In April 1991, nobody in Atlanta would have recognized Mark Lemke had he knocked on the front door wearing his No. 20 jersey. He was a second baseman of modest size and portfolio who worked for a team that hadn’t finished above .500 since 1983. Come October, Lemke was the most beloved man in a city that had lost its mind over a sport it spent nearly a decade ignoring. Had the Braves won that World Series, the Lemmer – borrowing one of those classic Bobby Cox nicknames – would have been its MVP.
The worst-to-first season of ’91 changed changed Lemke’s life and the lives of everyone associated with the Braves. It transformed the way this curious city felt about sports. It made the foam tomahawk a staple in every household. It also set an unmatchable standard: For as long as there’s an Atlanta, no sports season will top it.
This young season has, however, awakened a few echoes. These Braves, like those Braves, weren’t expected to do much. These Braves, like those Braves, held first place in their division in mid-May. These Braves, like those Braves, had superb young players. But these Braves weren’t coming off a last-place finish – the 2017 team finished third in the National League East – and some observers saw this team coming, though not this soon. Nobody saw worst-to-first coming, Lemke included.
The man described by Cox as “the original dirt player” is now a Braves radio broadcaster. Standing outside the radio booth at SunTrust Park this week, Lemke offered his thoughts as to how 2018 has a bit of a 1991 feel to it – and how it doesn’t.
Does he see parallels? “It’s pretty hard not to, really. But when I think back, there’s always going to be differences. We were nowhere near where these guys are now – as far as best record (in the National League) and first place.”
The ’91 Braves spent five May days in first place, three of those in a tie. They slipped a half-game back May 16, when a game against Pittsburgh here was rained out. They wouldn’t see first place again until Aug. 27.
Lemke: “At the half (meaning the All-Star break) we were 9-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. We’d gotten swept in L.A. I’ll never forget: We’re sitting on the bench waiting to go back home, and TP (Terry Pendleton, soon to be National League MVP) was telling us, ‘This thing is not over.’ And we were fine because we were a lot of young guys. But I think our main goal was, ‘Hold your own’ – just give some kind of a fight. I don’t think anybody thought we could win this thing. But right out of the gate (after the break), we had our winning streak and the Dodgers had their losing streak, and just like that it changed.”
The Braves swept four games against St. Louis here as the Dodgers were losing four in Montreal. In four days, their deficit was nearly halved. The race was well and truly on, although this wasn’t a race of equals. The Dodgers had won the World Series twice in the ’80s; the Braves hadn’t graced the World Series since moving from Milwaukee.
Lemke: “We were in the West. … Our team (to beat) was the Dodgers; (for these Braves), their team’s Washington – the team that everybody thinks is going to make it. It wasn’t until August that we took first place, and even then it wasn’t by 10 games or five games. You didn’t think, ‘We got there.’ ”
August and September were when the Braves took hold of this town. From Aug. 10 through Oct. 6, no more than 2-1/2 games separated them and the Dodgers. Every night became an excruciation unto itself. With the Braves trailing 9-5 in Cincinnati on Aug. 23, the then-unknown Francisco Cabrera hit a solo homer off in the seventh and a tying three-run shot off Rob Dibble in the ninth. David Justice won it in the 13th with an RBI double off Randy Myers.
On Sept. 11, three Braves pitchers – Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Pena – worked a combined no-hitter against San Diego. Tony Gwynn made the final out. The game’s only run came on Pendleton’s homer. The victory enabled the Braves to hold first place by a half-game.
On Oct. 1, again in Cincinnati, the Braves trailed Jose Rijo, MVP of the Reds’ 1990 World Series sweep of Oakland, 6-0 after one inning. They trailed 6-5 entering the ninth. Lemke led off with a single against Dibble. Deion Sanders pinch-ran and stole second. Pendleton flied to center. Then Justice launched the home run that kept hope alive. Had they lost that night, they would have been two back with four to play. As it was, they drew into a first-place tie the next night and clinched here, one game to spare, that famous Saturday.
Lemke recalls that epic chase as a day-to-day grind to prove that his unassuming team belonged with the big boys. “I don’t think we were waiting for it, but I think the baseball world was waiting for us just to fade out at the end: ‘They’ve competed long enough; they’re not for real.’ And I think it was said by somebody on the Dodgers: ‘If it was anybody but the Braves behind us, we’d be worried.’ ”
Then: “I remember that sentiment, and I think the same thing is probably going on with these guys with the rest of the baseball world, although they’ve had enough games where (outsiders) might be thinking, ‘Geez, this is better than we thought’ and they’re getting a little respect. But I still think people are waiting for them to come down to Earth.”
Those Braves had the dazzling young pitchers – Glavine, Smoltz and Avery – and also Justice, the 1990 rookie of the year, plus Ron Gant and Jeff Blauser. Said Lemke: “And we had Pendleton, (Sid) Bream and (Rafael) Belliard – a nice little group of (seasoned) guys. … We just kept answering every bell – what’s the next test, and the next test? Just like these guys are doing.”
His appraisal of the 2018 Braves: “What I like about this team is that they’ve got great balance and great chemistry, like we had. Look from a speed standpoint – we had Otis (Nixon) and Deion and Ron Gant; we had a little bit of power. Just like they’ve got. They’ve got a little bit of everything. They can beat you a lot of different ways.”
Can this team win the East? “I think they’ve got a really good shot at it. That being said, we don’t know what happens in the middle of July. Like in our ’91 season: We made a couple of moves, but who would’ve thought Alejandro Pena would, out of nowhere, become an unhittable closer? We don’t know what their shot-in-the-arm is going to be. If they’re there, they’re going to get one.”
This team could be on its way to a once-in-a-generation season. For those of a certain age, it wouldn’t be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. We’ve already had that. Said Lemke: “I know from my experience, and I’ve talked to a lot of broadcasters, that (’91 is) everybody’s favorite year. It just came out of nowhere. What else came out of nowhere wasn’t just that we played good but that the city just came alive. I’m not going to say (this could never) be better, but boy, that would be pretty hard to duplicate. I remember (broadcaster) Pete Van Wieren saying you never knew what you were going to see on your drive to the ballpark – people on the street corner beating a drum.”
More than a quarter of a century later, the Lemmer recalled the moment when those Braves grasped the enormity of what they were doing. They were on the bus to the airport, bound for Pittsburgh and the NLCS. “We saw a chain gang,” he said. “They’re picking up garbage, and they stop to do the chop.”
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