Atlanta Braves Franchise history: Emil Fuchs saves the franchise
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves fans know about losing money and low attendance, but nothing like the situation in Boston as the team entered the 30s.
Fuchs literally put everything he had into the team, but the Red Sox were the new darlings of Boston even though they finished dead last from 1926 through 1932 and didn’t reach higher than fourth until 1938.
Just as the Atlanta Braves built a new ballpark to lure fans, the Boston Braves refurbished Braves’ Field. The club moved the fences in, added the Jury Box seating, and lowered ticket prices as the recession turned into depression. He moved ladies day to Saturday and game times to 2:30 PM so ladies could work a half-day and still attend a game.
As Fuchs watched his money fly away, he took out a loan from Charles Mr. Adams and V.C. Bruce Wetmore, but he was unable to keep up the payments on the loan, and on July 7, 1935 Fuchs tried to buy back the shares owned by Adams and Wetmore. The size of the loan isn’t given, but Fuchs’ first payment was reported as $100K.
The Braves improved in 1933 and 1934, but attendance dropped. leading them to try and get approval for greyhound racing at Braves Field in the evening after the game. League President Ford Frick called it preposterous and but Fuchs was convinced he could persuade the owners if it came to a vote, but Frick never let it come to a vote; he was also looking for new owners for the team.
New Ideas
We’ve seen the Atlanta Braves ticket packages and promotions to increase attendance; in 1935 the Boston Braves offered books of five tickets at five dollars a ticket, good for attendance at any game. The plan raised $30K and along with other ideas that added income, convinced owners to allow Fuchs to remain the owner.
Following the vote, the Braves announced that Babe Ruth would play for the team in 1935. In addition to playing, the team named him assistant manager and made him second vice president of the team. Ruth thought he’d eventually take over as manager, but Fuchs wrote that managing wasn’t a certainty.
"“If it was determined after your affiliation with the ball club in 1935, that it was for the mutual interest of the club for you to take up the active management on the field, there would be absolutely no handicap in having you so appointed.”"
Ruth read that as, I’m the next manager, and said so publicly. His tenure as a member of the Braves lasted 28 games (he was hitting .181 on May 30) when he asked permission to attend a gala on-board the luxury liner Normandie, in New York for its maiden voyage. Fuchs said no, Ruth said ‘I don’t have to be treated this way’ and retired.