All-Diamond Team: Grady Little

In 2025, The Diamond hosts its 40^th and final season of professional baseball in Richmond. Between the Richmond Braves from 1985-2008 and the Richmond Flying Squirrels since 2010, countless future major leaguers have taken the steps from the first base dugout onto The Diamond’s playing surface.

Prior to the season, fans voted for The All-Diamond Team, selecting one manager as well as 14 of their favorite players who have gone on to MLB stardom after suiting up for the R-Braves and Flying Squirrels.

We begin the announcement of the All-Diamond Team with the fans’ choice for manager, Grady Little.

Manager: Grady Little
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Utility Player: TBA
Catcher: TBA
First Baseman: TBA
Second Baseman: TBA
Shortstop: TBA
Third Baseman: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA

Grady Little was already an accomplished, long-time minor league manager when he arrived in Richmond in 1993, having managed 13 previous seasons from rookie-level Bluefield to Double-A Greenville. He had been coaching in the minors since the early 1970s.

Prior to coming to Richmond, Little was the skipper for the Atlanta Braves’ Single-A club in Durham from 1989-1991 prior to leading Greenville to 100 regular-season wins in 1992, the most by a minor league team since 1960, earning him Baseball America’s Minor League Manager of the Year award. He built a reputation as a “players’ manager.”

Little had a hand in developing some of the Braves’ top players dating back to when he joined the organization in 1985. In the years prior to coming to Richmond, he oversaw a group of highly touted Braves prospects who had been drawing significant attention.

Entering 1993, “The Great Eight” was thought to be one of the best collections of future major leaguers seen in a long time, including catcher Javy López, first baseman Ryan Klesko, second baseman Ramon Caraballo, shortstop Chipper Jones, third baseman José Oliva and outfielders Tony Tarasco, Melvin Nieves and Mike Kelly.

Klesko was one of the top power-hitting prospects in baseball, having hit 17 homers the previous year in Richmond. Oliva was also lauded for his homer potential and had just been acquired in a trade from the Rangers. Kelly was a second-overall draft pick after a decorated career at Arizona State. López was named the Southern League’s MVP in 1992. Jones was the top-overall pick in the MLB Draft three years prior and was the top-ranked prospect in baseball.

The 1993 R-Braves had a heated rivalry with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights, managed by Charlie Manuel and headlined by future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, as well future star Manny Ramirez for part of the season.

The R-Braves won 80 games in the 1993 regular season but finished 6.5 games behind Charlotte in the West Division. Charlotte eventually topped Richmond in the International League playoffs on their way to winning the Governors’ Cup.

They did not bring a championship to Richmond, but each of “The Great Eight” went on to play in the major leagues. López and Klesko were All-Stars in the big leagues. Jones was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

With a group heavily comprised of young, Triple-A rookies often facing players with years of MLB service time, the 1993 team posted the fifth-best record in the Braves’ history in Richmond at the time and set several team records.

The 1994 edition of the Richmond Braves did not have nearly as much fanfare as the previous year’s club. “The Great Eight” were followed by a group of Triple-A veterans, some new players from Double-A and less-discussed returners from the previous year.

Richmond got off to a decent start in April and moved in and out of first place through May and June, but a wave of mid-season promotions knocked the team into a losing skid. The slide was amplified after a July brawl with Norfolk led to the suspension of 15 Richmond players, served in chunks over the following two weeks.

By early August, the R-Braves were six games behind first-place Charlotte with less than a month remaining in the regular season. Within two weeks, they erased the deficit and moved into first place.

Richmond and Charlotte met for a five-game series to end the regular season. The Knights briefly moved ahead in the standings, but the R-Braves surged back ahead and clinched the regular-season division crown with a 3-2 win on Sept. 2, capped by a two-out, two-run homer by Tyler Houston in the bottom of the eighth at The Diamond.

The R-Braves closed the year winning 15-of-their-final-21 games. They went 80-61 on the season, a half-game better than “The Great Eight” the year prior.

Charlotte took the first game of the division series, but Richmond did not lose again on its way to winning the Governors’ Cup.

In the division series, Mike Mordecai hit a late, go-ahead homer in Game 2 for a 6-5 win. Eddie Perez hit a grand slam in Game 3 for a 9-3 victory. In Game 4, the R-Braves fell behind by six runs early but rallied for a 13-9 win to eliminate the Knights and advance to the finals.

Richmond swept Syracuse in three games in the final to clinch the Governors’ Cup. In Game 3, left-hander Brad Woodall threw seven scoreless innings. Brad Clontz finished the shutout and the series with a scoreless ninth.

Little led the R-Braves to their fourth-overall Governors’ Cup and was named International League Manager of the Year. He joined Tommie Aaron, Roy Majtyka and Jim Beauchamp as R-Braves managers to win a Governors’ Cup title in their second season.

In 1995, Little returned for his final season managing the R-Braves. The team again reached the International League postseason but was eliminated by Norfolk in five games in the West Division Finals.

Jones, López, Klesko and others from Little’s Richmond era went on to help the Atlanta Braves win the 1995 World Series. They won that title in six games over Cleveland, beating out Thome and Ramirez in, what was in some ways, a rematch of the battles between Richmond and Charlotte in the IL.

After 16 seasons managing in the minors, Little was hired to join Bruce Bochy’s staff in San Diego as the Padres’ bullpen coach for the 1996 season. He left Richmond with the second-best managerial record in franchise history at 235-189.

Little joined the Boston Red Sox for the next three seasons. After two years with Cleveland, he returned to the Red Sox as their manager in 2002 and 2003. He also managed the Dodgers in 2006 and 2007.

In each of his four seasons as a major league manager, his teams posted winning records.