Crime Dog -
Fred McGriff
Comes Home to Braves
The Buffalo Braves are one of the original
franchises in the Mid-West Baseball League. They are a
stable franchise with great fans and a solid management staff. General Manager Wally Walczak has run this team from it's
inception, and the Braves have held their own, and kept up a near
.500 winning percentage though it's first seven seasons.
The Braves franchise has one player who stands out alone for this
great franchise, and that is first baseman "the
Crime Dog" Fred McGriff.
McGriff was originally drafted in the
1997 Inaugural draft by the
Braves in the fifth round, and was looked upon as a solid selection
by the Braves management. In his first season he
batted .300 with 31 Homeruns and 125 RBI's helping Buffalo finish
in second place with a 87-75 record in the American League East.
The team, city, and McGriff were thrilled and proud of the first
year accomplishments by McGriff.
The team continued to prosper in 1998 and Fred McGriff was once
again there to lead the way for the Braves. He batted .320, with
23 Homeruns, and 92 RBI's. The Braves just missed getting into the
playoffs, coming up two games short to Chicago. Their record
improved to 91-71. Things were still good in the "City of Good
Neighbors".
Fred's numbers tailed off a little in 1999, but he was still there
to help Wally's Braves stay strong mentally. His average dropped
off to .280, and his power numbers declined to 18 homers and 81
RBI's. The Braves dropped to third place with a 76-84 record. But
McGriff seemed like a fixture in the Braves uniform for years to
come.
The 2000 season looked good again for McGriff, his numbers improved
to a .305 Batting average, 29 Homeruns, and 86 RBI's. The Braves
climbed back into second place in the American League East with a
84-78 record.
2001! The darkest year in franchise history for the Braves. The team fell to a terrible
38-124 record. Management knew the team was awful and quietly
traded McGriff to Detroit for outfielder Brian Jordan trying to
shake up the team on January 5th, 2001.
At the end of the 2001 season, the Braves released every player on
the roster and entered the Re-Modification Draft. The rebuilding
process had begun. In the mean time Fred McGriff bounced around the league and he
even considered retiring at one point. He moved on to Chicago,
Fremont, and Severn. Fred was not a happy man. The Crime Dog
has long been one of the best -- and most consistent -- first
basemen in the game, we were sorry we let him go. Said General
Manager Walczak.
The Braves new first baseman in 2001 Eric Karros said "To me, I
just had to go out and perform, Fred McGriff did a great job
here, for a lot of years. He was a fan favorite. Stuff like that
was out of my control. I can't control the Braves' front-office
decisions. All I could do was try to play my game.
The Buffalo Braves were on the verge of breaking things out for the
2003 season. But General Manager Wally Walczak knew there was a missing piece to
the puzzle. On January 25, 2003, the missing piece was found. The
Braves traded Ben Petrick and a draft pick to Severn for Fred
McGriff and a draft pick. Wally was quoted as saying "We
desperately wanted Fred McGriff to be a part of the resurgence of
this great franchise. He helped build this franchise and now we
want to pay him back, hopefully for a winner."
"I knew I wanted to come home," McGriff said. "But I
also was trying to find a
good spot, where I felt I'd have a chance to win. Things worked
out, and I found myself back where I started. Over the years, the Braves had a great organization.
Next to the Tempers, or the Mobsters, the Braves have been one of
the top organizations around. It's a good bunch of guys, there are
great people in the organization and it's a solid coaching staff.
They've always had good, competitive teams over the years. Except
that one year. So it was intriguing to return. I'm just happy to
be back home!"
