The Braves Move On
BRAVES MASCOT WITH DIGNITARIES, ca. 1948. Leslie Jones Collection, BPL Print Department.
Lou Perini (second from left) owned the Boston Braves from 1944 through the 1952 season. While Perini was vilified in some circles for selling the team to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his most enduring legacy is the creation of the world-renowned Jimmy Fund charity in 1947, which continues to raise millions of dollars annually for cancer research.
Attendance at Boston Braves games dwindled to a mere 281,000 in 1952; only two games during the 1952 season saw 10,000 or more fans in the nearly empty stands. Still, fans and players alike were shocked when the ownership suddenly sold the Braves to Milwaukee during spring training in Florida in 1953.
The team never returned to Boston, and Braves Field was sold to Boston University and renamed. In 1955, a major portion of the field was torn down to make space for dormitories.
