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Dale Murphy
Murphy was the Braves' No. 1 (and fifth overall) draft pick in 1974. Originally signed as a catcher, Murphy was moved to the outfield by Bobby Cox in 1980. The move helped as Murphy averaged just under 30 HRs and just under 90 RBIs from 1980 to 1990. During those 11 years, Murphy won back-to-back league MVP awards in 1982 & 1983, appeared in seven All-Star games, leading all players in votes in 1985, won five Gold Gloves, and appeared in 740 consecutive games from September 26, 1981 through July 8, 1986. Murphy's 15 -year career with the Braves came to an end on August 4, 1990, when he was traded to Philadelphia. The Braves received Jeff Parrett, Jim Vatcher, and Victor Rosario for Murphy and Tommy Greene. Murphy played in only 18 games with Philadelphia in 1992 due to knee problems and appeared in 26 games for the Colorado Rockies in 1993 before retiring. Murphy holds 13 Atlanta franchise records including most home runs (371), RBIs (1,143), hits (1,901), runs (1,103), and games (1,926). Inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 2000.
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Warren Spahn
Spahn, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, signed his first contract out of high school with the Braves for $150. He debuted for the Braves in 1942 and after ending the season in the minors, he enlisted in the Army. Spahn returned to the Braves in 1946 and began to pitch his way into the record books, becoming the winningest left-hander in baseball and fifth all-time with 363 total victories. He is also sixth all-time in shutouts and eighth all-time in innings pitched. Spahn won the Cy Young in 1957 while leading the league in victories and complete games. He was runner-up three times: in 1958, 1960, and 1961. Spahn won 20 or more games 13 times, a National League record, eight of those years he led the league in wins. He was an N.L. All-Star 14 times, led the league three times in ERA, nine times in complete games, four times in innings pitched, four times in strikeouts, and four times in shutouts. Spahn's eight seasons leading the league in wins and nine seasons leading in complete games are both major league records. His streaks of five consecutive seasons (1957- 1961) leading the league in wins along with seven consecutive years (1957-1963) leading in complete games are both major league records. Spahn threw two no-hitters in his career. His first was on September 16, 1960, at the age of 39 against Philadelphia. He allowed only two base runners in the 4-0 victory. The second no-hitter was a 1-0 victory over San Francisco on April 28, 1961. Spahn holds or shares nine franchise records including: most games started (635), complete games (374), innings pitched (5,046), games won (356), 20-win seasons, and shutouts (63). Inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 1999.
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Phil Niekro
Phil Niekro, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the summer of 1997, was signed as a free agent in 1958, but didn't see his first major league action until 1964 in Milwaukee, starting out as a reliever. He saw limited playing time until 1967 when he became a permanent fixture on the roster through 1983. Niekro had 14 straight years with 10 or more wins until the strike shortened year of '81. He posted three 20 plus win seasons with the Braves, with a career high of 23 in 1969, and logged over 300 innings four times, with a career high of 342 innings in 1979. From 1974- 80, he led the league in innings four times and was never out of the top five. In '73 he pitched a no-hitter to beat San Diego, 9-0, on August 5th at Atlanta Stadium. He became the oldest pitcher to record a shutout (46) with a four-hit , 8-0 victory on October 6, 1985, against Toronto as a Yankee. During his 24-year career, Niekro made five All-Star appearances, four as a Brave, won five Gold Gloves, and won 318 games, ranking him 14th all-time. He is fifth all-time in innings pitched and eigth all-time in strikeouts. Niekro holds or shares 14 Atlanta career pitching records including: most games (689), complete games (226), innings pitched (4,533), games won (266), most strikeouts (2,855), most shutouts (43), and most hits (4,136). Inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 1999.
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Eddie Mathews
Mathews, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978, was the only Brave in franchise history to play for the team on the major league level in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta. He was signed in 1949 by Johnny Moore at the age of 17 and by the age of 20 became the Braves' regular third baseman. During his Hall of Fame career spanning 17 years, Mathews appeared in three World Series, was a nine-time National League All- Star, and led the majors in home runs in '53 with 47 and '59 with 46. He twice finished second in the National League MVP voting, in 1953 to Roy Campanella and in 1959 to Ernie Banks. Mathews averaged slightly over 30 home runs per season during his career, 14 times he hit 20 home runs or more, 10 times he hit 30 or more, and four times he hit 40 or more. His franchise records include: most RBIs in a season since 1900 (135 in 1953), tied for most consecutive games with an RBI ( 8 in 1954), most career walks (1,444), most home runs on the road ( 30 in 1953), and tied with Hank Aaron for most home runs in a season with 47. The Braves' traded Mathews to Houston in 1967 where he reached the 500 home run level. He was subsequently traded to the Detroit Tigers late in the year to help with the pennant chase and appeared in his third World Series. Eddie finished his playing career with Detroit in 1968. Mathews returned to Atlanta in 1971 as a coach under Luman Harris and replaced him as manager in 1972. He managed into the 1974 season accumulating a record of 149-161-1 in 311 games for a .481 winning percentage. In his only full season as manager in 1973, the Braves placed fifth with a record of 76-85-1. Inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 1999. He passed away February 18, 2001.
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Hank Aaron
Aaron, the greatest home run hitter of all time, was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in January of 1982. He missed by nine votes being the first unanimous choice ever in the voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Aaron received 406 of a possible 415 votes for a percentage of .978. Aaron and Frank Robinson were inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., on August 1, 1982. In February of 2000, Aaron replaced the late Pee Wee Reese on the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.
In his 23-year Major League career, Aaron rewrote baseball's hitting record book. He holds more Major League batting records than any other player in the game's history. Among his records are some truly amazing ones, including Most Runs Batted In, Lifetime, 2,297; Most Extra-Base Hits, Lifetime, 1,477; Most Total Bases, Lifetime, 6,856; and, of course, Most Home Runs, Lifetime, 755. Aaron also ranks second on the all-time list in at-bats (12,364) and runs (2,174, tied with Babe Ruth), third in games (3,298) and hits (3,771), ninth in doubles (624), 11th in singles (2,294) and tied for 14th in years of service (23).
His most famous home run came in Atlanta on April 8, 1974, when he hit his 715th, breaking Babe Ruth's seemingly untouchable record. He did it before a sellout crowd of 53,775 at Atlanta Stadium. The pitch came in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers leading 3-1, with a 1-0 count and Darrell Evans waiting on first. Al Downing threw a fastball at 9:07 p.m. that Hank sent over the left field fence. Reliever Tom House caught the ball in the Braves' bullpen and brought it to Aaron in the home plate celebration.
On May 17, 1970, Hank singled at Cincinnati to become the first player to compile both 3,000 career hits and more than 500 homers. He joined the 30-30 club (30 HRs and 30 SBs in the same season) in 1963. Aaron played in the Major League All-Star Game 24 times, including the years 1959-61 when two games were played. He was honored as the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1957 and named Player of the Year by Sporting News in 1956 and 1963. He played 21 seasons with the Braves before being traded to Milwaukee for outfielder Dave May and minor leaguer Roger Alexander at the end of 1974. Aaron retired as a player two years later. Aaron was first scouted by Dewey Griggs of the Milwaukee Braves during an Indianapolis Clowns tryout. The Braves eventually were able to strike a deal and beat out the Giants for Aaron's services. In 1952 he was assigned to the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, team of the Northern League. He was the unanimous choice for the Northern League's Rookie of the Year while only playing in 87 games (.336, 9 HR, 61 RBI, 116 hits and 89 runs). In 1953 he was promoted to the Jacksonville Tars, where he became the first African-American player in the South Atlantic League. Aaron won the batting title (.362) and led the league in RBI (125), runs (115), hits (208) and finished second in home runs (22) and earned the league's MVP award.
He began his Major League career in 1954 when a spring training injury forced Bobby Thompson out of the Braves' lineup. In his debut he struck out twice, grounded out, hit into a double play and fouled out. Aaron hit his first home run off Vic Raschi on April 23, 1954. He became the second youngest player to win a batting title (.328) in 1956 and the second youngest to collect his 1,000th hit, off Sandy Koufax in 1959. On June 12, 1967, Aaron recorded his 2,500th hit and achieved his 3,000th hit on May 17, 1970. His 2,000th RBI came on July 3, 1972.
During his career, Aaron had a 20-year string of 20 or more home runs. After turning 35, he hit 245 home runs and from the ages 35 to 39 he hit at least 34 home runs a year. Over his 23-year Major League career, he averaged just 63 strikeouts a year, with his highest strikeout total being 97 in 1967. He hit .300 or better in 14 seasons, won the NL home run crown three times and tied for a fourth, led the league in RBI four times and won three Gold Gloves.
Aaron hit his 755 home runs off 310 different pitchers, including 12 Hall of Famers. He hit the most off of Hall of Famer Don Drysdale (17), the most in the month of July (152), the most against the Cincinnati Reds (97) and the most in the first inning (124). Aaron hit 400 solo home runs and hit seven of his 755 as a second baseman and had three pinch-hit home runs. He had only one three home run game, at San Francisco on June 21, 1959.
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Jackie Robinson
• In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American man to play in the Major Leagues.
• Number retired throughout baseball in 1997.
• Played for Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947-56.
From his Baseball of Hame Plaque:
"Leading NL batter in 1949. Holds fielding mark for second baseman playing in 150 or more games with .992. Led NL in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949. Most Valuable Player in 1949. Lifetime batting average .311. Joint record holder for most double plays by second baseman, 137 in 1951. Led second baseman in double plays 1949-50-51-52."
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History
