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All-Century Roster: Braves
By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor
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With the Braves' success in the '90s, winning eight consecutive division championships, and the team's single biggest icon, home run king Henry Aaron, it is tough to associate the team with anything but success.
 | | | Mark Wohlers celebrates the final out of the 1995 World Series.(Allsport) | |
But no team that has been around the entire century is immune to failure and the Braves have mixed in a bit of that as well. As the only team that has played in every season of professional baseball history, the
organization has witnessed all the possibilities the game has to offer both
from individual and team perspectives.
The Braves that began the century were awful, finishing 66 1/2 games
out in 1908 and losing 100 in 1909. But in 1914, they found their greatest
success, surprisingly sweeping Connie Mack's loaded Philadelphia
Athletics in the World Series. It wouldn't be until after World War II,
with the arrival of Warren Spahn and later Aaron that the Braves would prosper again.
After the 1952 season the team moved to Milwaukee and Spahn, Lew
Burdette and Bob Buhl made up the NL's best pitching rotation. As Eddie
Mathews and Aaron blossomed, the Braves became the best in the NL, winning
the World Series in 1957, taking the first two games of the '58 Series
before losing to the Yankees and tying for the NL title in 1959.
The core of the World Series group was moving past its prime as the team
moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season. Aaron continued to be among the best
hitters in the game but there wasn't much pitching and other than winning
the NL West in the first year of division play in 1969, wins became harder
to come by. The team was sold to Ted Turner in 1976 and became a contender
again in the early '80s. The Braves began the 1982 season 13-0, won the
West and Dale Murphy won the first of back-to-back MVPs, but the Cardinals
won the NLCS.
A 10-year slide followed and the Braves were in awful shape entering the
'90s. But with the development and acquisition of a seemingly endless run
of good pitching, the Braves were the winningest team of the decade. They
only won one World Series in their five attempts but the club's longest
successful run is set to continue into the 21st century.
Lineup
| Joe Torre, Catcher, 1960-68 |
| Long before he managed the Yankees to three World Series titles, Torre was
a 21-year-old starting catcher with a promising future with the Braves. His
Brave years were highlighted by a five-year stretch (1963-67) in which he
made the All-Star team each season. In those five years, he averaged 27
homers, 86 RBI and a .299 batting average. |
| Fred McGriff, 1B, 1993-97 |
| Since his consistently strong performance came during the Braves
stretch of NL dominance, the "Crime Dog" gets the nod over Joe Adcock
to man first base. In his four full seasons with Atlanta, two of which were
strike-shortened years, McGriff averaged 28 homers and 98 RBI and was
selected to two All-Star teams. |
| Felix Millan, 2B, 1966-72 |
| Three Hall of Famers -- Johnny Evers, Rogers Hornsby and Rabbit Maranville
-- have played second base for the Braves but none made a long-term
contribution so Millan slides into the spot. Millan was a three-time
All-Star and won two Gold Gloves. |
| Johnny Logan, SS, 1951-61 |
| Logan, a feisty personality not willing to back down, was a consistently
solid performer during the Braves' run of at least 85-win seasons from
1953-60. He was selected to four All-Star teams and led the NL in fielding
percentage three times as the Braves won two pennants in his tenure. His
best season was 1955 when he hit a career-high .297, drove in a career-best
83 runs and led the NL with 37 doubles. |
| Eddie Mathews, 3B, 1952-66 |
| Mathews was a nine-time All-Star who hit 30 or more homers 10 times and
still holds the team record for RBI in a season with 135. He finished
second in NL MVP voting twice (1953 and '59). He led the NL in homers
twice, in 1953 with 47 and in 1959 with 46. The 47 homers share the club
record with Henry Aaron. Mathews is the only Brave who played in all three
cities: Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. |
| Hank Aaron, OF, 1954-74 |
| A member of the Major League Baseball All-Century team, "Hammerin' Hank"
holds more hitting records than any player in history, including most
homers (755), RBI (2,297) and extra-base hits (1,477). He was the NL MVP in
1957 when the Braves won the World Series and appeared in 24 All-Star Games. |
| Dale Murphy, OF, 1976-90 |
| For a guy who came up as a catcher, Murphy was one fine outfielder. He is
one of 11 players to win MVP honors in back-to-back seasons (1982-83). He
won five Gold Gloves as a center fielder and from 1982 through 1987
averaged 36 homers and 105 RBI. He's considered the greatest player in the
Atlanta portion of Braves history, at least until Chipper Jones bides some
more time. |
| Wally Berger, OF, 1930-37 |
| Berger is the Boston Braves career record holder for homers (199) and
slugging percentage (.563). He hit .304 as a Brave and was a four-time
All-Star. In 1930, after being traded from the Cubs to the Braves because
the Cubs didn't have any room for him in an already loaded outfield, Berger
hit .310 and set rookie records with 38 homer and 119 RBI. By 1933 he had
led the Braves into the top half of the standings for the first time in a
dozen years. In 1935 he led the NL with 35 homers and 130 RBI. |
Pitchers
| Warren Spahn, SP, 1942, '46-64 |
| If Spahn's arrival as one of the best left-handers in the history of the
game hadn't been delayed by World War II, he might have won 400 games. As
it stands, his 363 are the fifth-most ever. He won 20 games 13 times
including 1957 when he won the Cy Young Award going 21-11 for the World
Champion Braves. He was the Cy runner-up in 1958, '60 and '61. |
| Phil Niekro, SP, 1964-83, '87 |
| Niekro's knuckleball danced to 14 consecutive years with 10 or more wins
and it likely would have been 20 in a row if not for the strike-shortened
1981 season. Niekro won 20 games three times, with a best of 23 in 1969. He
holds or shares 14 Atlanta Braves records. |
| Greg Maddux, SP, 1993-99 |
| Though never overpowering, Maddux had a phenomenal ability to make his
fastball fade to the edges of the strike zone and won an unprecedented four
consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1992-95. He was a unanimous selection in
1994 and 1995 when he was as dominant as any pitcher at any time in major-league history. His average numbers in seven Braves seasons are 18-6 with a 2.32 ERA. |
| John Smoltz, SP, 1988-99 |
| For a guy who was four games under .500 as a minor leaguer, Smoltz turned
out pretty good. He's among the career leaders in almost every category of
the Atlanta portion of team history. He ended Maddux's Cy Young march in
1996 by going 24-8. Smoltz has been an outstanding postseason pitcher, winning a record 12 games. |
| Tom Glavine, SP, 1987-99 |
| Glavine came up at the end of an awful period in Braves history and went
7-17 in his first full season. The lack of success disappeared quickly
though as Glavine won 20 games four times and was awarded the Cy Young in
1991 and 1998. His 187 wins are second to Niekro's 266 in Atlanta history. |
| Mark Wohlers, RP, 1991-98 |
| From 1995-97 Wohlers was among baseball's best closers, saving 97 games
while striking out 282 and walking just 83. He had an outstanding fastball
that overpowered most. His career faded fast though when he mysteriously
lost his control. |
| Bench |
| Rabbit Maranville, Fred Tenney, Tommy Holmes, Chipper Jones, Joe
Adcock, Terry Pendleton, Bob Horner, Andres Galarraga, Javy Lopez, Del
Crandall |
| Best season |
| The Braves had their only four 100-win seasons from 1993-1999
but the nod as best team goes to the 1957 World Champions who won 95 games
when the overall competition was much tougher. The '57 Braves of Milwaukee
were led at the plate by Hank Aaron's only MVP season. Aaron led the NL in
homers (44), RBI (132) and runs (118) while hitting .322. Fellow Hall of
Famer, third baseman Eddie Mathews, was also a significant contributor. The
pitching staff was led by '57 Cy Young winner Warren Spahn and Bob Buhl,
who combined to go 39-18. |
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| Worst season |
| The 1935 season got off to a wonderful start as Babe Ruth returned to Boston, leading the Braves to a 4-2 win over Carl Hubbell and the Giants by hitting a home run and a single. On May 25, Ruth hit his final homer. Number 714 cleared the right field grandstands and soared out of the ballpark reportedly more than 600 feet to become known as the longest homer ever hit at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. The magic didn't last though and the team turned out to be among the worst in history going 38-115. |
| Best individual season, player |
| Aaron's career was defined by consistency
more than overwhelming seasons. Many of his seasons could arguably be
considered better than others, even better than his lone MVP season in
1957. His home run high didn't come until 1971 when he hit 47 and led the league in slugging percentage with a career best .669. His best season for average was 1959 when he had a career-high 223 hits and batted .355 to lead the NL. |
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| Best individual season, pitcher |
| Greg Maddux's 1994 season with a 1.56 ERA
was one of just three seasons in history where the league leader had an ERA more than a run lower than anyone else in the league. But his 1995 season was even better. He went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in the strike-shortened season compared to 16-6 in 1994. He had a career-best strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.87-1 which led the NL and held opponents to a career best .197 batting average. |
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