The King died (1894)

Sometimes we are tried and the Boston Beaneaters (now know as the Atlanta Braves) certainly were in 1894. Mike "King" Kelly was major figure in the Braves early history. He was probably the most popular player of his time. On November 8, at the age of 36, he died of pneumonia. Another misfortune also conspired to try the Braves that year. This on was minor compared to King's death but challenge the Braves. For much of the season, they were on the road with no home stadium.

On May 16th, a fire destroyed the South End Grounds. Imagine playing a game and in the third inning, a fire breaks out. They were playing Baltimore and the fire broke out in the right field bleachers. Gave new meaning to so and so "smoked that one".

So they switched some of there games to road games and then played some of them in Boston at the old Brotherhood League Grounds on Congress Street adjacent to the Boston Harbor.

Despite those trying happenings, they had a good season finishing in third place.

Really? That is a good name? (1907)

I don't think a lot of this nickname. But then again this is the Braves I am talking about. So, in 1907 they changed from the Beaneaters to the Doves. It didn't seem to help since they finished 7th in the pennant race with a record of 58-90. They were a dismal 47 games behind. Fred Tenney continued as manager. What is weird is that this was an improvement over the previous year. Go figure.

The Dovey brothers operated the club. They thought their name would be better than the Beaneaters. They also improved the South End Grounds where they played at the time. They added a new scoreboard (to keep up with the opponents runs better???) and cushioned a few seats. How about some better players? Hmm, there is a thought.

Can't fire the owners as we have learned.