#13 HOYT WILHELM

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#13 HOYT WILHELM

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969-1971

Perhaps I overrate Hoyt for this list, because he really didn't play that long for the Braves in the 70's. The knuckleballer was an important acquisition for the Braves in their 1969 Western Division championship. He was also almost 50! by the time the Braves released him. The fact that he had played so long before he joined the team gave him a really good backlog of baseball cards going back through the years, though I had very few of them. He held the record for most games pitched for years and was elected into the baseball hall of fame in 1985.

He also served in the army in World War II and received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained at the battle of the Bulge.

Hoyt died at age 80 in 2002.