DHL Dan CCXCVIII - The Ted Turner Column

Ted Turner, owner of the Atlanta Braves and creator of CNN, passed away last week. Shank recalls Ted actually managing the Braves for one game:

Ted Turner managed the Braves (for one game). Imagining what it would be like if that happened in Boston, and other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while wondering if Joe Mazzulla would have started Denny Galehouse against the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 one-game playoff …

⋅ Imagine if John Henry made himself manager of the Red Sox.

Ted Turner did this when he owned the Atlanta Braves.

For just one day.

Turner, the bombastic tycoon who revolutionized TV journalism, died Wednesday in Florida at the age of 87. His New York Times obituary called him a “media mogul who cut a brash and vivid figure … extending his restless reach into professional sports, environmentalism, and philanthropy.”

All true.

Turner also was a big league baseball manager. For just one day.

With his Braves in the throes of a 16-game losing streak in May 1977, Turner, who was in his second year as owner, gave his manager, Dave Bristol, a 10-day sabbatical, and made himself manager for a night game in Pittsburgh.