Bob Hope talks about Bill Bartholomay and the Braves original owners
When the owners of the Milwaukee Braves became worried of the shrinking attendance at County Stadium, they started looking around for a new home.
They looked south, and when they heard political officials in Atlanta were interested in a baseball team, it became an option.
Bill Bartholomay was the leader of a group of 12 men who owned the Braves. He wanted to move the team to the south, and it was Bartholomay who courageously made the move in a turbulent time.
The Braves would start in Atlanta in 1966, only because court proceedings kept the team from moving from Milwaukee in 1965. T
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The new stadium, originally called Atlanta Stadium, was built in a year, which is amazing considering the process and length of time it takes to build a new venue today.
At first, it was a honeymoon period, as fans flocked to Atlanta to watch the Braves play. Then, as the team suffered through mediocrity, interest tailed off a bit until star player Hank Aaron's chase for Babe Ruth's home run record reinvigorated the fan base.
But more losing caused attendance problems, and the original owners who moved the team from Milwaukee to Atlanta sold the Braves to Ted Turner in 1976.
The early years were special, however, as the original owners did all of us a special favor by bringing the Braves south to Atlanta and to the state of Georgia.
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.
