Greenwood Braves

Western Carolinas League (1968-1979)

Background

The Greenwood Braves were a Class A farm club of the Atlanta Braves from 1968 to 1979 in the Western Carolinas League.  The Braves won the league championship six times in twelve seasons, although part of this success is due to the fact that the struggling Western Carolinas League sometimes played with as few as four active teams during the 1970’s.

The Braves first business manager in 1968 was Charlie Evranian, a 19-year old from Detroit who caught the attention of Atlanta Braves president John McHale while chauffeuring him around the Motor City as a teenage office boy for his hometown Tigers.

Pipeline To The Majors

A number of prominent future Major Leaguers came up through Anderson during the Braves era, starting with Dusty Baker, who arrived as a lightly regarded 19-year old and 26th round draft choice during the Braves’ first season in 1968.  Other notables included future National League MVP Dale Murphy (1975), future N.L. All-Stars Bruce Benedict and Glenn Hubbard (both 1976), pitcher Rick Mahler (1976), future Cy Young Award winner Steve Bedrosian (1978) and Brett Butler (1979).

Big Earl Williams would prove to be one of the most enigmatic Greenwood Braves stars. He tore up the Western Carolinas League as a 20-year old in 1969.  Williams hit .340 with 33 homers and 107 RBIs.

Two years later Williams was National League Rookie-of-the-Year with Atlanta.  In his first two seasons in the Majors, Williams bashed 61 home runs. Only Johnny Bench was a more feared offensive threat among National League catchers.  But a 1973 trade to Baltimore marked the start of a downward spiral for Williams. He clashed publicly with Orioles manager Earl Weaver and quickly fell into disfavor with teammates and fans.  Although he never hit fewer than 10 home runs in seven Major League seasons, his reputation ran him out of the Majors by age 29.  On June 12, 1978, Williams took the highly unusual step of placing a classified ad in The New York Times seeking Major League employment. There we no takers. Williams finished his career in anonymity in Mexico in 1979.

Move to Anderson, South Carolina

In March 1971, the Atlanta Braves came into Greenwood at the end of spring training for an exhibition game that attracted 4,527 fans to Legion Stadium.

But by the late 1970’s crowds dwindled to only 300 or so fans per game.  In October 1979, the Braves pulled out of Greenwood and moved the club to Anderson, South Carolina for the 1980 season.

Voices

“We had some tests. There was only one hotel in town. Housing for minorities was extremely slim. We made arrangements at a place called the Oak Grove Café. That was where a lot of the players of color stayed.

We had a few issues on the road. I was known for threatening to pull our team out of a hotel. I think the first one was in Rock Hill. The hotel when we showed up said ‘Oh, we didn’t realize that you had any negro ballplayers.’ I said ‘Yes sir, we do. This is 1968.’ And he said ‘Well, you know we’ve got an issue with that.’ I told him ‘If you’ve got an issue with that, you’ve got an issue with my whole team. We’re out of here and probably so is the rest of the league too.’ Needless to say, the manager changed his mind and we stayed there with no more problems for the rest of the season.

In ’68 we had Dusty Baker. In 1969 we had Earl Williams.

Dusty was from L.A. He wasn’t used to the Southern integration problems. And of course Earl, being from Montclair, New Jersey, wasn’t going to have any part of it. Earl especially got a little boisterous about it at one of the hotels. We calmed him down and said ‘Earl, I will take care of it. Don’t worry about it.’”

– Charlie Evranian, General Manager 1968-1969 (2018 FWiL Interview)

Downloads

2018 FWiL Interview with Greenwood Braves General Manager Charlie Evranian

Links

“50 years later: Today marks 50 years since Greenwood Braves played first game“, David Roberts, The Index-Journal, April 15, 2018

“50 years later: Legion Stadium transformed into state-of-the-art facility in two months“, David Roberts, The Index-Journal, April 22, 2018

Western Carolinas League Programs