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By Steve Cook
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain*
 The summer of 1965 was a sad summer in Richmond. Well, it was for me, anyway. I was a dorky, overweight 16-year-old. And although I would probably have liked to have had a girlfriend, they (the girls) weren’t beating any paths to my door, or to the door of my 1961 Plymouth, despite its cool nausea green color or its sporty tailfins.
But my real love back in the early sixties was the Richmond Virginians baseball team, the triple-A farm team for the New York Yankees. After the 1964 season, the Yankees broke my heart (something for which I’ve never forgiven them) and moved the Vees to Toledo. They could have at least picked a real city.
But, alas, in 1966 I found a new love…a love that had previously gone by the name of the Atlanta Crackers. When the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965, they acquired the Crackers as their highest level farm team and moved them to Richmond, where they became known, as you well know, the Richmond Braves.
It’s been a forty-year plus love affair. Oh sure, sometimes my true love let me down. Many may have forgotten, or are too young to remember the lean years for the parent team, which, in 1966 became “my” team. There were years that it seemed the Atlanta Braves were mathematically eliminated from winning the championship during Spring Training.
Stephen Blue, a resident of Richmond’s Fan District, and a native of Deltaville has had his own love affair with the Braves for most of his twenty-three years. “Even though we were an hour-and-a-half away,” he says, “the Braves were my home team.”
When Blue learned that Atlanta was moving his home team to Georgia, he says his first reaction was, “Oh no! How can we let this happen?”
Blue even waged a campaign to collect signatures from Braves’ fans pleading that the parent team reconsider the move. “We collected over 5,500 signatures,” he says. “ I think many (Richmond area residents) didn’t realize what we had until we were about to lose it.” Blue mailed the signatures to Mike Plant, the A-Braves executive vice president; Bruce Baldwin (R-Braves General Manager); Mayor Wilder; and Richmond City Council President,Bill Pantele. “It was somewhat disappointing that only Mr. Pantele responded,” he says.
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
 Yes, there were good moments as well as some bad, but I have so many more fond memories of the good times. I think my greatest memory was in 1978, when, led by my all-time favorite Braves player, Tommie Aaron, who was then managing the team, the R-Braves won the Governor’s Cup. I was there. And, no, of course, those weren’t tears streaming down my face.
So many great players came through Richmond, either as an R-Brave or as a visiting opponent. Richmond was home, at least for a time, to Dale Murphy, Dusty Baker, Andruw Jones (for about a week), Dave Justice, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones…need I go on? R-Braves fan also had an opportunity to see Darryl Strawberry, Jim Thome, Cal Ripken, and a host of other opponents before they went on to the bigs.
Besides the famous, there were the infamous. Remember that night, back in 1989, when Columbus Clippers’ outfielder, (Not-yet-ready-for-Prime-Time) Deon Sanders, went into the stands after a fan who had heckled him during the game? And, speaking of the infamous, John Rocker also played for the R-Braves.
All things considered, “It’s been a great run,” says the team’s public relations manager, John Emmett. And, when asked what the R-Braves would miss most about Richmond, Emmett quickly replies, “The fans…they’ve been outstanding.” There are other things he says the team will miss. Such as?
“The way the community responded to our club through the years, Emmett continues, “and the relationships formed with our fans, our corporate partners, and with the many non-profit groups we have been privileged to work with.” It’s a pretty good bet that the fans, the corporate partners, the non-profit groups will also miss the Braves.
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
 We could whine and complain and even point a finger or two. But, I’d prefer to simply reflect on the fond memories the Braves have given us. A lot has changed in my life since the Braves hit town in 1966. I’ve had other loves since then. I’ve also gone through a series of hobbies and interests and jobs.
For instance, in the mid-seventies, I even convinced myself I enjoyed pro tennis. But, the one constant in my life has been my love for baseball and the Richmond Braves. As I’ve grown older and taken on more responsibility in life, the time I can spend at the Diamond or listening to the Braves on the radio has diminished. But I am sure there are other teen age boys and girls, dorky or otherwise, as well as a host of other long-time fans, who will be feeling the same anguish as the Braves head south, as I did, when the Virginians moved north.
If there is no professional baseball in town next season, they are going to have the sort of lonely summer I had in 1965. And, chances are, their love will one day be supplanted by another team, with another uniform. Life goes on.
But one thing, I feel, won’t happen. I don’t believe, given today’s world, (which in many ways is vastly different from the world in which I hit puberty many years ago) there will ever be one team that will provide our city with over four decades of excitement, or that will present the class act the Braves have given us.
As for the 2009 season, Stephen Blue says, “I think that will be a year for road tripping.” And regarding prospects for a new team: “I don’t see us getting another Triple A team…probably Single A,” he says.
Personally, I’m a little hurt that the Braves left us for another city, and, even less of a city than Toledo. But that’s life. I know it will hurt every time I hear someone speak of the G-Braves. And, I know that I’ll become a supporter for whoever comes into town, as well, in all likliehood, as their parent team. But, for me, there’ll never be any team as special as the Richmond Braves. And, for all that, I’ll just say thanks for the memories.
We agree with John Emmett’s assessment of the past four decades. “We’ve had some very special years,” he says.
*In My Life
Words and music by Lennon/McCartney
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