Braves Surprise Fans With Glavine Release

Another link to the Atlanta Braves’ decade-and-a-half run of success is now gone. Fans were shocked only hours before Wednesday’s game with the sudden release of veteran pitcher Tom Glavine. Team management told the future Hall of Famer that he was not progressing well enough from injury rehabilitation the past few weeks. Glavine had just played for the Class-A Rome Braves the day earlier, and appeared ready to rejoin the big-league club this weekend. The 43-year-old had been looking to rebound from shoulder and elbow surgery.

Shock and surprise was also felt by Glavine’s teammates in the Braves clubhouse Wednesday night, such as from veteran third baseman Chipper Jones:

"I feel bad for him because he wanted so hard to come back. It’s a tough situation to really comment on because emotionally you want to see Glav come in here and finish up, and he’s not going to be allowed to do that."

Longtime manager Bobby Cox said last night the release of Glavine was one of the hardest things he's had to go through.

Glavine played 17 seasons for Atlanta, and had rejoined the club last year. His 305 victories rank him 21st in alltime baseball history, and he was the Braves’ winning pitcher in the team’s World Series clinching game in 1995.

Retirement for longtime Atlanta Braves announcer

Longtime Atlanta Braves broadcast voice Pete Van Wieren announced his retirement Tuesday. Van Wieren called Braves games for 33 years, dating back to 1975. In a statement, Van Wieren says stepping away is "simply a desire to live life without restrictions of a baseball schedule".

This marks the second monumental change in the Braves’ broadcast booth in only three months time--longtime radio partner Skip Caray passed away in August.

Van Wieren in his long broadcast career also did work for the former Atlanta Flames hockey team, and NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. He was a 10-time winner of the Georgia Sportscaster of the Year Award.

Little League team advances

The Warner Robins American Little League team beat West Virginia 14-3 this afternoon at the Southeast Regional tournament in Gulfport, Florida. Last year the team from Warner Robins beat out all others to become the Little League World Champions. Now the boys must wait for the results of this afternoon’s Florida-Tennessee game to see if they’ll advance to the semi-finals on Wednesday.

Ex-Braves listed in baseball steroid report

Nine former Atlanta Braves players are among dozens of major leaguers named in a report linking them to steroid use in baseball.

Hall of Famers David Justice and Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson pose at their induction. (Atlanta Braves)

The names include David Justice, Gary Sheffield, John Rocker and Mike Stanton. Justice was just inducted into the Braves’ Hall of Fame this summer. His alleged connection to steroids was said to have occured while with the Yankees in 2000 and 2001. The other former Braves in the report: Denny Neagle, Paul Byrd, Kent Mercker, Todd Pratt, and Matt Franco.

The ex-Braves are among 80-plus past and present major leaguers listed in the long-awaited Mitchell Report. It’s the investigation commissioned by baseball to uncover how widespread performance-enchancing drug use is in the game.

Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell led the 20-month investigation. At a news conference earlier today, Mitchell said everyone involved in baseball the past two decades is responsible to some extent for the steroids era.

Of the big names around baseball named, those include current Yankees Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The game’s home run king, Barry Bonds, is named--he’s under federal indictment for lying to a grand jury concerning steroid use.

Mitchell’s recommendation to baseball is to hold-off on punishment of players except in cases where conduct so serious calls for discipline to preserve the integrity of the game.

Georgia sports for Wednesday, December 5th

The Atlanta Braves fortified a couple of needs in a trade with the Chicago Cubs Tuesday. The Braves sent reliever Jose Ascanio to Chicago--in return, Atlanta got reliever Will Ohman and utility infielder Omar Infante. The trade satisfies a pair of needs for the Braves--filling the gap for a left-handed reliever, and getting a backup infielder. Braves' officials are with those from other teams at baseball's winter meetings in Nashville.

Pro basketball out of Tuesday--the Atlanta Hawks were losers at home to Detroit, 106-95.