When the Braves became the Bees

Back when the Braves belonged to Boston, there was a fleeting period in which the “Braves” name was dropped in an unusual—and ultimately ill-fated—attempt to rescue a sagging squad.

The Braves’ “Miracle” run to a World Series title in 1914 was far off in the rearview mirror, and Boston’s National League team had fallen on tough times, both on the field and in the financials. A drastic and deceitful effort to get butts in the seats by putting a physically deteriorating Babe Ruth in the lineup in 1935 had been a spectacular failure, and the club’s stakeholders had been dissolved by the league after it was determined they didn’t have the money to keep the team afloat.

And so the Boston Braves, under new ownership, tried to change their fate by changing their name.

Here’s the story of the brief, bumbling life of the Boston Bees.