#10 JIM BOUTON

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.

#11 GARRY MATTHEWS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#11 GARY MATTHEWS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977-1980

The main thing I remember about Gary during his time with the Braves is that he always played hard (Unlike Willie Montanez, who seemed to be downright nonchalant at times). I still have lots of memories of Gary's helmet flying off his head after a hit. Gary's acquistion from the Giants was a free agent move that was much more successful than the free agent signing of Andy Messersmith. His 1980 trade to the Phillies for Bob Walk not so successful. My number one Matthews memory is from May 30, 1978. The bottom of the tenth in a tie game. I remember Doug Bair of the Reds first pitch to Gary. Let's just say there was a mighty crack of the bat and Doug just walked off the mound without even looking to see where the ball landed.

#12 DARRELL EVANS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#12 DARRELL EVANS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969-1976, 1989

I like the fact that in the Darrell Evans rookie card above, Rick Kester and Mike McQueen look oddly confused whereas Darrell looks quietly confident.

Slugger Darrell "Howdy Doody" Evans had an interesting symmetry to his career. He hit roughly the same amount of home runs for all three teams he played for on his way to 414 for his career (132 as a Brave, 142 as a Giant and 141 as a Tiger). Spending most of his Atlanta time at third base, Darrell's best Brave year was 1973, where he and Dave Johnson and Hank Aaron all topped 40 home runs for the Braves.  He also led the league in walks in 1973 and 1974. 

Looking back at the 1976 stats, I can see why he was traded. Despite getting a walk in the first 15 games of that season, Darrell was hitting below .200 through the first forty games of Atlanta. Then he was traded to the Giants for Willie Montanez. He eventually got his swing back and ended up playing twelve seasons away from Atlanta (winning a World Series with Detroit in 1984) before coming back for one season in Atlanta in 1989.

#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.

#14 DAVE JOHNSON

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#14 DAVE JOHNSON

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973-1975

Who was Davey Johnson? Was he the Phillies pinch hitter during the late seventies who hit two grand slams in 1978?

No, probably not.

Was he the second baseman and one of the vital cogs of the great Orioles teams of the 60's and 70's who played in four World Series? 

Yeah, but that's not quite it.

Was he one of the best managers in baseball? Leading four different teams to division titles? 

Oh, so close. But not quite.

For the purposes of this blog, Davey Johnson will always be the guy the Braves got in 1973 and out of nowhere hit 43 home runs.  Davey had hit only five for the Orioles in 1972 and 15 for the Braves in 1974, and never hit more than 18 any other year, so 1973 will always remain a pleasant but unsolved mystery.

His most memorable home run of that season was number 39 on September 8, 1973, a game winner off Tom Hall of the Reds in the bottom of the ninth. I say this with bias because I was at that game. Nice shot, Davey!

#15 ROWLAND OFFICE

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#15 ROWLAND OFFICE

ATLANTA BRAVES 1972-1979

Rowland spent part of seven seasons with the Braves during the 70's. He was always a pretty good defensive outfielder and had a 29-game hitting streak in 1976 that lasted from May 21st until June 23rd when Rowland raised his batting average from .207 to .311. 

Though what I remember most about Roland were the commercials that he did locally during his Brave years. The Public Service Announcements is particular. As much as I liked Rowland, let's just say that speaking in front of a camera was not his strong suit.

#16 EARL WILLIAMS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#16 EARL WILLIAMS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1970-1972, 1975-1976

Catcher Earl Williams was second only to Hank Aaron as far as power hitting goes during the first year I followed the Braves. His 33 home runs helped him beat out Willie Montanez for Rookie of the Year in 1971. I seem to remember Earl's home runs as being of the epic variety. On September 10, 1971, Earl hit one of only two Brave home runs (This one was off Gaylord Perry)  that ever made the upper deck at Atlanta Stadium. (Hank Aaron hit the other)

Earl was involved in "the big trade" for the Braves of the early 70's when he went to Baltimore in 1973 for Roric Harrison, Dave Johnson, Johnny Oates and Pat Dobson. After a couple of seasons in Baltimore, he ended up back with the Braves in 1975. 

Earl died in 2013 at the age of 64.

#17 ORLANDO CEPEDA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#17 ORLANDO CEPEDA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969-1972

Future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepada had some solid seasons with the Braves, including a 34 homer, 111 RBI, 1970 season. On October 5, 1969, Orlando hit the last Brave postseason home run (off Nolan Ryan and the Mets) that the Braves would hit until David Justice hit one against the Pirates 22 years later. 

An earlier memory of Orlando comes from the fact that my brother had much of the 1962 TOPPS set. This set included Orlando as the LEAGUE LEADER in home runs and RBI's. How could you not be positively influenced by a card that has the floating heads of Orlando Cepeda, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson?

#18 FELIX MILLAN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#18 FELIX MILLAN

ATLANTA BRAVES 1966-1972

A 3-time All-Star with Atlanta, Felix "The Kitten" Millan was the very solid second baseman for the Braves during the first couple of seasons I watched the team. He was then traded (Another bad Braves trade of the 70's) to the Mets in 1973 with George Stone for Gary Gentry and Danny Frisella. One thing I remember about Felix was the way he really choked up on the bat. This made him a pretty good contact hitter, but he didn't normally generate much power. However, I do remember on September 5, 1971 when Felix hit a home run off Ed Acosta which cleared the giant wall at San Diego stadium. I remember it as one of the longest homers I'd ever seen, though I think that's just my memory playing tricks on me. It was one of only two home runs he hit that year in 635 plate appearances.

#19 JERRY ROYSTER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#19 JERRY ROYSTER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1976-1984, 1988

Jerry Royster was easily the bright spot in the otherwise ill-advised Dusty Baker trade with the Dodgers. Good base stealer, good baserunner, not much power, fairly good  average hitter, could play almost any position. As long time Braves announcer Ernie Johnson would say, "A good man to have on the ball club." He also played 9 years with the team (10 if you count his 1988 cameo). His best 70's season was probably 1979, when he hit .273 with 103 runs scored and 35 stolen bases. Yep, a good man to have on the ball club. 

#20 CARL MORTON

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#20 CARL MORTON

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973-1976

I've mentioned a lot of bad trades the Braves made during the 70's, so let me acknowledge a good one. Pat Jarvis went to Montreal in 1973 and won only two more games during his career. The Braves got Carl Morton in return from the Expos, winning 15 or more games for each of the next three seasons as the Braves #2 starter. Highlights from his first season with the Braves included a 10-hit shutout (that's hard to do) against the Padres and he also hit 3 home runs that season, including one off Al Downing (though not as famous as the home run Al Downing gave up the following year to the Braves.)

Carl Morton died in 1983 at the very young age of 39.

#21 RICK CAMP

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#21 RICK CAMP

ATLANTA BRAVES 1976-1985

Trion, Georgia's Rick Camp would rate highly on this list just for attending the same college that I did (West Georgia College). He also spent all nine of his major league seasons as a Brave. Of course, since he did have more of an impact in the 80's, this rating may be a little high for the 70's. I do remember Rick in the first five games of his first full major league season (1977) saving four games and winning the other one. He obviously couldn't keep up that kind pace, but a 6-3 record and 10 saves wasn't too bad for a 101 loss Brave team. I will probably rank Rick even higher when I do the 80's Braves.

Sadly, Rick passed away at the age of 59 in Rydal, Ga. in 2013.

#22 WILLIE MONTANEZ

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#22 WILLIE MONTANEZ

ATLANTA BRAVES 1976-1977

"Pass the mustard!" Braves announcer Ernie Johnson often said when describing Willie Montanez (He was a bit of a hot dog, you see.) He did have a pretty swing and follow through, though it did give him the appearance of being nonchalant at times. His most memorable trait was as the first baseman receiving a put out, the way he would pop his foot off the base to the point that it often appeared he had left the base too soon for the runner to be called out. But I got to admit, he had that maneuver down. It's weird looking back on his career and realizing that Willie spent less than two years as a Brave. Certainly seemed like more. Career Brave highlights included a six RBI game against the Mets and Jon Matlack on July 11, 1976. However, the Montanez for Darrell Evans trade is one you can put in the Braves rapidly growing "ill-advised transactions of the 70's" file.

#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.