Ryan Klesko, who hit three home runs for the Braves in the 1995 World Series, and his 11-year-old son will be among those watching next week’s rebroadcast of that six-game series.
“I’m excited to watch it because a lot of stuff I’ve forgotten,” Klesko said. “My son wasn’t born when I was playing, so we’re going to be sitting there watching it together and kind of reliving some of those moments.”
Tom Glavine figures the first thing he’ll notice in the re-airing is how young he and his teammates were back then.
“It’s amazing how much time has passed,” Glavine, now 54, said on a Zoom video conference Wednesday with Klesko, 48, and media members.
Fox Sports Southeast will re-air the 1995 World Series -- the only World Series won by the Braves since their move to Atlanta -- across six consecutive nights, starting with Game 1 on Monday and culminating with Game 6 on May 2. Each telecast will begin at 7 p.m. as the regional sports network goes to the archives to fill airtime vacated by the shutdown of live games amid the coronavirus pandemic.
For members of the ’95 Braves, the rebroadcast will rekindle fond memories. And the same goes for Braves fans who have waited 25 years – and counting – for another championship.
As he watches, Glavine expects he may react emotionally to close calls that didn’t go the Braves’ way: “Even though you know the outcome … I think that’s just a natural instinct that doesn’t go away.” And he figures he may have the same reaction as in 1995 to certain opposing players: “Guys on the other team that you didn’t like (then), you still maybe don’t like them.”
“It brings up all that stuff,” Glavine said of watching old games anew. “But I think in large part it’s just being able to walk down memory lane a little bit, relive those moments and know how special it was not only to win the World Series but to win it with that group of guys.”
Five of the six games in the series were decided by one run, including the Braves' clincher in Game 6. In the biggest win of the franchise's Atlanta era, Glavine allowed just one hit in eight innings against a fearsome Cleveland lineup as the Braves won 1-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium behind David Justice's sixth-inning home run.
Klesko said Wednesday that he doesn’t remember hearing Glavine’s famous challenge to the Braves’ hitters in the dugout during that game. “You’re so focused on the games,” Klesko said, “and there’s a lot of stuff going on.” But Glavine confirmed that he, indeed, spoke these words while Game 6 was still scoreless: “Come on, boys, get me one (run) because they’re not getting any.”
“I said it. I came in and kind of made the challenge,” Glavine said. “I knew I was pitching well. I knew I was on my game. I think more than anything else I was just trying to fire our guys up and get a reaction.
“Fortunately, one guy was listening. David went out and hit a home run. So it worked out pretty good.”
Klesko’s home runs during that World Series came in three consecutive games in Cleveland – Games 3, 4 and 5. He and his son probably will enjoy watching those games more than Games 1 and 2, during which Klesko was hitless.
“I remember (Indians shortstop) Omar Vizquel making two great plays on me,” Klesko said. “I was thinking, ‘Am I ever going to get a hit in this World Series?’ Little things like that, I remember.”
During Wednesday’s video conference, Glavine suggested Klesko’s kid might be particularly interested in what his father did after two of his World Series homers.
“Ryno, if you’re watching with your son, make sure you have the pause button on because I think you had a couple of epic bat flips there in Cleveland,” Glavine said to his former teammate. “He might want to copy a couple of those.”
“He’s already started,” Klesko said. “He bat-flipped a kid last year, and I told him, ‘Oh no, you’re too young for that.’”
Klesko was a young player when the Braves won the World Series – 24 years old and playing in the MLB postseason for the first time in his career.
“We won it, so I was just thinking, ‘Oh, man, this is easy, let’s do it again and again,’” Klesko said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. But it was a lot of great memories.”
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