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The Atlanta Braves, with much Mississippi influence, are insanely hot

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Brian Snitker, a 67-year-old grandfather who managed the 2005 Mississippi Braves, has the Atlanta Braves in first place by nine games. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

As this is written, the Atlanta Braves, who have several Mississippi markings, have the best record in baseball. The Braves are insanely hot at present, having won 23 of their last 26 games to improve their record to 56-27.

How hot are they? The Braves just completed a three-game sweep of the second place Miami Marlins. And check this out: The Braves are 9-1 against the Marlins, who are a remarkable 47-28 against every other team they have played.

Rick Cleveland

How hot are the Braves? Eight Braves will play for the National League All-Stars, including the entire infield. You could have made a good case for other Braves, as well.

How hot are they? In Saturday’s game at Atlanta, Marlins starter Eury Perez entered as baseball’s best pitcher having not given up more than five hits in any of his previous nine starts and having given up only one run in his last 33 innings. You read right: one run in 33 innings. Perez had not given up more than four runs in any appearance.

So former Mississippi Brave Ronald Acuna homered to lead off the bottom of the first inning, and then former Mississippi Brave Ozzie Albies homered behind him. Eury had allowed one run in 33 innings. He gave up two in two batters. Before the first inning carnage was complete, the Braves would score six runs. Against a pitcher who had not allowed more than five hits in any game, the first six Braves hit safely. Against a pitcher who had not allowed more than four runs in any game, the Braves scored six before Eury could record his second out. In fact, he never did get that second out.

And, dear reader, the Braves are doing this game after game after game. Now this is baseball, and the Braves will undoubtedly cool down. And some other team will get hot — watch out for the Phillies — and perhaps make a race of it in September. We will see.

But the Braves are playing the best baseball these eyes have seen in a long, long while. The scary part is they have achieved most of this with two of their best starters — left-handed ace Max Fried and right-hander Kyle Wright (21-5 last season) — sidelined with injuries. They will be back. Fried and Wright are former Mississippi Braves, too. And so is Michael Soroka, a Major League All-Star in 2019, who finally appears to be returning to that form after career-threatening injuries. Soroka, you may recall, won 11 games for the 2017 M-Braves with a 2.75 earned run average.

Now seems a good time to look at all the former M-Braves who are producing, big-time, in Atlanta. Acuna, the best player in baseball not named Shohei Ohtani, leads the list and is surely the mid-season leader for National League MVP honors. Acuna hit .327 with nine home runs and 19 stolen bases in 56 games for the 2017 Mississippi Braves.

Albies, the second baseman, hit .321 with four home runs, seven triples, and 22 doubles for the 2016 M-Braves. Southaven native Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central wunderkind, hit .333 with an eye-popping slugging percentage of .677 in just 27 games for the 2018 M-Braves.

As has been written in this space before, the last piece of Atlanta’s everyday lineup puzzle is none other than 22-year-old Michael Harris II, who was playing for the M-Braves just last spring when he hit .305 with five home runs, 16 doubles, two triples and 11 stolen bases during the first 43 games of the Southern League season. He skipped Class AAA altogether and was called up to Atlanta on May 28. Since then, Harris has hit .286 with 26 home runs and 30 stolen bases and has turned untold doubles, triples and home runs into outs as one of the best centerfielders in the sport.

READ MORE: Atlanta Braves’ No. 1 prospect Michael Harris is a chip off the old Alcorn State block

Another measure of just how good these Atlanta Braves are: Harris bats ninth in the order. He would bat first, second or third for most Major League teams.

And then there’s Spencer Strider, the fire-balling 24-year-old with a 10-2 record and 155 strikeouts in just 98 innings. Hard to believe Strider was 3-7 with a 4.71 ERA, pitching for the M-Braves in Pearl just two years ago. It is true.

We would be remiss not to mention perhaps the most important of all the former Mississippi Braves contributors to the current Atlanta Braves success. He would be skipper Brian Snitker, a Braves lifer who managed the 2005 Mississippi Braves. “Snit,” as his players and friends call him, is the glue that holds it all together.

Watch Snitker, a 67-year-old grandfather, and you cannot tell whether the Braves are down 12-0 or up 5-4. He never changes expression whether the Braves are two games behind in the standings or nine games ahead, as they currently are. Snit is a throwback to Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, whom Snitker constantly praised back in 2005 when he spent the season in Pearl.

Said Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Jay Powell, who did a rehab stint under Snit back in the summer of 2005: “There are certain managers or coaches you just want to do the best you can for them. There’s a respect there, a trust. I was fortunate to play for some Hall of Fame managers including Bobby Cox and Jim Leyland, and I put Snit right in there with them. He just gets it. He gets baseball.”

To which Snitker would probably tell you: “It’s pretty easy to manage with guys like Acuna, Albies, Riley, Harris, Strider and all the rest.”

There’s some truth to that, too. But it is an amazing blend of talent, management (in the front office and on the field, and esprit de corps the Braves display night after night. And we watched a lot of it in Mississippi before it became, at least for now, the best in baseball.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi Today

With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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