Knowing we’re taking an off-season look at the Braves’ division-winning 1982 campaign, I remembered that I have a shoebox full of old event tickets—concerts, ballgames, all kinds of stuff—basically from the mid-1970s thru about 1984 or so. Of course, there was a slew of old Braves tickets in there, too, including a bunch (in picture) from that crazy 1982 season.
First, A Few Curious Items: In the shoebox, I found a very formal invitation ticket for my mother to visit a 1976 campaign stop in Chamblee for President Gerald R. Ford. She didn’t attend it because the event fell on my sister’s 10th birthday. Instead, we had a party at Shakey’s Pizza in our hometown of Columbus, Ga., which was probably way more entertaining than any event featuring Gerald R. Ford.
Autographed Concert-Ticket Stubs: B.B. King, 2/16/80, at the Columbus Municipal Auditorium—after playing with Bobby “Blue†Bland; The Clash, 6/2/82 at the Fox Theater, Atlanta—we caught Joe Strummer & Mick Jones quite by accident as they walked out of their dressing room onto Ponce de Leon; Hunter S. Thompson, 1983 at Memorial Hall Ballroom, UGA/Athens—yes, he was drunk; & the Dead Kennedys, 5/20/83 at 688 Club, Atlanta—guitarist East Bay Ray signed the ticket, “J. Falwell.â€
Among the SEC Fare: And Spike, I have a ticket from Jordan-Hare Stadium, 11/3/79, Auburn beat Florida 19-13—were you at that one?
On To the Braves Games: I was finishing up my first year at UGA, living in Russell Hall—a boozy mega-dorm only a freshman could endure. The Braves, of course, got hot right out of the gate, winning their first 13 games, and our dorm hall got right into the action, attending several games that spring. This is what I remember, with a little help from Retrosheet. And notice the quick game times:
4/23/82, Padres 6, Braves 3, 12 innings
The previous evening, the Reds had halted the season-opening 13-game winning streak and this would be the second of 5 consecutive losses. But going to the ballpark was a new feeling—<i>hey, we might actually be good this year!</i> The place was fairly packed & we sat high in the uppers on the 1B side – 15 rows up for $4. Pads starter Tim Lollar hit a long HR off Niekro (he had 8 in his short NL career) & Sixto Lezcano hit 2 dingers, including a 3-run job off Rick Camp to win it in extras.
What I Remember Most: Earlier in the game, Glenn Hubbard hit a game-tying solo HR & I saw this drunk guy across the aisle from me reach over to give his friend a celebratory high-five. But… he missed the guy’s hand, then stumbled & tumbled about a dozen rows in a spectacular rolling fall to the very bottom of the section. He got up shakily & quickly disappeared down the portal, only to return the next inning with 2 more beers – and an ugly scrape on his forehead. IIRC, he made it thru the 12 innings. One hopes he didn’t pose for a mugshot later that night. (Time 3:15; Attendance 37,105; Braves 13-2)
Other than a patented Dale Murphy oppo-shot that careened off the RF football bleachers, I don’t remember a lot about this one. According to Retrosheet, it was a pitchers’ duel between Rick Mahler & Randy Martz. Up 2-1 going into the 9th, the Cubbies nicked up Camp for 3, benefitting from a walk, a misplayed bunt & a Hubbard error—more like a late-inning meltdown. (Time 2:20; Attendance 27,094; Braves 16-6)
This is one of those early-season games where manager Joe Torre began to fall in love with Steve Bedrosian. After the Phils roughed up Mahler to go up 5-0, the Bravos rebounded & took the lead on Sparky Lyle (via a clutch Chris Chambliss RBI & a rare Mike Schmidt error). Bedrock took the win & closed things out with 3 scoreless innings—almost Gossage-like. Games like these reaffirmed the belief that we might be seeing a special season. (Time 2:39; Attendance 28,050; Braves 26-13)
The next afternoon. Other than an oppo-shot from Murphy (#13 for the season), not much to celebrate here. Pete Rose picked up 2 RBI & crafty vet Mike Krukow, having one of his best years, went 8 to best Larry McWilliams. IIRC, went to see The Plasmatics at the Agora Ballroom on Peachtree later that night. Wendy O. Williams blew things up, chain-sawed instruments in half & did her best to test the local morals code—yup, way more entertaining than Mike Krukow. (Time 2:12; Attendance 25,925; Braves 26-14)
Great post Ububba! Your writing over the years about your childhood memories of growing up in Georgia almost makes me wish I’d grown up there!
I was in Athens all of 83 EXCEPT the summer term. I don’t remember Hunter Thompson coming.
By then, he was already famous for an association with UGA. I think it was Law Day 1975 (officially it is May 1, but actual event may have been on another day) when James Earl Carter, Jr. addressed the Law School sponsored event and blasted lawyers over and over. Thompson wrote that up and that was one of the first national writers to seem to take Carter seriously.
A timely FanGraphs article (written by the NEIFI guys), given the recent discussion among sansho and some other commenters here.
@3, the link is for bravesjournal.us
JohnWDB @ 4,
I think it is an example of a “circular problem.”
Nice work, ububba. I was in grad school in 1982 and didn’t get back to Atlanta all year. Thanks to TBS, of course, you didn’t have to.
And I hope this doesn’t violate the Prime Directive of Braves Journal, but it’s fascinating that Gerald Ford even made a visit to Georgia in 1976. In the last 20 years I don’t think any candidate has campaigned actively in the home state of an opponent which was not “in play.” Just one the ways things used to be a lot different.
@3, @4, and @5, I have fixed Stu’s link. It should go here:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-gap-between-public-and-private-information/
Whoops! Thanks, Alex.
#1
Thanks, but I’m guessing you’ve never been to Columbus. 😉
#2
Yup, that was May, 1974 — I read that bit well after the fact in The Great Shark Hunt. Thompson called it “a king-hell bastard of a speech.”
The University Union event for HST cost $1 for students, but it sold out quickly. I remember walking into Memorial Hall & getting offered $20, $25, $30 for my ticket from people who drove a long way to see him & were surprised to find the event sold-out.
Thompson had a few moments, but it was ultimately a little disappointing. He had nothing prepared. He just showed up, put a bottle of Wild Turkey on a table, took audience questions & very occasionally mumbled out some amusing answers.
A Highlight I Remember: A freshman student asked him what subject he should major in, what course of life he should pursue.
Thompson: Don’t bother! You’re doomed!
#6
Weird, but true. And when the going gets weird…
Here’s that speech. Law Day 1974.
http://www.narsil.org/index/peopl/jimmycarter/lawday
My first year on campus was fall of 81, ububba, so I missed that. I was however both at that Clash show and that Dead Kennedys one as well. In a related aside, 82 was the year I began my Braves fandom as a result.
Not sure if you guys talked about it yet, but MLB.TV is now allowing full streaming of in- and out-of-market games, regardless of local black outs. So now I can stream Fox broadcasts.
Sam @12, wow, that it great. Hated losing games all the time with the blackouts.
@12– Really??? Does this mean that Georgia residents can stream Braves games?
Cool stuff, Ububba. I saw Al Sharpton in the chapel in ’06 or ’07. He was a hoot and a half. During the Q&A somebody asked why white students and black students don’t usually eat at the same table in the dining halls. Sharpton’s reply: “Well, fat folk hang out with fat folk, too.” Then he took the next question without further elaboration.
@2 Any truth to the rumor that they partied together?
As far as I can tell, @12, it isn’t quite that good:
http://fortune.com/2016/01/19/mlb-blackout-settlement/
Am I the only person here who wishes he came up with the NEIFI acronym?
If one had the cable subscription password, then you wouldn’t probably need access to local games via MLB.TV.
#15
I tend to doubt that Jimmy Carter ever partied with anyone. His son & daughter? Another story…
Great stuff — makes me wish I was more of a souvenir keeper back in the day. If I had it to do over again, I’d have kept my ’82 World Series tickets. The NL hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 that year, and you could buy tickets at C&S Bank, so I dipped into my savings account there for the $40 necessary to get a ticket to each game. IIRC I wanted to keep just one, but the bank required turning them all back in — they wouldn’t do a partial reimbursement. Not much of a decision for a 15-year-old with probably less than $100 to his name. I believe I took it in cash instead of putting back in the account and spent it at the Chamblee Fair Lanes bowling alley on Savoy Drive over the next week or two. Cripes, what an old fart story this is….
Good Lord, this is a deathly boring offseason.
I hate this end of January/early February lull.
Nah, we can read about how the Falcons will draft a middle linebacker or a guard, and how that will take them from 8 to 10 wins, a wild card spot, and a first round exit.
Or about how if the Hawks can get hot here, they can cruise to the 2nd seed and another painful dismantling by the Cavs that fully cements the hopelessness of any franchise without a superstar in the NBA.
Good stuff, Ububba.
I’d prefer either of those stories to the gullible dreck Talking Chop is filling the tubes with these days. Pouncing on the Braves’ “interest” in Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes as if they were anything other than totally shameless, disingenuous PR ploys from the front office is pretty debasing. The team had as much interest in and chance of signing those guys as I do out of my personal checking account. To tout comical low-ball offers to actual capable players as some sort of proof that the team is serious about contending soon is delusional at best.
FWIW, I’m hoping that guard is Cody Whitehair, and if he’s gotten in the 2nd round, it will be a veritable coup. A coup I say!
@19, I can definitely vouch for half of that statement.
@MLB.TV discussion
Essentially, if you’re a Braves fan living in Pittsburgh, for example, and you have a cable subscription, you’ll be able to view Chip and Joe on MLB.TV instead of having to watch the Pirates’ broadcast on cable when the two teams play each other…if you pay an additional $10 for the right. You’ll still need a cable subscription that gives you access to the Pirates games (in this example), though, and that includes when the Braves come into town and you’re trying to watch Chip and Joe on MLB.TV. In other words, this is of extremely limited value when you hate your team’s TV announcers as much as most people on here hate Chip and Joe, and this is kind of a pretty meaningless cookie being tossed to fans.
There are some good things in this deal. The price of MLB.TV is being dropped slightly for the full out-of-market package, and they’ll now offer a “follow your team” package where you can pay $85 a year to access just the games involving your favorite team. (You’ll pay $95 when you want to watch Chip and Joe over the in-market broadcast, per above.)
Also, teams must start providing in-market streaming of their games, but they can still require a cable subscription to access that. Last I heard, the Braves were planning on starting this through Fox Sports Go (the Fox Sports streaming website/app) this season. Again, cable subscription featuring Fox Sports South/Southeast required.
Also, the crazy local and regional blackouts are unchanged from last year in regards to MLB.TV and MLB Extra Innings, except in the specific case involving the visiting broadcast and a cable subscription. So if you live in a team’s regional broadcast area but don’t even have the possibility of accessing that team’s games on cable, you’re still SOL.
Is anyone really SOL when it comes to watching whatever you want through MLB.tv anymore?
Any fan with with a few extra bucks and the ability to cut/paste a DNS should just kick back and wait for MLB to catch up with the times.
I was listening to MLB Network Radio, which has some good stuff every now and again. Someone was suggesting that you have to really be all or nothing with free agency. You either need to have the payroll necessary to heavily compete in free agency, or you need to avoid free agency all together and build your team through drafting, scouting, buying out arb years, and letting guys leave for FA almost always. You don’t want to be caught in the middle of that because you have so little margin for error. I think back to the late 00’s and early 10’s with all of the failed free agent signings, and it’s pretty easy to see why we’re here. We swung and missed on Kenshin Kawakami, Derek Lowe, BJ Upton, and Dan Uggla (though he was a trade, we signed him to a market level deal when he should have been a FA). We also made a made move that mid-market teams really can’t do by gutting our farm system to trade for Teixeira. You really can’t keep recovering from those moves by signing the Troy Glaus’ and Aaron Harang’s of the world.
Then they started talking about the Detroit Tigers, how the Tigers will have a fantastic offense, but their pitching will not allow them to win a championship, and how young, cheap pitching is really the only way a mid market team can compete effectively. After hearing those two things, it made me very optimistic that, regardless of how painful this band-aid pull is, it’s very fair to say that the Braves are building the team the way their economics dictate they have to.
Imagine paying $10 a year for the privilege of watching Chip 19 times a year instead of Gary Cohen here in NY. No, I can’t. Actually, for the most part I tend to watch the other team’s feed anyway, and not just because I think Chip is still addled from his encounter with ububba… It’s because I think you learn more about a team by listening to an outsider’s view. I usually watch the Braves’ feed one out of three games in a series, just to keep up.