Braves Win! Braves Win! Braves Win! Quiz

Answer: Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta

The Braves franchise began in Boston in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings. They changed names in 1883 (Beaneaters), 1907 (Doves), and 1911 (Rustlers). In 1912 they finally chose the name Braves, just two years before winning their first World Series.

The 1957 Milwaukee Braves won the World Series with one of the greatest home run hitting duos in baseball history in Henry Aaron and Ed Mathews, along with with one of MLB's winningest left-handers of all time in Warren Spahn. In 1995, again with an outstanding pitching staff, the Braves brought Atlanta its first ever major professional world championship.

Answer: the Miracle Braves

Even after their ride from last place to first, the Braves were still big underdogs against Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's in the Series. In 1969 the New York Mets, also referred to as "the Amazin' Mets," won the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles, thus earning the nickname, "the Miracle Mets." In the 1960s, the San Francisco Giants were often called "the Bay Bombers" with sluggers like Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey.

The Bay Bombers was also a roller derby team in San Francisco. Back Bay is an area in Boston, but the Braves were never called "the Back Bay Bombers." The Cincinnati Reds of the early 70s, winners of two World Series, were known as "the Big Red Machine."

Answer: Johnny Evers and Rabbit Maranville

Evers was the second sacker on the Tinker to Evers to Chance Chicago Cubs double play combo made famous in the 1910 poem by Franklin Pierce Adams called "Baseball's Sad Lexicon." The trio went into the Hall of Fame in 1946. But in 1914 Evers played with the Braves. Maranville, only 5'5", played for 23 seasons, a record that stood until 1986, when Pete Rose retired after playing his 24th season in the major leagues.

He entered the Hall in 1954. Ruth and Gehrig both played for the Yankees and were inducted in 1936 and 1939, respectively.

The Waners played most of their seasons with the Pirates. Paul, called "Big Poison," was inducted in 1952, and Lloyd, called "Little Poison," was inducted in 1967. Both also spent a year with the Boston Braves in 1941. Wilson was a Cubs Hall of Famer, class of 1979, while Nichols played with the Boston Beaneaters, later becoming the Braves, from 1890-1901 and entered the Hall in 1949.

Answer: 1953-1965

The Milwaukee Braves opened their inaugural 1953 season with a 2-0 win at Cincinnati on April 13 and then won their home opener the next day, 3-2, over the Cardinals. They went 19-8 in May and 23-9 in August, finishing the season at 92-62, in second place, 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Answer: New York Yankees

The Yanks had a loaded line-up featuring sluggers like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, and Bill "Moose" Skowron, along with the pitching talents of Whitey Ford and Don Larsen, who'd pitched a perfect game just one year earlier, in the 1956 Series.

Answer: Lew Burdette

The New York Yankees had no answer for the Braves' big right-hander, who went 3-0 on the mound, winning Game 7 with only two days' rest after winning Game 5. After pitching a complete game in the Braves' 4-2 victory in Game 2, on Thursday, October 3, Burdette then shut the Yanks out in Game 5, 1-0, on Monday, the 7th, although the Bronx Bombers out-hit the Braves, 7-6. On Thursday, the 10th, Burdette then repeated his Game 5 performance, once again shutting the Yanks out while scattering 7 hits in a 5-0 Braves victory for the world championship.

Answer: Red Schoendienst

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, Schoendienst was a ten-time All-Star, winning the Series as a player with St. Louis in 1946 and with Milwaukee in 1957, and with the Cardinals as a coach twice (1964 and 1982) and once as a manager in 1967. Hazle began 1957 in AAA Wichita, but in 14 games from August 9 to 25, he batted .473 with 9 homeruns and 19 rbi.

His late August performance earned him the nickname "Hurricane," after a storm that hit his native South Carolina in 1954 named Hurricane Hazel.

He ended the season hitting .403 in 41 games for the Braves. Famous for hitting "the Shot Heard 'Round the World" to beat the Dodgers and put the Giants into the 1951 Series, Thomson was traded to the Braves in 1954, but was then traded by Milwaukee back to the Giants on June 15 of '57 for Schoendienst. Mathews, a Hall of Famer and twelve-time All-Star, played with the Braves from 1952 to 1966, the Braves' first year in Atlanta.

Besides '57, Mathews also won a World Series in his last season as a player, with the Detroit Tigers in 1968.

Answer: There were no playoffs.

Due to a MLB players' strike, the 1994 season ended on August 11. At that time the Expos were in first place in the Eastern Division, 6 games ahead of the Braves. Both teams had played 114 games, leaving 48 games unplayed. Thus Atlanta is credited with winning 14 consecutive Divisional titles in the 15 seasons from 1991 to 2005.

Answer: Cleveland Indians

In a close series, despite not going the full seven games, five of the six were decided by a single run, with the sixth going to the Braves in Atlanta, 1-0, on a combined one-hitter by Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers. The Braves also won Game 1, 3-2, and Game 2, 4-3.

The Indians won Game 3, 7-6, and Game 5, 5-4. The win avenged the 1948 World Series loss by the Boston Braves to the Indians, also in 6 games.

Answer: Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine

Maddux was the first pitcher to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards, winning three with the Braves. In those four years his ERA was 1.98. As of 2014, in addition to winning a record 18 Gold Gloves, he was the only pitcher to ever win 15 games in 17 seasons. Glavine also won two Cy Young Awards. Glavine won 20 games five times. Maddux was named on 97% of HOF ballots, while Glavine was named on almost 92%.