May 11, 1977: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. That was not unusual. What was unusual was the Braves' manager, a man who once said, "There's a fine line between being colorful and being an asshole, and I hope I'm still just colorful."
Robert Edward Turner III was born on November 19, 1938 in Cincinnati, and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. Expelled from Ivy League school Brown University for being caught with a woman in his dorm, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, so he wouldn't be drafted to fight in Vietnam during the early phase of that war. He later admitted, "I like boats," and was "deployed to some pretty sweet places -- Charleston and Fort Lauderdale."
How much did he like boats? In 1964, he competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials for yacht racing. In 1974, he entered the defender's trials for the America's Cup. On September 18, 1977, commanding
Courageous, Ted Turner won the America's Cup, defeating Australia in a 4-race sweep.
His father committed suicide in 1963, and 24-year-old Ted took over his father's business, producing advertising billboards. Like another young man who would become a baseball mogul, George Steinbrenner, he took his father's business and grew it far beyond anything his father had imagined, making it "the largest outdoor advertising company in the Southeast."
He began buying radio stations, and, in 1969, traded them for a struggling Atlanta TV statin, WJRJ-Channel 17. He changed the call sign to WTCG, for Turner Communications Group, although he advertised it as "Watch This Channel Grow."
Initially, the station ran old movies from prior decades, along with theatrical cartoons and bygone sitcoms and drama programs. As a better syndicated product fell off the VHF stations, Turner would acquire it for his station at a very low price. WTCG ran mostly second- and even third-hand programming of the time, including fare such as I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island and Star Trek.
In 1972, he bought the rights to broadcast the games of baseball's Atlanta Braves and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. In 1976, he bought those teams outright, thinking that his broadcast revenue would allow him to buy better players, and the teams would help the station grow further
On May 2, 1976, Turner announced that, instead of their surnames, the Braves players would have their nicknames above their uniform numbers on their backs. Darrell Evans had "HOWDY." Darrel Chaney had "NORT." Jimmy Wynn's nickname, "The Toy Cannon" (because he was short but powerful), was too long to fit, so his was just "CANNON." And pitcher Andy Messersmith had "CHANNEL."
Bowie Kuhn, the Commissioner of Baseball, saw through this blatant attempt by Turner to advertise for his station, and prohibited it thereafter. Turner and Kuhn were now at odds, and would remain so. (Not that he was the only owner with whom Kuhn was at odds.) On January 3, 1977, Kuhn suspended Turner for a year, for his actions in signing free agent outfielder Gary Matthews. Turner appealed the suspension, and it was overturned.
On May 11, 1977, with the team mired in a 16-game losing streak, Turner sent manager Dave Bristol on a 10-day "scouting trip," and installed himself took over as interim manager. This made him the 1st owner/manager in the major leagues since Connie Mack stepped down as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.
That night, the Braves lost 2-1 to the Pirates. Phil Niekro went the distance, and pitched well, but fell to 0-7 on the season. He would end it 16-20. John Candelaria held the Braves to 1 run on 8 hits, 3 of them by rookie outfielder Barry Bonnell, who ended up batting .300 for the season. Dave Parker hit a home run for the Pirates, and that made the difference. Willie Stargell went 1-for- 2 with 2 walks.
The next day, National League President Charles "Chub" Feeney ordered Turner to step down as manager, citing MLB's Rule 20(e), which prohibits managers from owning any stock in the team that employs them, unless specifically granted an exemption by the Commissioner. This rule was put in place in 1927, after a situation regarding Rogers Hornsby. Mack, and also John McGraw of the New York Giants, who owned stock in their teams, were "grandfathered in." Turner appealed to Kuhn, but was never going to get anywhere with him.
The next day, with 3rd base coach Vern Benson running the team, the Braves broke their 17-game losing streak, beating the Pirates, 6-1. Bristol returned for the next game, and the team finished 61-101, in 6th and last place in the NL Western Division, 37 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Turner fired Bristol after the season, and replaced him with New York Yankees coach Bobby Cox. He got nowhere with the Braves, but their next manager, Joe Torre, led them to the NL West title in 1982, and almost did it again in 1983.
That 1982 season was the year that made the Braves a national phenomenon: Not only had Turner changed Channel 17's call letters to WTBS, for "Turner Broadcasting System," but he'd made it a national "SuperStation." Like the Chicago Cubs on WGN, his games were now broadcast nationwide, and they got a national following, not just a regional one. He even billed the Braves as "America's Team," just as football's Dallas Cowboys had done. They lost the NL Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, whose vast radio network had made them something like a national team.
Cox went on to the Toronto Blue Jays, and led them to their 1st Division title in 1985, but they lost the American League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals.
In 1990, Turner lured away the Royals' general manager, John Schuerholz. He brought Cox back to the Braves, and the next year, they began one of the most successful runs in NL history. Not counting the strike-shortened 1994 season, the Braves won their Division -- the NL West through 1993, the NL East thereafter -- every season from 1991 to 2005. They won their 1st Pennant in Atlanta in 1991, and also won in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999. And they won the 1995 World Series, although they lost the others, including in 1996 and 1999 to the Yankees, who were managed by... Joe Torre.
Turner sold the Braves in 2007. As of May 11, 2022, he is still alive, but has had medical issues, and has withdrawn from the public eye.
UPDATE: Turner died on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87.
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May 11, 1977 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA Playoffs: The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-94 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena would be converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)
The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between Games 3 and 4. The Montreal Canadiens would sweep the Boston Bruins in 4 straight. And Game 1 of the World Hockey Association Finals was played. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Quebec Nordiques, 2-1 at the Colisée de Québec. But the Nordiques would win the series in 7 games.
And these other games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 5-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Reggie Jackson hit a home run, but Ken Holtzman, who had been his teammate on the recent Oakland dynasty, did not pitch well. This was the Yankees' 1st visit to that stadium, as the Mariners were a 1st-year expansion team. They ended up losing the next night, too, before salvaging the series finale.
The next year, at the age of 8, I read the The Best Team Money Could Buy, which Steve Jacobson, Newsday's Yankees beat reporter, had written. This was not a book for kids. He quoted left fielder Lou Piniella objecting to the Kingdome and "losing to a horseshit ballclub." Ironically, the 1st 4 times the Mariners ended up making the Playoffs, their manager would be Lou Piniella, and the 1st 2 times would be at the Kingdome, before Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) opened.
* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the San Diego Padres, 6-3 and 4-3 at Shea Stadium. Dan Spillner outpitched Tom Seaver in the opener, and Randy Jones beat Craig Swan in the nightcap. The Mets got home runs from Mike Phillips and Dave Kingman.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-4.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rod Carew went 1-for-4.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Pete Rose went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Chet Lemon singled Richie Zisk home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The California Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Frank Tanana pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum.
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