hit a home run his first two at-bats! The Braves routed the Yankees 12 -1. (Don't ask me about the rest of that World Series please . . .
4) World Series Champions! In late October in 1995 on a cool Saturday evening, Tom Glavine strode to the mound for game 6 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. I was setting up for a church service the next morning in Huntsville, Alabama (Rocket City Church) and was listening to the game on the radio as we were unloading and setting up our gear. Tom Glavine took a 1 hit game into the eighth inning (only the fifth time in World Series history there has been a one hitter) and the Braves ended up winning the game 1-0. World Series champions! (I also remember that David Justice had been quoted complaining about the fans in Atlanta being apathetic and he was booed until he hit a home run in the sixth inning, the only run! - Instant redemption). This was also the first world championship in any of the four major sports for an Atlanta team.
So there you have it, four of my favorite memories of my favorite baseball team!
