Braves' radio booth feels 'magic' in Rally Robes

This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- If you gaze into the Braves' radio booth and it looks like the guys have ransacked Ron Burgundy’s closet, just know they believe there is magic in these Rally Robes.

“There’s magic in the robes and we felt it,” Braves radio play-by-play broadcaster Ben Ingram said.

The magic was felt on May 7, when Ingram, analyst Darren O’Day and producer/engineer Jonathan Chadwick first donned them together. They removed their shirts and put on the robes as the game headed to the eighth with the Braves and Red Sox tied 2-2. Adam Duvall preserved the tie with a sliding catch in the top half of the inning, and Marcell Ozuna delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom half.

O’Day was the inspiration behind these Rally Robes. He brought the original to the booth and then became somewhat jealous of the additions Chadwick had designed for the rest of the group.

When Chris Martin was acquired by the Braves from the Rangers before the 2019 Trade Deadline, he purchased robes for each of his fellow new bullpen mates. It was a fun clubhouse gimmick that went away when COVID-19 significantly limited clubhouse interaction the following year.

O’Day occasionally would wear the robe to get his mail over the past few years. But for the most part, he forgot about it, until this year, when he began his second season as a broadcaster and realized some nights are pretty chilly in the radio booth.

Ingram’s many years of braving the elements led him to just leave a jacket in the booth. He takes it off before he leaves and puts it back on when he returns. Thus, O’Day refers to it as Ingram’s “Mr. Rogers jacket.”

Wanting to have nothing but wonderful days in his new work neighborhood, O’Day searched his closet and decided to bring the robe to work, partly for warmth and mainly for laughs. The front of his robe is adorned with the Braves logo. His last name and number (56) are on the back.

“When he first came in, I was like, ‘That thing is awesome,'” Ingram said. “It was so Darren O’Day to have something like that. It’s just his personality.”

Chadwick liked the robe so much that he decided to have one made for him, Ingram and longtime Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson. In addition to their names, favorite numbers and the Braves logo, their robes include a 2021 World Series champion patch and the Quikrete patch on the sleeves.

“I did the Quikrete because I thought this was cool and I thought this was going to catch on,” Chadwick said. “I thought fans were going to start making them, which they have. People tweet us all the time. I wanted to differentiate ours from Joe Blow sitting on his couch in Smyrna.”

The robes weren’t packed for the only road trip that has followed each of the radio team members getting a robe. Nor have they provided any magic during this homestand. They were donned with the Braves trailing the Padres 3-1 in the eighth inning on Friday night. But that inning ended with Michael Harris II striking out with runners at second and third.

So, is there really magic in these robes?

“It seems like every night in the seventh or eighth inning, one of the robes falls off the hangar and we realize they are ready to party,” Simpson said.

This isn’t Simpson’s first introduction to robes in the booth. He donned one and wore a wig while playing the part of Ric Flair during a bit he did with Dusty Rhodes nearly 20 years ago.

Ingram and Chadwick have decided the robes will only be worn when the Braves are down two or fewer runs entering the eighth inning of home games. There’s a chance the robes will eventually be taken on the road. But they are currently in the experimental phase.

“If the robes continue to work, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities that we shouldn’t throw out a first pitch wearing the robes,” Chadwick said.

How confident is he that they will continue to work?

“If there’s not magic in those robes, then I’ll walk to the airport [before our next trip],” Chadwick said.