By: Jarrett Spaw
Hi there! I am fellow Braves Countrymen. I lay my head at night in what once was a vital organ of our great Braves Fandom Richmond Va (area, small town called Powhatan y’all never heard of).
I’m sitting at my local Mexican joint having tacos and over thinking the news of that’s hit the last few days of the impending “expansion franchise”. If you are bored or looking to waste 5 minutes, I’d like to give y’all something to think about. I went through this similar situation back in 2005 when those pesky Nationals arrived in DC.
Growing up I was blessed to have the AAA Richmond Braves down the road and trust me my Pop Pops took full advantage of kids eat free. I got to see so many greats (and some not so great) come through the diamond. Chipper, Klesko, Andruw, Furcal, Jason Marquis (lol) and pitchers that needed rehab Smoltz Glavine Avery etc. This was Braves Country through and through.
But in 2005 THEY showed up. The AAA team got tired of city politics and headed south over not getting a new stadium and that still hurts to this day. We do have The Flying Squirrels AA west coast San Fran… (weird).
These days when you go out, you still see a lot of the older crew rocking that beautiful A. And you can still spark up a conversation at store about how the team is doing here and there. In 2021 it was loaded with World Series gear all over the place, beaming with pride that our boys had finally gotten another ring.
But the truth is, and I hate admitting this, the Nationals have corrupted our youth. Even though they haven’t always been decent and sometimes they’ve been downright terrible. They have had big names to cheer for like Harper, Zimmerman, Scherzer, Soto, Strasburg, Werth and Trea Turner. Now Josiah Gray, Lane Thomas and CJ Abrams jerseys are popping up everywhere. It’s tough when you see a dad rocking the tomahawk across his chest and his son is wearing some jersey with a flower on it (lol).
But here is something I try to remember. I love the Braves, but I love baseball. Yes, some of the new rules get me a little bothered. Yes, I hate how travel ball has ruined rec league games that are meant for fun. But looking at the bright side, the Braves come to town, and I only have to travel about three hours to see them. I get more and more opportunities to trash talk to fans of a team that other than 2019 hasn’t been that good. I get to watch another team on my TV every night because of those damn blackout rules and I get to watch a game that I have no vested interest in and just enjoy.
It’s going to be tough first couple of years, but I promise you one day you’ll sit back and think about this stupid article and say you know maybe he wasn’t all that dumb.
In closing I’d just like to say one thing… this is still Braves Country and always will be.
CHOP ON
Your fellow countryman, Jarrett