My priorities...
My name is Marissa. My priorities these days include baseball, baseball and more baseball. Oh yeah, and occasionally coffee too. I grew up the oldest of three daughters to a teacher and a hard-working blue collar guy. I’m an average American with a fierce love of baseball, most especially the Atlanta Braves.
I was born in the 1980’s when the Atlanta Braves were “American’s team,” and games aired almost exclusively on TBS well into my 20’s. They quickly became my team too. As a young fan, I fell instantly in love with Dale Murphy. He was a legend. Seven time All-Star, back-to-back MVP, five-time Gold Glove winner, four-time Silver Slugger, and so much more. Murph represented the powdered blue like no other; he represented all that was good in the world, and embodied the spirit and values a baseball hero should. The Braves weren’t very good then, but Murphy was great. Then on August 30, 1990, the Braves traded him to the Phillies. They traded away MY guy. I won’t lie, I totally cried. I was eight.
To this day, Murphy is still my favorite baseball player. Why in God’s name the guy isn’t in the Hall of Fame is beyond me – I’ll save that rant for another article. As for the Braves, well… I forgave them. Just a few months before they traded Murphy, the Braves took Chipper Jones as the first overall player in the Draft and he carried the torch well.
Following their 97 losses in 1990, the Braves went from worst to first in unlikely fashion. If I close my eyes, I can still hear Skip Caray’s excitement as he calls Otis Nixon’s famous catch in 1991, “there’s a drive deep right-center field, Nixon goes as far as he can go… He caught the ball! He caught the ball! I can’t believe it!” The trend of superiority continued for Atlanta for many years. Who could forget Skip’s voice during the slide of a lifetime in 1992, “Here comes Bream! Here’s the throw to the plate! He is… SAFE! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!” Skip [Caray], his partner Pete van Wieren, and duo Don Sutton and Joe Simpson cemented themselves as the voices we all hear as baseball memories replay for a lifetime. The Atlanta Braves established themselves as an era in baseball history.
That era included Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery known as the “fab four.” It included Chipper Jones taking over for Terry Pendleton at the corner. It included Dave Justice and the most important solo home run in Braves recent history. And it included Bobby Cox leading the way to a national championship. From Fulton County Stadium to Turner Field, that was the team I knew. The team I loved. Their faces forever etched in my mind. Their voices imprinted on my heart.
Then life happened. College. Work. Marriage. Kids. Divorce. No time for baseball. Flash forward to 2016 and the Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball. What?
Growing up, I loved to watch the Cubs lose (or anyone else for that matter) because it meant the Braves were winning. That and I had something to rib my cousin over. But for the last couple of years, the Braves have sucked, and I mean REALLY sucked. The team of my youth was no more, so I didn’t feel too bad rooting for the Cubs. It was my way of mourning. In a sport now ruled by logic and sabermetrics, the curse of the Chicago Cubs was entertaining. A piece of the old baseball we’ve all forgotten.
Statistically, the Cubs could pull it off. They had one of the greatest pitching rotations since the “fab four” and the Bryzzo brothers, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, were fighting over an MVP season. The Cubs also had two former Braves on the roster, Jason Heyward and David Ross. I found myself screaming at my TV during the playoffs, and singing “Go Cubs Go” in random places. I was swept away by the year-long retirement party, and the traditions of Wrigley Field. While a student of Brian Kenny’s “Ahead of the Curve,” I’d been bitten by the bug. All logic, metrics and analytical wisdom went out the window. For the first time in a very long time, I was a fan again. Enjoying baseball for all the right reasons.
As I watched the most epic World Series in MLB history, those two unsung heroes [Jay-Hey and Grandpa Rossy] stood out to me as they carried the Cubs to victory. While Bryant (Wins Above Replacement “WAR” 8.4), Rizzo (WAR 5.2), Dexter Fowler (WAR 4.7) or Ben Zobrist (WAR 4.0) are sabermetrically the MVPs of the 2016 Cubs team, it is arguably the passion and spirit with which Heyward (WAR 1.6) and Ross (WAR 1.7) played that killed the goat and broke the curse. I mean really, a home run off Andrew Miller and a 17-minute rain delay? That’s some beautiful baseball mojo, and it can’t be boiled down into numbers or statistics.
The 2016 World Series, the journey of the Chicago Cubs, Rossy’s grace and humility, Jay-Hey’s leadership and determination, their ties to Atlanta… It reminded why baseball is America’s national pastime and rekindled my love for the game. Suddenly, baseball was a priority again. Don’t worry Atlanta, I’m still a Braves fan!
