Atlanta Fan's Guide

Atlanta boasts a number of sports teams, including the oldest professional sports franchise in America, the Braves.

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Written by Rick Limpert

The Southern capital of Atlanta has a long sports history with a good deal of tradition from baseball to football, hockey and golf.

The Atlanta Crackers, a minor league baseball team, were the original professional sports franchise in Atlanta, starting in 1901. The Falcons and the Braves came in 1966, the Hawks basketball team in 1968 and the Thrashers hockey team in 1999. The Atlanta Flames were Atlanta's original NHL team, but they took off for Calagary in 1980. The Olympics swept through Atlanta in 1996, leaving then-state-of-the-art venues and a sports legacy most cities can only dream of.

The Braves are the oldest continually operating professional sports franchise in America, having also been in Boston and Milwaukee before settling in Atlanta. The Braves won the World Series in 1995 with Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux leading the way and legendary Bobby Cox running the show.