Family, friends and fun: 98-year-old Braves fan has it all from baseball
Jane Hostetter is best known for three things: her love for God, her love for family, and her love for the Atlanta Braves. She is a true-blue fan and, at 98 years old, she is also one of the oldest.
Hostetter grew up in Greenville, Alabama, the second-oldest of Rush and Alma Childs’ six children. Her love of baseball began at age 13, when her father started taking her to minor-league games. Her siblings teased that she was their father’s favorite, and Hostetter admits she felt special when he invited her to be his plus-one.
Hostetter was instantly a baseball fan, learning players’ names and positions and the rules of America’s pastime.
She married Charles Hostetter in 1949, the day after she graduated from the University of Alabama. They moved around for Charles’ job with Kraft Foods (now The Kraft Heinz Company), ultimately settling in 1960 in Tucker, Georgia, where they raised their four children, two girls and two boys. Jane worked off and on when the kids were little and, when they grew, she had an 18-year career as a dietitian with the Georgia Mental Health Institute.
Life with four children kept Hostetter busy, but she always made time for baseball. She followed the Atlanta Crackers, a minor-league team that played from 1901-65, and she listened to every game on the radio. The Hostetters got their first television in 1962.
Four years later, the Braves left Milwaukee and moved to Atlanta.
“I was thrilled to live so close to a major-league baseball team,” she said. “It was an exciting time. I watched them on our black and white television. I loved watching Eddie Mathews and, of course, Hank Aaron. I still enjoy seeing his wife Billye in the stands. She seems like a great lady.”
The Hostetters took the kids to games occasionally, and hosted legions of people who came to town to attend games at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
“We had a revolving door at our house,” Alison LaMay, the Hostetters’ youngest child, recalled. “Whenever friends or our family from Alabama wanted to go to a Braves game, Mom was helping them get tickets, and cooking for them, both before and after the games. Huge breakfasts, sweet tea, spaghetti — she was always prepared for a crowd.”
When Jane retired in the ’80s, she and Charles began attending the Braves’ spring training in Florida, a tradition they continued for years. Charles wasn’t an avid baseball fan, but he was a devoted husband. Friends from their Sunday School class at Clarkston Methodist Church would join them, including the minister, who drove the group in the church bus.
Hostetter relished the opportunity to watch a couple of preseason games and see the players up close.
“They’d shake our hands and sign balls and whatnot,” she said. “Dale Murphy was especially friendly, always willing to talk to us. He was always my favorite. My memories from spring training are some of my very best.”
Jane continued to root for the Braves during their tough stretches, like 1985-90, when the team averaged just 65 wins each season. She said the ’90s were one of her favorite decades to watch. While Charles would yell at Bobby Cox, Jane cheered for John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Chipper Jones and another all-time favorite, Javy Lopez.
“I can still picture all those boys smiling in the parade after they won the World Series (in 1995),” she said, though she watched the parade from home.
A baseball legacy
Among Jane’s Braves keepsakes, which include photos and signed balls from spring training, she has a hat that was signed by Bobby Cox, Greg Olson, Terry Pendleton, Ned Yost, and Rafael Belliard. The hat also features a signature, front and center, that reads “John LaMay.”
Jane has seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. John LaMay is her youngest grandson.
“I let Little John sign that hat when he was a boy because I thought he belonged on there,” she said, matter-of-factly. “He is one of my very favorite people and my baseball friend.”
After years of watching her two sons play in the Rehobeth First Baptist Church baseball league when they were young, Jane was excited to watch all over again with John. He began T-ball at age 4, then grew to play high school baseball at Greater Atlanta Christian, and went on to play at the University of North Georgia.
“I may have ended up loving baseball anyway, but no one in our family really had a choice because of Grandma,” said John LaMay, who owns J3 Baseball, a training facility in Sugar Hill, Georgia. “We’re all Braves fans because of her — but no one is as invested as she is.”
LaMay knows it is his duty to turn the game on when his grandmother visits, or when they’re together at the family’s lake house.
“If we’re going to see Grandma, we know to brush up on the Braves’ latest, because she will want to talk about them,” LaMay said. “She’s never a rowdy fan, always even keeled, but also enthusiastic and very informed.”
Braves fandom is a family tradition, a legacy Jane started, that will be passed to the next generation.
“We’d be in trouble with Grandma if we didn’t raise Braves fans,” said LaMay, who became a father in September.
After her husband died in 2005, Jane continued to live in their Tucker home. In 2020, she moved to an independent senior living facility in Decatur. She is in great health and requires no medication.
“I drink Boost and make sure I get enough protein every single day,” she said, ever the dietitian.
She stays busy playing chair volleyball, bingo, bridge, mahjong and reading at least two books each week. Neighbors occasionally pop by and have learned that if Jane is watching the Braves, the television will not be turned off, nor will the volume be turned down.
“When she first moved in, she couldn’t find the Braves on the TV and would call us and say, ‘My Braves are not on!’” daughter Alison LaMay said. “She had to resort back to listening to games on the radio for a bit until we could get her set up. Now she has multiple sports channels, so she will never miss a game.”
A subscriber to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1960, Jane religiously cut the Braves schedule out of the sports section for decades. Since the AJC transitioned to a fully digital format at the beginning of 2026, Jane’s family put the Braves schedule on her phone calendar.
“I miss the old way, but at least I’m not missing anything,” she said.
Jane is optimistic about the 2026 season.
“We have a lot of new players, and I think the year looks promising,” she said. “I did see something during a spring training game that I hadn’t seen before. They’re allowed to challenge pitch calls now. It’s so different, but I’m good with the change.
“My favorite player currently is that Matt Olson. He’s very reserved, not a showoff, and great at first base. He never did have that hair on his face. I admired him for holding out, but just this season, he decided to go with a beard. I don’t love it.”
Jane will turn 99 on July 6. She received a Braves jersey with a “90” on the back for her 90th birthday. Maybe she’ll get a “100” jersey next year, she quipped, but her hopes for her 99th birthday are simple.
“I just hope I get there. A Braves win would be nice, too.”
