The Greatest Unimportant Braves Game

[This post is not a recap of last night’s stirring 8-3 win. I was at 30,000 feet for the game, and Mr. Copenhaver has agreed to supply a full recap. Until then, I celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the Greatest Braves Game of No Importance. My long march through 1966 has skipped over the managerial change. I’ll cover that next week.]

From the opening pitch by Tony Cloninger to Matty Alou on April 12, 1966 to the last out in last night’s 8-3 win the Atlanta Braves have played almost 8,400 games. Of those, the truly memorable ones are but a few hundred. And of the truly memorable games, only a few were memorable despite being unimportant for the pennant race or some particular feat like Tony…