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George Altison, co-founder of The Boston Braves Historical Society, grew up two blocks from Braves Field. A plaque was placed at the site of the old ballpark. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/File 2003) |
George Altison; co-founded Boston Braves group
As a 10-year-old Boston Braves baseball fan and loyal member of the team’s “Knothole Gang,’’ George Altison paid 50 cents in annual dues for admission to the left field pavilion at Braves Field, two blocks from his home in Allston.
He rarely missed a game.
But while stationed with the Air Force in Okinawa in 1953, Mr. Altison received bad news in a letter from his father, Peter, who owned The New Park Vale Café near Braves Field. George’s beloved Braves were moving to Milwaukee because of poor attendance.
“I couldn’t believe it,’’ Mr. Altison recalled in a 1997 interview with the Globe. “To us fans, that was tough. Teams just didn’t move back then. I felt like an orphan because I had no team.’’
But Mr. Altison made sure the Braves - whose cousins twice removed, the Atlanta Braves, played the Red Sox at Fenway Park over the weekend - were not forgotten.
The longtime Marlborough resident cofounded the Boston Braves Historical Association in 1992 and was a prime mover in arranging annual Braves reunions in Boston and Brookline and establishing the Boston Braves Hall of Fame.
Mr. Altison, who served as the association’s business manager and was its link to former Braves players and team officials, died Friday at his home from complications of pneumonia. He was 79.
“George was the keeper of the Braves flame,’’ New England Sports Museum curator Richard Johnson said in a 2003 Globe story. “Citizen Kane had his sled, and George has his Boston Braves.’’
After the museum hosted a Braves reunion in 1988, Mr. Altison helped organize a group of former Braves fans that started the Boston Braves Historical Association, now comprising more than 500 members, many living outside New England and some in other countries.
In addition to its annual meeting and player reunions - including Braves fan favorites from the 1940s and 1950s such as the late Johnny Sain, Warren Spahn, Sibby Sisti, Sam Jethroe, and Tommy Holmes - the group publishes a newsletter, contributes to a baseball website, and sponsors research publications.
It also conducts tours of the site of Braves Field - now Boston University’s Nickerson Field - where Mr. Altison worked shortly after graduation from Brighton High School for the concessionaire, Harry M. Stevens. It was Mr. Altison’s entrée to the 1948 World Series, which the National League champion Braves lost to the American League pennant-winning Cleveland Indians in six games.
“Very few people are lucky enough to befriend their childhood heroes. Even fewer can lay claim to keeping that memory alive for others, and that’s George’s legacy,’’ said Saul Wisnia, association executive board member and the co-master of ceremonies at Braves reunions with former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan.
Morgan, who was signed by the Boston Braves in 1952 and played briefly with the Milwaukee Braves, described Mr. Altison as a quiet individual who worked tirelessly behind the scenes arranging travel for former Braves players to the reunions. “It’s safe to say there would be no Boston Braves Historical Association if not for George,’’ said Morgan.
Bob Brady, the association’s newsletter editor, said Mr. Altison was the “heart and soul of the association. He almost single-handedly preserved the memory of the Boston Braves. He cannot be replaced.’’
Brady said Mr. Altison had a special place in his heart for Holmes, the popular right fielder, and Sisti, the team’s "super-sub,’’ who were among the first inductees to the Boston Braves Hall of Fame in 1993. At the 1994 reunion at Boston University’s Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, Mr. Altison arranged for Sal Barbato, a trumpeter with the “Troubadors,’’ a fans’ band that entertained at Braves Field, to play Holmes’s theme song, "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?’’ which was Holmes’s nickname.
“The music brought tears to Holmes’s eyes,’’ Brady recalled.
Mr. Altison’s kindness to former Braves also was evident when he led an association fund-raising drive to support center fielder Jethroe, who had fallen on hard financial times after his house burned down. “He helped get Sam back on his feet,’’ said Brady.
Mr. Altison, whose personal memorabilia included photos of Braves players in leather-bound binders, kept a list of all living former Braves players, now numbering 34. He was an important and always willing resource for media members or researchers seeking interviews with the players or their families.
“I can remember the first thing George would do when we met at the corner store was getting the newspaper and seeing how the Atlanta Braves were doing,’’ said his former next door neighbor in Marlborough, John Rowe. “Long after the Braves left Boston, he still rooted for them.’’
Mr. Altison, who retired as an electrical supervisor in 1985 after a 30-year career with
He leaves his wife, Christine (Sidoti); two sons, Brian of Holden and John of Hubbardston; a daughter, Dian McGovern of Marlborough; and three grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at noon tomorrow at the John P. Rowe Funeral Home in Marlborough. Burial with full military honors will be in Evergreen Cemetery in Marlborough.
Correction: Because of a reporting error, a June 23 obituary on George Altison, a founder of the Boston Braves Historical Association, misidentified a member of the Troubadors, a fans’ band that entertained at Braves Field. Sid Barbato played clarinet.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
