It has been widely speculated that current Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman will receive a very warm welcome from Braves fans at Truist Park in Atlanta prior to Friday’s three-game series opener with the Atlanta Braves, as well he should. After all, the 32-year-old Villa Park, CA native and second-round draft pick in 2007 by those very Atlanta Braves played 12 seasons (1,633 games) for them and will be wearing an Braves hat when he is inducted into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown in the not-too-distant future (i.e., a first-ballot Hall of Famer).

However, it has also been widely speculated that there may be some Braves fans who may actually boo the former tribesman.

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that anyone who boos a former Braves player of the likes of Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, Phil Niekro, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Eddie Mathews, (etc., etc., etc.,) is anything but a Braves fan, let alone a baseball fan.

A bit harsh, you say? Sorry, not harsh enough, in my opinion. Freddie Freeman is as good (or better) of a baseball player today than when he made his Major League debut with the Braves on September 1, 2010 two days before his 21st birthday, and anyone who boos him is the equivalent of booing Babe Ruth who, after playing six seasons with the Boston Red Sox, played the next 15 with the New York Yankees; and anyone who boos the greatest baseball player of all time is not a true baseball fan by any stretch of the imagination.

Do the right thing, Braves fans.

Play Ball!

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