We plugged into an online Zoom meeting with the Braves 400 Club, an hour with Braves manager Brian Snitker. Snit is so down to earth. No wonder the players love him. Signed as a catcher, he’s spent 44 years in the organization, which he repeatedly said is one of the best families in baseball. Said players want to sign with the Braves because of the atmosphere. When congratulated for his manager of the year award, Snit said the “personal awards are really organizational awards.” Snit went out of his way to talk about how great the Braves fans were, and especially the Braves 400 Club added to the team’s success.
When asked about the challenges the team faced during covid, Snitker made it clear that MLB had it easy compared to most others, particularly medical personnel, teachers, and those who lost their jobs. He spoke of walking around his neighborhood, talking to his neighbors. He detailed things not covered in the media. Every meal was out of an individual box. He had to make sure his young, growing players got enough to eat. Lots more busses than usual, to keep players spread out. Team flights had seating charts, mixing players with coaches, spacing out coaches, pitchers, infielders, outfielders so one position group would be less likely to be infected.
Snit was amazed they got the full season in. He’s had his doubts beforehand, and could tell his players did too, based on how they practiced in the days and weeks before the opener. He scolded them, telling the team they needed to seriously get their bodies ready in case the season went the distance. Snit spoke of losing his entire starting pitching rotation, of having to make decisions on the fly the entire season. When the Braves were forced to pitch relievers in a NLDS game, Snitker spoke of waiting until 10 am the morning of the game to call AJ Minter, to tell him he’d be starting that night’s game. He didn’t want to wake up Minter, but he didn’t want the reliever to turn on ESPN and hear the news there. When AJ heard the news he was pumped. Snit told Minter they only expected him to pitch one inning, but AJ went three.
The manager said Charlie Morton would be a great addition to the pitching staff. Snit had recently told Smoltz that Morton was a modern day version of Smoltz. Morton had a great experience pitching for Tampa, and lives nearby in Bradenton, but jumped at the chance to come back to the Braves, where he first started out. Snit mentioned visiting with Morton and his family at the All Star Game in Cleveland, with his four kids and parents.
Snitker was asked about his experiences in the minor leagues. He and Leo had a rough year in Durham in 1983, with locals calling for his firing. But in 84 the Bulls rebounded, making it to the championship game. Not discussed was how Snit was the Durham manager when Bull Durham was filmed. Kevin Cosner used Snit’s catcher’s mitt, and Snit’s baseball card can be seen in the background at Annie’s house.
One Saturday afternoon Snit was at 5:30 mass with his wife and mother, when he received a call from the Braves. Much to his mother’s dismay, he decided to take the call, knowing a member of the organization was in failing health. Instead Snit was asked to come back to the major leagues to be the Braves third base coach. When he returned to his pew, Snit whispered the news to his wife, and his mother scolded him for talking in church. On the Zoom call you could hear Snit’s wife Ronnie laughing at the story.
When the Braves were looking for a new manager, Snit didn’t think his chances were good. He said “I’d been recycled three times by the organization” from the minor to the majors and back again. That’s why the call to manage was especially sweet, he said.
After the Braves took a 3-1 lead in the 2020 NLDS, Snitker confided to Braves GM AA that he really wanted to advance to the World Series, in part so he’s be the manager of the 2021 All Star Game in Atlanta. As it is LA manager Dave Roberts will most probably add Snitker to his staff for the All Star Game. .
Snit said he couldn’t say enough good things about Freddie Freeman, who’d recently won the Hank Aaron Award as the league’s top hitter. Snitker said he owes so much of his career to Hank, who used to be the director of the Braves minor league operations. Snit wants Hank to continue to be a part of the Braves family, and enjoyed watching Hank give the award to Freddie, and their ensuing discussion.
Johnny had his son type a question for Snit, asking about his high school experience in Macon Illinois. The manager’s face lit up. His small town school only had 250 students, but beat a Chicago team to make it to the state finals. “It was like Hoosiers.” Snit looked around his office, and held up the book about the team – “One Shot at Forever” by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard.
As the meeting closed, Snit wished everyone a merry Christmas.
No new Christmas cards again Wednesday. Got one Thursday that mentioned Christmas. Ceil is having Christmas celebrations at her school. She went shopping Wednesday night.
Denison: Gen Z Americans (currently between eight and twenty-three years old) have relied on faith more than any other generation during the pandemic.
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