KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) -- Let's face it, Brian Snitker had pretty much given up on his dream.
He always wanted to be a big league manager.
But with his career in baseball approaching four decades, he figured there wasn't much chance of actually getting the call.
Yet here he is, at 61, getting ready for his first full season as skipper of the Atlanta Braves.
''I've always been a late bloomer,'' Snitker cracked this week, sitting in the dugout after his team finished a spring training workout.
He took over the Braves on an interim basis last May, becoming the fourth-oldest rookie manager in baseball history.