Former executive Bob Hope on the early days of Braves Baseball

Bill Shanks talked with Bob Hope, the Braves former Public Relations Director, on the early days of Braves baseball

Bob Hope was a young man when he joined the Atlanta Braves front office. He did a little bit of everything, as did most of the early employees of the Atlanta Braves.

Hope talks in the video about what it was like when the Braves first started in Atlanta. 

Fans from all over the southeast flocked to the new circular stadium right as you entered downtown Atlanta. 

The fans were lucky that first year to have future Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron and Eddie Matthews, the two main stars from the Milwaukee days, lead the team.

They had Joe Torre, Rico Carty, Felipe Alou and Mack Jones. The pitching staff was led by Tony Cloninger, Ken Johnson and Denny Lemaster. Clay Carroll and Chi-Chi Olivo led the bullpen.

The Braves were managed by Bobby Bragan to start the season, but he was replaced after a 52-59 start by Billy Hitchcock, who went 33-18 the rest of the season.

Atlanta finished that first season with a 85-77 record, fifth-best in the National League. John McHale was the general manager of that team, but he would resign the next offseason. Paul Richards would take over and Hitchcock would remain as manager to start the next season, but he was let go at the end of the 1967 season.

Braves baseball was the rage in the mid-1960s. Baseball had come south, and the city of Atlanta finally hit the big leagues.

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.