Dear Fox Sports South... please play OLD Braves games

Dear Fox Sports South,

We are craving baseball. We miss it. We should be a week away from opening day, and the circumstances of the world have made it where we won’t have it. We understand what is going on in our world today, and we’re sensitive to it.

But man, do we miss the Atlanta Braves.

So, here’s a suggestion. Air more games from years past. We appreciate you playing the three games from last season the other night. But how about games from years ago?

Some of us, like me, have watched the Braves since the late-1970s. We loved the Braves in the 1980s, with Dale Murphy and Bob Horner. The 1982 captured the attention of this country - “America’s Team” - as baseball fans in far parts of the 50 states watched the Braves on WTBS.

Play some of the games from the 1982 season, when the Braves won their first 13 games in a row to start the season. There was a huge game in 1983, Saturday, August 13 to be exact, when Bob Watson hit a walk-off home run to win a huge game over the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers. Play that one.

We'd love to see some of Phil Niekro's great games, like his 200th win in 1979. He pitched his butt off on the final Friday of the 1982 regular season. Knucksie also hit a home run that night in San Diego. Maybe his final game as a Braves when he came back to pitch in Atlanta in 1987.

Show the big brawl game between the Braves and the Padres on August 12, 1984. I was there, but I’d love to see it on TV.

Sure, the long game on July 4, 1985 has been played in years past on MLB Network. It was when the worst hitter in baseball, Rick Camp, hit a long home run in the wee hours of the morning. Show that one. Show Chuck Tanner’s first game as Atlanta’s manager in 1986.

Bob Horner hit four home runs in a game in 1986 against the Expos on a Sunday afternoon. That would be fun to see.

How about showing Tom Glavine’s MLB debut in Houston from August 17, 1987? He got beat, but everyone could see the talent. Dale Murphy’s last game as a Braves would be fun to see again. That was on August 2, 1990.

And then there are so many games from the 1991 season that you could play. On August 27, 1991, the Braves took over first place. That was when Skip Caray said, “From worst, to first.” There was a huge win against the Dodgers on September 15 that year when Sid Bream hit a grand slam off Ramon Martinez. That was a tremendous game.

Then a week later in Los Angeles, Steve Avery pitched his butt off in game one of the series against the Dodgers. That was on September 20. And perhaps the best game of that regular season in 1991 was on October 1, when the Reds scored six runs in the first inning off Atlanta starter Charlie Leibrandt, but the Braves bounced back to win on a dramatic ninth-inning home run by David Justice. That was when Skip borrowed a phrase from his dad – “Holy Cow.”

The October 5 game when the Braves won the division was special. The next year, Otis Nixon made the best catch in Atlanta’s history in a game against the Pirates. Then in 1993, the press box caught on fire, and so did Fred McGriff as he hit a home run in his Braves’ debut.

One of Greg Maddux’s best games as a Brave was on June 1, 1994 in San Francisco. He played with the Giants, walking six batters, allowing them to get on base, but they still failed to score. That would be great to see again.

The 1995 team was the best in baseball, and there were many games worth seeing. How about the season opener in 1996 against the Giants, when the Braves raised the World Series banner? Maddux wasn’t very good that day, but the Braves still won.

There’s Andruw Jones’ debut in 1996, and then his home debut when he hit a home run. The last game at Fulton County Stadium in September of that same year was emotional, especially the ceremony after the Braves beat the Expos that night. Then the first game the next April to open Turner Field would be fun to see again.

Play every game in the run when the Braves won the division title. Play Tom Glavine’s 200 win on July 30, 2000. How about John Smoltz’s first save on August 17, 2001? That would be neat to see.

There are so many games from years past that we would like to see. Sure, it’s probably easy to have access to the games your network has aired since it took over as the main rights-holder, but the TBS games would be fun to see, as well. Those are the games most of us grew up on.

This is an extraordinary time. People are stuck at home. Sure, we can search YouTube for old VHS copies people of old games people have put on there through the years. But we’d like to see them on Fox Sports South, in lieu of the real games not being played.

It’s just a suggestion. This would beat the heck out of poker tournaments or old ACC basketball games. The calendar says it is baseball season, and we certainly would like to see our Braves, even from decades past.

Braves baseball didn’t start in 1991 when the franchise got good. Many of us grew up on the old Braves, when they weren’t very good. We would love to see some of those games, when Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium was mostly empty. Just don’t tell anybody we were all watching them on WTCG (and then when it changed to WTBS and then TBS and then TBS SuperStation).

Do you have the rights to these broadcasts? Well, the Braves likely do. They are their games, so why don’t you and a Braves executive run over there to Techwood Drive and see what games are stored in some closet in the old mansion Ted Turner used to run TBS out of. I bet you they are in there somewhere.

And another thought. Turner produced three documentaries from 1982-1984. “It’s a long way to October” was a groundbreaking show. Ted was ahead of his time with a behind-the-scenes look at Joe Torre’s first year as manager. I bet that is in the TBS library, as well.

We just need to see Braves baseball – every night. Please show the old games. I bet you fans across the southeast would set their schedules around these old games each and every night. And it would also allow younger fans to see what Braves baseball used to be.

Sincerely,

Bill Shanks
Braves Fan 1978-2020