After Game 1, Helsley, a member of Cherokee Nation and grandson of a full-blooded Cherokee, said he found Atlanta’s “tomahawk chop” cheer “disappointing” and “disrespectful.”
That did not stop fans from doing the chant on their own — as they did with erratic success in the early innings — and three times in the early innings the Braves played the drumbeat in the stadium to invite the chop. Once was after a single by Freddie Freeman, again after Josh Donaldson’s solo homer in the fourth inning, and then in the fifth inning as the Braves loaded the bases against starter Jack Flaherty.