When a 19-year-old Brave stole the World Series stage

My all-time postseason moments actually happened in three at-bats across two games. Two of the at-bats are remembered more famously, but the other set the table.

Atlanta?

First let me set the basis for this being my all-time postseason moment. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and, though I cheered for both sides of town and regularly attended games for both Chicago baseball teams, I was more of a Cubs fan.

On Dec. 9, 1992, my Cubs fan heart broke a little.

I was 12 years old at the time, and had easily picked my three favorite Cubs players: Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace and Greg Maddux. After the 1992 season Cubs fans watched as Maddux, a 26-year-old Cy Young winner, left as a free agent. He signed in Atlanta. Like many Cubs fans, I bought a Braves hat.

Four Years Later

Fast forward from that free-agent signing to the National League Championship Series in 1996. The St. Louis Cardinals came in as the underdog but had taken a 3-1 lead in the series before starts from Maddux and John Smoltz forced a dramatic Game 7 in Atlanta.

Well, dramatic in theory.

The Braves put six runs on the board in the first inning and spent the following eight innings piling on more runs until, when the dust had finally settled, the Cardinals were heading into the offseason on the wrong end of a 15-0 defeat.

Game 7 was out of the question for the Cardinals early, but the moment of note for me was in the sixth inning when a 19-year old stepped to the plate.

With that blast Andruw Jones became the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run in a postseason game.

Jones had only two hits in nine at-bats during that series against St. Louis. Marquis Grissom was still the regular center fielder for Atlanta, and veteran manager Bobby Cox didn’t rush his teen phenom into the limelight.

But that home run made everyone think.

Game One – Times Two

In the World Series the Braves would face the New York Yankees. Game 1 featured Andy Pettite against Smoltz on the mound. Atlanta’s offense picked up right where they left off against the Cardinals.

With two thunderous swings of the bat, Andruw Jones became a household name.

Now, as the football season of my junior year of high school was rolling along, I was watching a young man only three years older than me hit two home runs in Game 1 of the World Series. Against the New York Yankees.

Over the decade that followed, Jones matured into one of the two Jones Boys along with Hall of Famer Chipper who would be the centerpieces of the Braves’ dynasty. He was, for my money, the best defensive center fielder of his generation and continued to come through with big hits in postseason games.

But on that cold, crisp October night in 1996 a teenager arrived with two loud bangs, putting the world on notice that Andruw Jones had arrived.

Featured Image: Tom DiPace / Major League Baseball