In his new autobiography, Call Me Ted, Ted Turner includes one chapter devoted to his ownership of the Atlanta Braves.
Using the lessons learned through the Rob Neyer School of Detection, it seems that Turner has some lapses of memory, at best, or is fabricating, at worst.
He writes about taking over the team in 1976. The team had traded away Hank aaron after the 1975 season as was doing poorly on the field and at the gate. “I went to Fulton County Stadium forone of the last games of that difficult season and there were barely six hundred people in the stands.
So…
In 1974, the Braves drew 981,085 fans (I bet they wished Aaron had broken Ruth’s home run record later in the season). So Turner was a just a little off when he wrote that the ’75 attendance was half of the previous year (he gives the figure at 530,000; it was actually 534,672) — 88,259 off, specifically, which is not insignificant.
As for the 600 figure, I guess it’s a matter of perception. According to BaseballReference.com, the Braves’ season-low at home was 737 against the Houston Astros on Sept. 8, in home game number 74 (out of 80 that year). That could be considered one of the last games, but playing the semanticscard, 737 is not barely 600.
Am I being too picayune here? Perhaps. But I blame Neyer.
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