This is one of the first screens in the Braves Clubhouse in Truist Park.
A headless model dressed in a perfect uniform, with a strand of white pearls hanging around her neck.
For $ 5, a replica jewelry can be yours.
For $ 5, you can add extras as the team’s new favorite player.
He captured hearts and thoughts in the same way as a Dodger in Los Angeles, Joc Pederson since taking over Atlanta to obtain in mid-July trading, which poured enthusiasm into the fan base and restored faith in the former depressed club.
Perfecting Joco Pederson’s post-season look with “Joctober Pearls” will cost you $ 5 if you visit the Atlanta team store.
(Jack Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Its significance goes beyond numbers; beat 0.249 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in 64 regular-season games in Atlanta and scored key home runs in the NLDS and NLCS to help the Braves achieve their first World Series since 1999.
It goes deeper than the pearl necklace she wears before, during, and after each game; a tradition that began in late September and has now become a decisive image for the team’s October run, and the fashion statement has attracted fans ever since the club started selling replicas in its team store.
Behind it all lies the almost indescribable quality brought by Pederson, the one that helped lift the team, which was a game below 0.500 and emotionally shocking Injury to Ronaldo Acuñe Jr. at the end of the season when he came to the end of the All-Star break.
“It brings that little advantage and personality that you just don’t see all the time,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Even this current credibility. He has been on this stage and only brings a certain advantage. ”
First base coach Eric Young Sr. described a similar effect.
“We knew he was a winner because he came from the Dodgers and was on the World Series teams and was in the playoffs almost every year, so he knew exactly what it took,” Young said. “He was a good mix of what we needed at the time. We were a little beaten up … and he just came in and said, ‘We’re fine. We’ll show them.’
Third footballer Austin Riley laughed this week when asked about Pederson and his pearls.
‘I mean, he’s Joc. It retains light, ”Riley said. “I think you need one of these guys on your team.”
Pederson was the first of four outside players the team replaced to lead until the July deadline. These additions not only filled the void of Acuña and Marcell Ozuna (who was on administrative leave after he was arrested in May on charges of domestic violence), but has rekindled confidence at the club that the Braves could still perform after the season.
Pederson, who was acquired in exchange for the infield option, was one of the first to plant these seeds.
Joc Pederson is arguing with home referee Ron Kulpo during the eighth inning in Game 2 of the World Series on October 27th.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
When he came to Atlanta, he still recognized the Bravese as the team that pushed the Dodgers to seven games in last year’s NLCS, and as a club that expected to compete for the World Series at the start of the season.
“You could see the talents on the scale – the stock market, the players, everything like that,” he said.
Seeing the lull that ensued during the fighting in the first half, when as many as eight games fell back in the NL East standings, he was caught unchanged.
“I thought this wasn’t a team I was looking at from the other side,” he said. “They were already good, but I think they were wiped out a few times and had some injuries, and mine wasn’t. So we did everything in our power to make it come alive. “
And how exactly did Pederson do that?
“I don’t know,” he laughed. “Show yourself, say hello. Just show some love to some people. There are just different ways to do it. Somehow you have to figure out how each individual is hooking and what motivates them or what inspires them or builds trust in them, and somehow keep pushing those buttons.
His ultimate goal said with a sly smile, “Make yourself feel like you’re a bad MF, because that’s how you have to compete on the court.”
This is exactly what the Braves played next, finishing the season 36-18 before beating the Milwaukee Brewers and Dodgers in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
After Friday’s 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros they now lead two games against one in the World Series.
“With the Dodgers, it’s expected to be a World Series or a collapse,” Pederson said. “I don’t think that was a necessary expectation, especially how the Braves season started. We really had to grind and work for it. So I think when you get a group of guys like that and in the end everything clicks, it’s really fun and really exciting. ”
Dodger fans don’t need to be reminded of Pederson’s influence. After making his MLB debut at the club in 2014, the presence of an outside player was ubiquitous as the club became one of the best in the sport. He was a one-time All-Star player, four times 25 home goals and a source of energy all the time, especially in October.
“They don’t call him‘ Joctober ’for no reason,” teammate Max Muncy said during last year’s World Series when Pederson scored a crucial home game in Game 5 of the Fall Classic – his last signing moment before he left the club. free agent last winter.
Now he has a chance to become only the ninth player to win the World Series in consecutive seasons in different teams.
And probably the first to potentially lift the Commissioner’s Cup with a string of pearls around his neck.
“He just came and shook us a little bit with that swing,” Young said, smiling. “Now you see that all kinds of stables are happening in this dugout. Joc started. “