At the outset of baseball’s season of discontent, Braves pitcher Tom Glavine was booed unmercifully in Atlanta because of his role as a players’ spokesman during the strike.
And on the final day of a season marked by equal parts apathy and astonishment, Dave Justice was jeered at home for suggesting Atlantans would run the Braves out of town if they lost another World Series.
In a logical end to a most illogical season, Glavine and Justice combined to make Atlanta history Saturday night by leading the Braves to their third world championship with a 1-0 victory over Cleveland in Game 6 of the World Series.
Glavine (2-0), named Most Valuable Player of the Series, allowed only one hit in eight innings while Justice cranked a solo home run off reliever Jim Poole in the sixth inning for the game’s only run. Mark Wohlers notched the save with a perfect ninth, turning Atlanta into Party Central when Carlos Baerga flied to center for the final out.
The Braves became the first franchise to win a World Series representing three different cities; they won in Boston in 1914 and Milwaukee in 1957. It also was Atlanta’s first professional sports championship, unless one counts a pro soccer title a local team won back in 1968, which most discriminating Atlantans don’t.
Having lost the World Series to Minnesota in 1991 and to Toronto in ’92, Justice knew that most Braves fans were on edge heading into Game 6. He ripped them for non-support, but admitted they had reason to be apprehensive.
“I think probably we have given our fans so many ups and downs that they may be a little nervous,” Justice said before the game. “Maybe they’re afraid to get up. But what I’m saying is if they get up this weekend, we’ll get up and rise to the occasion. We’re going to, anyway, whether they get up or not.”
The fans heeded Justice’s call to arms, standing on their feet and cheering whenever Glavine had two strikes on a Cleveland hitter, and generally creating much more noise than they did in Games 1 and 2 in Atlanta.
Glavine, who won Game 2 by a 4-3 score, was magnificent in shutting down one of the best hitting teams baseball has produced in the last three decades. Cleveland hit .098 (9 for 92) in their three losses in Atlanta.
Only four other pitchers in World Series history have had one-hit efforts, the last being Boston’s Jim Lonborg in Game 2 of the ’67 Series.
“He’s won more games than (Greg) Maddux the last five years,” Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said beforehand. “That says something. No one really seems to know that he won 20 games three years in a row. Your average fan does not know that. He’s been a stabilizer for us.”
Glavine pitched five no-hit innings before Tony Pena dumped a single into right field to open the sixth. But manager Mike Hargrove let Poole bat for himself and soon watched the strategy backfire. Poole’s weak bunt attempt resulted in a foul popout, and after Kenny Lofton reached on a fielder’s-choice grounder and stole second, he was left there on another foul pop by Omar Vizquel. The next inning, Poole gave up the go-ahead home run to Justice on a 1-1 pitch that turned everyone into tomahawk chop-aholics.
The game featured a classic pitchers’ duel between Glavine and Cleveland starter Dennis Martinez, highlighted by some fancy glove work.
Vizquel, who made some sensational barehanded plays at short during the ALCS, turned in the top defensive play of the World Series in the bottom of the second. With two on and one out, Rafael Belliard hit one that appeared to be headed up the middle. Vizquel gloved the ball and in one move flipped it to Baerga at second without using his hand, then watched Baerga turn the inning-ending double play.
Martinez escaped another potential self-made disaster in the Braves’ fourth when he gave up a two-out double to Justice, intentionally walked Ryan Klesko and then walked Javier Lopez to load the bases. But Belliard flied to center to end it.
The gig was up for Martinez when he ran into trouble again in the fifth. After walking Mark Lemke and allowing an infield hit to Chipper Jones, Martinez was replaced by left-hander Poole with Fred McGriff up. Poole made McGriff look silly, making him lunge on an outside pitch for the third strike.
![Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-Illinois-marijuana_175925141.jpg?w=546 "Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]")