#23 MIKE LUM/DARRELL CHANEY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#23 (TIE) MIKE LUM

ATLANTA BRAVES 1967-1975, 1979-1981

Mike "Hawaiian Punch" Lum was a sometime starter and sometime pinch-hitter for the Braves before being traded to the Big Red Machine in 1976 for Darrel Chaney.

His best year was 1973 when he hit 16 homers and knocked in 82 runs. He gets extra credit in my book for hitting a home run against the Giants on July 19th, 1971 because that was the first Brave game I ever went to. He was also an amateur magician and his act was once televised by TBS in between a televised double header. He definitely gets extra points for that.

& DARREL CHANEY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1976-1978

Darrel "Norton" Chaney was a light hitting reserve with the Big Red Machine championship team in 1975 before being traded to the Braves for Mike Lum that off-season. Darrel had a career year for the Braves in 1976, knocking in 50 runs and batting .252. My favorite Chaney moment was his part in the July 5, 1978 game at Dodger stadium where the Dodgers were ahead by 5 runs in the ninth and Pat Rockett and Darrel Chaney hits started a 6 run rally and a very unlikely Brave win. 

During Darrel's tenure in Atlanta, he was seen frequently on commercials and that seemed to be his niche. After his playing days were over, he joined Pete, Skip and Ernie in the broadcast booth and this proved to not be his niche. When I took my movie camera to field day in 1978, he did do a little dance for my camera. So he does get extra points for that.