Bob Hope on former Braves owner Ted Turner

Former Braves promotions director Bob Hope has fond memories of former Braves owner Ted Turner.

Hope started with the Braves in the late-1960s. He had dealt with Turner, since the Braves games were on WTCG-TV, Turner’s television station in Atlanta.

And when Turner bought the Braves from the Bill Bartholomay group, Hope did not know what to expect from his new boss. He knew he was eccentric. He knew he could talk. But what kind of boss would Turner be?

Turns out, Turner was a screamer. He was a control freak. But he respected Hope, who should himself able to promote almost anything, including a team that was not very good in the standings.

Turner kept the Braves in Atlanta. A group in Toronto had sniffed around in the mid-1970s to see if the Braves would move to Canada. When Turner bought the team, he wanted the Braves to fill his programming on his TV station, and he already had dreams of beaming his station across the country on cable.

The Braves weren’t good for several years after Turner purchased the team. It wasn’t until 1982 when the Braves won the division that the team finally got over the hump. He was still in control of the team then, and he wouldn’t back off until three years later when it became obvious his involvement was not helping matters.

That’s when Bobby Cox came back to Atlanta and took control.

But for several years, Ted was the life of the party, and the fans in Atlanta loved him for it.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.