Joe Raymond owes the Braves’ his sanity, the current Kennesaw resident and former U. S. Air Force combat photographer said on Sunday at Turner Field.
Raymond remembers watching the 1995 Braves win the World Series from the U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan. But Raymond didn’t just watch that year; he followed his team for all five years he was in the Air Force.
Raymond would go to bed early and set his alarm for 3 a.m. so he could wake up from a quick nap and watch the action live from more than 7,000 miles away.
“It actually was a big deal because when you are overseas, like in the military and stuff you really don’t have a lot of things over there so when you do watch a game it’s usually like at three or four in the morning,” Raymond said.
Throughout his five years of service, Raymond saw the Braves make it to the World Series three times and he witnessed Bobby Cox manage the team to a World Series title in 1995. Raymond, who still has a VHS tape recording of the 1995 Series, said he was most excited to see Greg Maddux’s speech on Sunday.
Raymond said he would watch all the postseason games “when (the Braves) used to lose the World Series” until “they finally got one.” He said he had more opportunities to watch the Braves postseason play because those games were more likely to be broadcasted on American Forces Network.
“It was, I would say a treat, actually. Because you don’t always get every single game so when they were in the World Series you were able to watch them every single time,” Raymond said. “You weren’t waiting to see them once a month or once every two months.”
About 18 family members were at Turner Field to support Raymond. These members included his wife, four children, siblings, parents, nieces and nephews; some of who had traveled from Augusta for the game and induction festivities.
