The original Bethlehem Mickey Mantle (BMM) was founded in 1987 by local Bethlehem Baseball Coach Jesse Braverman. The ORIGINAL franchise holder in the Eastern New York Mickey Mantle Baseball League, Inc - ENYMM and a member of the American Amateur Baseball Congress - AABC. The program was active for 18 seasons under Coach Braverman through the end of 2004 and after a brief hiatus was revived again on the 20th anniversary of inception by a couple of dedicated baseball volunteers on November 21st, 2007.

Bethlehem Mickey Mantle history in the ENYMM Baseball League:
Division Champions - 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004

Eastern NY League Champions - 1990, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2003

New York State Champions - 1988, 1990

North Atlantic Regional Champion and Mickey Mantle World Series Participant - 1990

Bethlehem Mickey Mantle players with professional baseball experience -

Matt Quatraro - Tampa Bay Rays - 12 years, current manager of the Columbus Catfish - Tampa Bay Single A affiliate in South Atlantic League.

Cameron Smith - Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cincinnati Reds - 10 years

Dan Conway - Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds - 6 years

Matt Elfeldt - Boston Red Sox - 1 year

Avi Rasowsky - Florida Marlins - 2 years

Coach Jesse Braverman's composite Bethlehem Mickey Mantle team record over 19 seasons - 329-140

The new Bethlehem Mickey Mantle, Inc. (BMM) - BRAVES Travel Baseball Club is a 501(c)3 Not-For-Profit, Tax Exempt, Community-based, Year-round, Competitive Travel Baseball Club that features a full complement of training, fitness, instruction, and year-round opportunities available for Players 13 to 23 yrs. old on our BRAVES Travel Baseball Teams. The BRAVES are named after Coach Jesse Braverman in honor of what he started back in 1987. In fact, Jesse is the "Special Advisor to the BRAVES Travel Baseball Club."

We are a regional travel baseball club based in the Town of Bethlehem, in the Albany/Capital District area of upstate NY and we provide a year-round training program complete with professional hitting and pitching instruction for all of our teams 13U-23U. We are also exclusively partnered with the FROZEN ROPES - Albany Baseball Training facility. 

Our Teams begin training each year with our Winter Workouts & Conditioning program
Our Winter Workouts get the players in "baseball shape" and better prepared for their High School Baseball Try-outs in March.
By mid-April, those players who are not playing for their school teams, are outside training on our home field in the beautiful Bethlehem Elm Ave Town Park in Delmar, NY.
The BRAVES are not part of a REC league.
Our season begins at the end of May, as to not conflict with
the important final days of the school academic year.
The BRAVES are all about the game of Baseball, not just playing games.
No other local baseball club practices more than the BRAVES.
We do not conflict with the player’s academic responsibilities
or their High School Baseball commitment.
Our BRAVES teams begin our regular Summer Travel Baseball Season AFTER
the High School Baseball Season has concluded around Memorial Day.
The BRAVES do not have All-Star Teams, which could cloud the entire team experience that the BRAVES instill in all of our student-athletes.
Our goal is to play together as One Team
and make it into the post-season tournaments in mid-July.
If you love BASEBALL, the CD BRAVES year-round baseball program
is a probably a good fit for you.
"more team practices and far less politics".
We just don't play games.

The BRAVES Travel Baseball Club:
The goal of the BRAVES Travel Baseball Club is to offer a unique baseball program designed to deliver a greater level of baseball to local student-athletes.
The fact is that 84.7% of kids nationwide who played baseball up to age 12 yrs. no longer play baseball again after that age.
The BRAVES desire to change that.
The goal of every BRAVES player should be to strive to excel at the game of baseball through their middle school and high school years with the ultimate goal of being able to play baseball through their college years.

To participate in the BRAVES Travel Baseball Program, it is not necessary that a player be an exceptional baseball talent, only that he have average or better athletic ability, a love for the game and a willingness to work to be the best he can be at the game of baseball.

Our baseball program addresses more than just a player's athletic ability. All of the additional skills necessary to truly play the game will also be developed: maturity, responsibility, and being a good teammate to name a few. The BRAVES also strongly emphasize the importance of schoolwork, good grades, and family.

In practice and game play, emphasis is on a professional look and conduct, teamwork and commitment to teammates, and fundamental understanding and execution of the game of baseball. Winning will happen not by coaching to win, but by sticking to the fundamentals that make sound baseball players and teams. Top to bottom, this theme is repeated at all levels of our baseball program, ages 13u through 23U.

By coming to play ball with the BRAVES, you’ve taken the first step towards realizing a local opportunity of “a better baseball experience.” If you love to play the game of baseball, the BRAVES Travel Baseball Program is available to you. Step up to the plate and register for a try-out.

For more information about playing competitive travel baseball with Bethlehem Mickey Mantle, Inc. and the BRAVES Travel Baseball Club, please e-mail us today at CDBRAVES@hotmail.com  or give us a call at Tel. 518-469-8772.

ALL of the members of the Board of Directors of Bethlehem Mickey Mantle, Inc. and ALL of the Coaches involved with the BRAVES Travel Baseball Club are thoroughly cleared by Protect Youth Sports, the only background check company recommended by the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS)

"Protect Youth Sports has demonstrated a unique awareness to the needs of youth sports organizations and has developed a very thorough process for running national background checks and re-verifying the accuracy of records."

We believe it is most important that everyone involved with our volunteer youth baseball organization be properly checked by the leading national background check entity. - Steve Peterson, BMM / BRAVES Travel Baseball Club President