Peter Bragan Sr. July 3, 1923 - July 7, 2012
Bragan was admitted to the hospital a week ago with a urinary infection and was unable to attend the Suns game on Tuesday when over 11,000 people turned out for his birthday, the game and fireworks show afterwards.
"I will miss him terribly," his son and Suns president, Peter Bragan, Jr. said. "I thought I would be going to the hospital this weekend to bring him home. He's had some trouble breathing the last couple of days but we thought he would be able to come home soon.
"He had some congestion in his lungs and it just got to be too much for his old heart. He flat-lined three times but they were able to bring him back each time. He was a fighter."
Mr. Bragan was a baseball icon in the city. He befriended everyone who would stop at his permanent seat on the mezzanine level behind home plate. He affectionately called everyone "buddy" often forgetting people's name, but greeted people with a bellowing "hey buddy" that made people feel he was their best friend.
That's the way Bragan ran the baseball team. He wanted it to be a family atmosphere where people would bring their kids to the game. It's one of the reasons why the Bragan family constructed so many activities for the kids beyond the outfield walls.
Mr. Bragan was a successful car dealer in Birmingham, Ala. when the opportunity came to purchase the minor league team in Jacksonville in 1984. The plan was to buy the team, turn it into a winning franchise and then sell the team several years later at a profit.
The first part of the plan followed the script. The Suns put together a strong team in 1989, a team that had a dozen players who would go on to play in the major leagues. The timing was right to sell the team but Bragan Sr. squashed the notion.
"Hell no I wasn't going to sell the team," was his reply when some buyers came to him with offers. "I'm having too much fun. We're staying here."
And stay they did. In 2009 the Suns celebrated their 25th anniversary of owning the team and celebrated in fashion by winning the Southern League championship.
"That was a great way to celebrate our 25 years of being here in the city," Bragan, Sr. said a year ago in an interview. "We've had some great teams here in Jacksonville. I'm just so glad we could do that for the people of Jacksonville. They've been great to come out and support us all these years."
The Suns were moderately successful with their attendance while the team played in run-down Wolfson Park. But Mr. Bragan worked closely with Mayor John Delaney to have a new ball park built as part of Delaney's "Better Jacksonville Plan" in 2003. The Suns have been great draws at the gate, having led the Southern League in attendance for the past nine years now. Mr. Bragan dealt with other Jacksonville mayors as well. When he first bought the Suns franchise, Jake Godbold was mayor of Jacksonville.
"When the Bragans took over that franchise, it was in failing health, but they stuck in there and did a good job in fixing things up and turning it into a fun place to watch a baseball game," Godbold said recently. "Senior was tough to deal with sometimes. He was a growler and a griper. You just had to give it right back to him.
"But over the years, you learned to love the guy. I gave him as much as he put out. There was a mutual respect for each other."
While "Senior", as so many people referred to the elder Bragan, built the Suns into a successful organization, his son, "Pedro" as he's known by, was always at his father's side, generally running the day-to-day operations. They worked closely together, sat next to each other at every home game, and could always be spotted in the skydeck area about an hour before the game enjoying a cigar together and sharing baseball stories.
"I can't even express how I feel in losing him," Pedro Bragan said. "He was my partner with the Suns for 28 years. We ran the Suns, we did everything together. There's just a big void there right now.
"Daddy was liked by everyone. He was a warm, genuine person, always ready to greet you and ask how you were doing. No question, baseball was his life and the Jacksonville Suns were his life these last 28 years."
Bragan indicated that there would likely be a memorial service at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville so his many friends could come and pay their respect to him. That will likely be on Tuesday. The body will then be taken to Birmingham where he'll be buried later in the week.
The Jacksonville Suns joined the Southern League in 1970 but it wasn't until 1996, the 12th year of the Bragans owning the franchise, that they won their first league championship. They followed that by winning (or sharing) four other Southern League pennants since then - 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2010. In 2004, the two Bragans were named the Minor League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News.
Mr. Bragan is survived by his wife, Mary Frances. They had been married 69 years. Mr. Bragan is one of the original Bragan baseball brothers that included Bobby, Jimmy, Frank and Lionel.