This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA -- Braves manager Walt Weiss was asked what it meant to him when he saw Brian Snitker deliver his Braves Hall of Fame induction speech on Saturday night, especially the part where he got choked up talking about Weiss.
“It made me choke up in the dugout before the game,” Weiss said. “We had a great relationship. We still do. I felt like we were great partners for the last eight years. “I thought it worked really well and I’m really grateful.”
A seamless transition seems to be a reason why the Braves have been so successful during the early part of this season. Weiss isn’t Snitker, just as Snitker wasn’t Bobby Cox just because he had been on the legendary skipper’s coaching staff.
But while spending the past eight seasons as Snitker’s bench coach, Weiss was reunited with the Braves Way. He became a part of it while playing three seasons (1998-2000) in Atlanta during the franchise’s greatest run. That fifth trip to the World Series in the 1990s may not have happened had Weiss not made one of the best defensive plays in franchise history during Game 3 of the 1999 NLDS against the Astros.
Weiss played alongside Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. But he more recently coached alongside Snitker, the man who was pushed into the coaching world by Hank Aaron and mentored by Bobby Cox.
“Snit and Bobby were so close,” Weiss said. “Bobby was always his mentor. So, yeah, I think it’s great that lineage has been extended through the years. Snit is part of the Braves’ Royal family.”
The Braves’ Royal family obviously includes Aaron -- whose widow, Billye, attended Saturday’s ceremony -- Chipper Jones, who was one of Saturday’s speakers and Cox, whose post-stroke complications don’t limit him from being cognizant of what is going on in the Braves’ world.
“He knows everything that’s going on,” Snitker said of Cox on Saturday evening.
“He’s probably the happiest guy in Atlanta about what’s going to happen this evening. I’ll go see him in a couple days and I’ll try to FaceTime him to say hello with some of the guys. It’s special.”
It’s truly special to think about how many lives Snitker has touched over the years. You can find a direct connection with him and almost every player who has had their number retired by the Braves. The three stretches might be Eddie Mathews, Greg Maddux and Warren Spahn.
But Spahn’s longtime teammate, Johnny Sain, was the mentor of Braves Hall of Fame pitching coach Leo Mazzone, who worked alongside Snitker in the Minors.
The links:
3: Dale Murphy -- Was part of the 1985 Atlanta team that included a 29-year-old Snitker as its bullpen coach
6: Bobby Cox -- Employed Snitker as his third-base coach from 2007 until he retired in 2010. Spent the past decade plus as his mentor
10: Chipper Jones -- His first full season hitting coach for the 1991 Single-A Macon team was a 35-year-old Snitker
25: Andruw Jones -- Met Snitker as an instructor during his early Minor League days and was reunited when Snitker became Atlanta’s third-base coach in 2007
29: John Smoltz -- Has repeatedly said Snitker was the most intimidating coach he encountered as a Minor Leaguer.
35: Phil Niekro -- The two longtime friends were first introduced when Snitker was one of the young Minor League catchers asked to catch Niekro’s bullpens in Spring Training during the late 1970s.
44: Hank Aaron -- Gave Snitker a coaching job after releasing the catcher in 1980
47: Tom Glavine -- Crossed paths with Snitker in instructional league in the mid-1980s and was reunited with him as a member of the 2008 Atlanta team.
Weiss has direct links with many of these legends and most importantly, he has the unwavering support of Snitker, his predecessor and biggest fan.
“I’ve been watching the Braves a lot and I watch other baseball and this club is good, really good,” Snitker said. “I’m happy for Walt. There’s not a better human being on the face of the earth. He’s a great baseball guy. So, I’m tickled to death to see how well the team is doing.”