Boston Braves

The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Braves played from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During its 82–year stay in Massachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including the Red Stockings, Red Caps, Rustlers, Bees, and "Braves". While in Boston the team won 10 National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1914 that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname "Miracle Braves". In 1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, who inspired the Boston Post slogan "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. The Boston franchise played at South End Grounds from 1871 to 1914 and at Braves Field from 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is now Nickerson Field of Boston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise. Early history The Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-manager Harry Wright then went to Boston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams—with brother George Wright and two other Cincinnati players joined the Boston Red Stockings, a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. (The only other team that has been organized as long, the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.) Two players hired from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, were pitcher Al Spalding (founder of Spalding sporting goods) and second baseman Ross Barnes.