Better a Tomahawk Than an Ax Handle

Where Lester Maddox once sold toy ax handles to commemorate his defiance of civil rights legislation, foam tomahawks are being hawked for $4.95. After his term as governor of Georgia, the outspoken segregationist rented a store in Underground Atlanta and traded on his notoriety. Eighteen years later, that space or a neighboring one in the funky shopping and entertainment complex is occupied by a concessionaire selling Braves’ T-shirts, caps and the ever-present tomahawks in preparations for the resumption of the National League Championship Series Saturday.

“I don’t know if it was exactly in that spot,” a helpful woman from the Tourist Information Center said Friday. “I think it might have been around the corner near Dante’s (a night club) but it’s been so long and it looks so different there now it’s hard to remember. (Maddox) had a heart attack and some other problems but he still is going strong. When the legislature convened in February, he was there.”

The spirit of Maddox still was strong when Atlanta last was in the national baseball spotlight. That was back in the fall of 1973 and the spring of 1974 as Henry Aaron chased Babe Ruth’s home run record. His drive over the left-field fence on April 8, 1974, No. 715 in his career, remains the most glorious moment in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. A strange thing happened in its aftermath. A record crowd of 53,775 dwindled to half that size or maybe less in the matter of three innings although the Braves were en route to a smashing Opening Night victory over the Dodgers.

It seemed to confirm the supposition that Atlanta was not a baseball town, a theory that hasn’t really been challenged until this year. Then again, the season attendance of 2,140,217 -- more than double the 1990 total -- and the visible signs of fan addiction may represent nothing so much as a taste for victory. The team’s success comes on the heels of the city’s selection as host for the 1996 Olympic Games.

In fact, one window of a downtown hotel is devoted to the euphoria of that announcement 13 months ago. It is dominated by an oversized copy of the front page from the Atlanta Journal dated Sept. 18, 1990. “We Finally Won Something,” read one of the headlines.

So the Braves’ first-place finish in the NL West race and their 1-0 victory over the Pirates in Game 2 of the NLCS -- their initial post-season triumph since arriving in Atlanta 26 years ago -- may be construed as evidence of a civic winning streak. Certainly, it was a welcome point of pride for a city whose fond remembrance of a history culminating in its destruction at the hands of Union troops has been reaffirmed with the publication of “Scarlett,” the sequel to “Gone With the Wind.”

The scars of the Civil War are never far from the lips of right-thinking Georgians. When Steve Avery shut down the Pirates Thursday night in Pittsburgh, longtime Atlanta columnist Furman Bisher reached back to 1969, when the Braves were swept by the Mets in their first foray into the playoffs, and well beyond. “Thus, too,” he said, “did the city that rose from the ashes of war end a dry spell 22 years and seven games old.”

So perhaps it is a case of the South rising again or, in a baseball sense, ascending for the first time. That seemed to be the prevailing message among youngsters of all ages who gathered outside the Coca-Cola Museum Friday, waiting in the bright sunshine to sign their names to a huge wooden tomahawk erected by an Atlanta radio station. Everything in this city speaks of the zeal and enthusiasm of discovery, from the T-shirts to the huge signs on downtown buildings proclaiming “How Bout Them Braves” to the ever-present foam tomahawks.

The latter are the handiwork of Paul Braddy, a local businessman who made his livelihood by selling material to bedding companies until he got the bright idea of cutting pieces of his foam inventory into the shape of weapons for an escalating fandom to wave at games. “I never sold a novelty product in my life,” he said.

Now the man owns and operates Soft Novelties, Inc., which, according to the Journal, has sold more than 100,000 tomahawks. He also has given away hundreds, to adult fans who chartered a flight to Pittsburgh for the first two games of the series and to a children’s hospital that is receiving a portion of the proceeds from the sales. The man says he will introduce another specialty foam product if Atlanta makes its first appearance in a World Series.

It may all seem silly to outsiders, especially to those who consider themselves baseball sophisticates. On the other hand, when it comes to symbols, better a foam tomahawk than an ax handle anytime.