News wrote in August, "A great deal of the Tar success this season must be attributed to Ben Geraghty, who, with his magic touch, has turned a poor spring team into a 1951 pennant contender for the first time in years." The Tars finished second in the SAL with a 79–58 record, but they slumped to seventh in 1952 with a 69–85 record. Geraghty remained on with the team in 1953, when they changed their name to "Braves" as a result of their new affiliation with Milwaukee. That year, Geraghty managed his most famous prospect. Milwaukee Braves affiliates (1953-61) Manager of young Hank Aaron (1953) One of the 1953 Jacksonville Braves was 19-year-old Hank Aaron. "He was the greatest manager I ever played for, perhaps the greatest manager who ever lived, and that includes managers in the big leagues. I’ve never played for a guy who could get more out of every ballplayer than he could. He knew how to communicate with everybody and to treat every player as an individual," Aaron said. Baseball's future home run king also recalled that "he chewed me out when I needed it, but he told me how good I could be and – most important – he taught me how to study the game, and never make the same mistake twice." Pat Jordan, another 1953 Jacksonville Brave, remembered that Geraghty, a white man, would regularly confront the rigid racial segregation of the times. Geraghty would insist that he and his minority players (Aaron, Horace Garner, and Felix Mantilla) be served as equals at the finest restaurants. "Invariably, they would be refused service", Jordan wrote. "While Aaron waited nervously outside, Geraghty complained loudly to the management ... They [would go] to the next best restaurant, and the next and the next, until Geraghty finally located one that would serve [them]." The Braves won the SAL pennant with a 93–44 record in 1953, and Geraghty was named the league's best manager. Further years with Jacksonville (1954-58) By the 1953-54 offseason, Geraghty's offseason occupation was selling TV sets. He led the Braves to another pennant in 1954, with an 83–57 record. Over the 1954-55 offseason, Geraghty managed the Caguas-Guayama Criollos of the Puerto Rican Winter League, a last-minute replacement for Mickey Owen, who chose to play for a Venezuelan team instead. In 1955, Geraghty expressed his desire that players pay attention to the game: "A guy