ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves accomplished something many thought would not be possible. Their first World Series title since 1995. They captured their first National League Pennant since 1999 in 2021 as well.
Leading the charge for the historic season was Braves Manager Brian Snitker, the Coach of the Year winner during Saturday's Atlanta Sports Awards.
“Any time I get an award I feel like it’s an organizational award. It’s because of the players, the coaches. This whole building that we’re in is responsible for me being responsible for being able to accept an award,” Braves Manager Brian Snitker said.
It’s just like Snit to be humble and give credit to everyone within the organization he has spent his entire baseball career being a part of.
“It’s everything. I’m a Brave. I don’t know anything else. I was raised here. I always tell people I was blessed to be raised by hall of famers. It has been such an unbelievable part of my life and I feel so blessed to be a part of a great organization like this. It’s not just now that it’s been great, it’s been great for a long time,” Snitker said.
Just how hard is it to actually win a World Series?
“It’s unbelievably hard as we’ve seen. So many things have to go your way. It’s an unbelievable run when you get on that 6 week run of playoffs and you just go. It’s like you wake up in the morning, you have a cup of coffee and you just go. It’s a great feeling in the end. It is grueling to get there,” Snitker said.
“I tell our players every year when we get to Spring Training that our number one goal when we get to Spring Training is to win the division. Our number one goal is to get into the playoffs because until you get in nothing special can happen. You know what, we got in and something special happened.”
This city experiencing a World Series for the first time in over two decades caused a lot of excitement around Atlanta of course. It continues to be felt by the Braves Skipper.
“I had other Managers that have been through it call me and tell me I wasn’t going to believe what you did and how happy and what you did for your city. When you’re in that parade look and see the faces of the people when you’re on that parade route and it didn’t disappoint it was unbelievable. That parade ride was just amazing to see how many millions of people were there. The smiles and the joy on their faces. It made everything all worth it,” he said.
He has been the manager for the Atlanta Braves since the 2016 season and the ride into the ballpark for Snit truly never gets old.
“Never gets old. You’re so blessed to be in the Major Leagues because you’re never guaranteed tomorrow in anything. I get stoked up every time I drive to the ballpark and I pull in here. It should be that way. This is a privilege to be here and you’re never guaranteed this. You should never take it for granted because it can be so fleeting and so fragile if you let it be. I think it’s something that is a big deal. I get jacked up every time I come here. When I drove in today even. It’s a special thing,” Snitker said.
The Atlanta Sports Awards are presented each year by the Atlanta Sports Council to recognize outstanding athletic talent at all levels across Georgia.
Other coaches nominated in this category included Hawks' Nate McMillan, UGA's Kirby Smart and the Dream's Tanisha Wright.