Former Richmond Braves manager honored
Free Press staff report | 7/17/2025, 6 p.m.
Former Richmond Braves manager Grady Little has been named the recipient of the 2025 Paul Keyes RBI Award, the Richmond Flying Squirrels announced Monday.
Little will be honored with the award at The Diamond on Thursday, July 24, during the Flying Squirrels’ “Diamond Through the Decades 1990s Night.”
The Paul Keyes RBI (Richmond Baseball Impact) Award is presented annually in memory of late VCU baseball coach Paul Keyes to an individual who has made a significant contribution to baseball in or from the Richmond community.
“Grady is one of one,” Flying Squirrels senior advisor Todd “Parney” Parnell said. “As a baseball lifer, he’s forgotten more about the game than I’ll ever know, but he made his greatest contributions to the game through the way he helped people get better and made the most out of people.”
Little managed the Richmond Braves from 1993 to 1995, leading the team to the International League post- season all three seasons. He finished with the second-best managerial record in franchise history at 235-189. Richmond won the Governors’ Cup in 1994, and Little was named International League Manager of the Year that season.
Before the 2025 season, Little was voted by fans as the manager for the All-Diamond Team.
He spent 18 years managing in the minor leagues and managed parts of six major league seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
During the July 24 event presented by Dominion Energy, the Flying Squirrels will also give away Chipper Jones bobbleheads to the first 2,000 fans, presented by Dominion Energy. The team will wear special retro Richmond Braves jerseys on the field.