The Braves: Turner crafts a turner-around

I was just reading an article in a 1967 issue of Baseball Digest. It listed what the author considered to be the worst baseball trades of all time. Typical of most fan analyses of trades, this simply looked at the who-for-who and what happened that year. As a result, several monumentally bad trades involving The Tribe and The Braves (Colavito for Kuenn and Pizarro/Jay for McMillan) were overlooked. Why? Because Colavito/Kuenn appeared to be even steven on the surface. Never mind that it wrecked the franchise for years and was just one of many poor deals cut by Frank "Trader" Lane. Same with Pizarro+Jay=McMillan. Not horrible that year on the surface, but over time, a killer, and just one of many ill-advised moves by the Braves bosses.

And there was this: Because the Braves had been so anonymous for so long, no one really paid them much attention. In their Boston years, they were so far eclipsed by the Red Sox that they were virtually invisible. A move to Milwaukee, then a minor league town somewhere in the Upper Midwest, didn't help. The move to Atlanta was similar, in that the Braves were the first franchise to go deep South, not on the sports writer/fan radar.

Then, in 1976, Ted Turner bought them.

Now, if you recall, Turner only bought them because he'd purchased a TV network and had no content. The Braves desperately needed the money. Deal made in heaven. Soon, anyone who cared to watch a completely pathetic baseball team could do so any day of the week. Since the Braves did play good teams from time to time, they began to get some recognition over the years.

Not that there was much to recognize. The pre-Turner bosses had continued to make astoundingly poor trades, including the afore-mentioned 68 trade of Joe Torre for The Baby Bull, and the even worse trade of Felix Millan after the 72 season for Gary Gentry and Danny Frisella.

Fun fact time: You thought Felix was a funny name, right? Felix the Cat. Felix from The Odd Couple. Well, 17 major league ballplayers have had Felix as a first or last name. (You could look it up.) But the Braves, in their mishandling of their two Felixes (Feli?) (Millan and Mantilla), lead the league in misjudging athletes named Felix.

By the time Turner took over, this was a last-place team that deserved to be last. The Braves 1977 rosters has to be one of the poorest ever assembled. The pitching staff was so bad that 38-year-old Phil Niekro had to pitch 330 innings, finishing with a 16-20 W-L record and an ERA over 4.00. No regular hit over .300 and the only player to lead the league in anything was Niekro--in IP and losses.

As Turner exploited the team for various promotions and gimmicks, it floundered. There was one bright moment, when, in 1982, Joe Torre returned--as manager. Why he would want to help out the Braves is still a mystery. I guess it was as good a place to start over as any. (He'd just been dumped by the Mets.) In any case, he lashed it into a division crown. Torre's leadership provided a brief relief from incompetence; the team finished second in 83 and 84. But then Torre left, and mediocrity returned (under managers Chuck Tanner and Russ Nixon) until ...

Bobby Cox returned. Cox, a marginal major leaguer himself, had cut his big league managing teeth with the horrible Braves teams of 1978-81. Cox moved on to the Blue Jays, where he took over a struggling squad and, in two years, completely turned it around. After guiding the Jays to a pennant in 1985, the Braves lured him back. It only took Cox one season to whip the Braves into shape. And the rest has been history.

Ironically, the Braves and Indians would meet in the 1995 World Series, two franchises that, after 30-plus years of frustration, rose to prove that good management can recognize and retain top talent, regardless of the market size or the franchise's history. Today, Cleveland and Atlanta are the envy of many a franchise, as they carefully husband their talent to stay competitive year after year. Too bad the fans of Milwaukee couldn't have been part of this turnaround. There's no reason they couldn't have enjoyed it. Except that the Braves' bosses, from 1960 to 1990, were stupid, unlucky, and probably prejudiced--at least against Hispanic guys named Felix.

La primavera ya esta en el aire

Si, amigos, now we will speak of the joys and hopes that arise in the warm places of the South at this time of year. Specifically, of the many promises Tribe management made to the fans during the 1960s regarding the bounty of hispanic ballplayers that were flooding into the majors.

Tiny bit of history: Hispanics played years before blacks were allowed in. As Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Al Smith and others were crossing the color barrier in the 1950s with much fanfare, players like Clemente, Pascual, Ramos, Minoso, Vic Power (Puerto Rico), Aparicio and Bobby Avila were quietly paving the way for what would be a virtual invasion of latinos post-1960.

So spring training would arrive in those days. At the Twins' camp, you could watch Tony Oliva, Zoilo (Zorro) Versalles and Cesar Tovar cavort in the sun. You could drop in on the LA Angels and see Jose Cardenal rocket a few off the fences. The Two Joses--Tartabull and Santiago--were struttin their stuff with Boston, while KC (soon to be Oakland) was showcasing the man who would spark the As for years: Bert Campaneris. We won't even talk about the NL, the Alou Bros., Tony Perez, Leo Cardenas, Manny Mota, The Baby Bull (Cepeda), Marichal. No, it's too painful to speak further on this topic.

Now take yourself in your imagination to Tucson, Spring Training home of The Tribe. Who do we find? Why, our own Matty alou: Vic Davalillo! We had the Future Leo Cardenas: Pedro Gonzalez! The next Campaneris: Mike De La Hoz! And don't forget The Immortal One, Jose "Joe" Azcue, a fan favorite. Wait, we gave up on Johnny Romano, who was hitting nearly 20 HRs a year and driving in nearly 50 runs a year, to put Jose behind the plate. The Immortal One was pinking out 6-8 HRs and maybe driving in 35 during those same years. Amusing, si! Manny Sanguillen, no!

OK, we had one legit hispanic star in those days: Luis Tiant. Traded after five years because he had one off year. Went on to win 154 games for other teams. Que terible!

The question is: How did our talent evaluators screw up so completely? I mean, a lot of other teams weren't really scouting Latin talent at the time. The Yankees, Tigers, Orioles and White Sox waited to jump in. But Cleveland's scouts were actively looking for Latin players! How many times did we have to hear that Chico Salmon was going to be the next Bert Campaneris before we lost all hope in the Tribe's front office? And this blind spot was to plague us for years, as we were offered up a Miquel Dilone when Milwaukee fans were getting Sixto Lezcano, or Bo Diaz when the Pirates had Tony Pena behind the plate.

Ah, primavera en Tucson! Que hermoso el cielo! Que bonito el desierto! Que buenas las muchachas locales! Que malos los latinos del Tribe!