FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S
#10 JIM BOUTON
ATLANTA BRAVES 1978
It may seem odd that I ranked a pitcher that only won one game as a Brave so highly, but I really admired the Ball Four author for re-inventing himself and trying to make a comeback as a knuckleballer after being out of the game many years. He had to fight resentful teammates and the criticisms of Sparky Anderson and others, but in his five starts, he had three good ones, two bad ones. That's a better percentage of good starts than most Atlanta pitchers of the era. His one win was on September 14, 1978 at San Francisco. He gave up no earned runs in six innings. And I remember Bill Madlock bitching about how Bouton pitched too slow after Jim got him out three times in a row!
Well, I was with Mr. Bouton all the way and I'm just sorry his comeback didn't last longer.
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