What it means to have the Atlanta Braves back playing in the World Series

The Atlanta Braves are playing in the World Series for the first time since 1999.

The Atlanta Braves really did it. They are going to the World Series!

When the ball popped in Freddie Freeman’s glove at first after a diving stop from Dansby Swanson at short, it was an emotional experience 22 years in the making for this lifelong Braves fan. I knew I was going to cry, but I could not anticipate the range of emotions I would feel as the clock struck midnight on the Los Angeles Dodgers and with the Braves moving on to face the Houston Astros.

I thought of my family.

The Atlanta Braves are back in the World Series, a story 22 years in the making

The Braves came to national prominence under Bobby Cox when I was a little guy. It was perfect timing. My dad played baseball as a youth in New York and my mom grew up in Ohio during the Big Red Machine. So as the oldest child of transplants, what better opportunity than to show me the meaningful life lessons from team sports than through the winning ways of Braves baseball?

With the power of ice cream and the superstation, I became an Atlanta Braves fan.

Throughout my childhood, it was a given the Braves were winning their division and playing deep into October. Did my peers and I take that for granted? I mean, how could we not? But what I think it did was create an imprint in the minds of many boys and girls throughout the Southeast that maybe one day, they could grow up to be the next Chipper Jones.

It’s kind of funny actually, because that kid was Dansby Swanson.

While he’s four grades younger than me, the same age as my sister, we all call Marietta, Georgia home. It’s only fitting that the Braves now play merely minutes from our respective high schools at a baseball cathedral that is anything but a sterile shopping mall. It’s only fitting this native son had to make the slick play at short to bring all of Braves Country back home to the promised land.

As for the guy on the receiving end of the 27th out, it had to be the franchise cornerstone, the tall blonde kid with a mid-September birthday, serious gap power and a great glove to boot, too.

Freeman is a day younger than me. He does everything at first base and at the plate I wish I could have done in my peak travel ball days. It became crystal clear very early on he was the guy Chipper would hand the baton off to once he decided to retire. Freeman had seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly … but not this. Again, it had to be him to record the final out, as he is the franchise.

While The Battery erupted in a way like it never had before, with all the players rushing onto the field, all I could think about was my family in that magical moment.

It came from a place of wanting it so badly for so many years and in so many ways. Once naïve enough to think I could play for the Braves, but not jaded enough to think I couldn’t find a way to write about them professionally. I thought about all the sacrifices my family made. First, to allow me to play competitive baseball and then, to let me spurn my business degree for a writing career.

Then, I thought about how long ago 1999 really was, and I completely lost it.

So much has changed since the last time the Atlanta Braves won the NL pennant

My parents were still together. Kids used to play outside back then. Going through airport security wasn’t a chore. Social distancing were two unrelated words. And 28-3 was 283 with a dash in it.

The pain heals, but it never really goes away.

But what brought me back to reality was how great of a moment this will be for a new generation.

It wasn’t a school night, so maybe some lucky kids weren’t asleep like I was when Carlos Baerga’s fly ball landed in Marquis Grissom’s glove. This unforgettable moment at Truist Park will inevitably forge friendships among perfect strangers, strengthen bonds between distant family members and provide memorable life lessons we all can look back on and grow from for the rest of time.

22 years since this last happened, there is a little boy and a little girl growing up in the same East Cobb neighborhood where my sister and I were raised. Same elementary school. Same neighborhood swim team. Same love for the Braves. Their dad works for the Braves’ flagship radio station. While they have no idea who I am, it’s truly powerful this kind of history is repeating itself.

As I continue to get my head around the reality that the Braves are seriously playing the Astros in the World Series, I’ll leave a bit of advice from what I’ve learned along the way.

If I’ve learned anything in 32 years, it is that passion needs to be the driving force in everything you do. I realize not everything will ignite a fire inside, but when you find that thing, be all about it, unapologetically.

There will be days, weeks, months, and years where the time commitment, the emotional strain and the financial investment will feel like a sunk cost. But trust me, it’s worth it in the end.

This lifelong investment is paying off big time.