#84 PAUL ZUVELLA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#84 PAUL ZUVELLA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1982-1985

Journeyman infielder Paul Zuvella had his best season in 1985 with 210 plate appearances and a .252 batting average. In 246 career plate appearances for the Braves, Paul managed to knock in only five runs. He did drive in one of those runs in his last game as a Brave on October 6, 1986. After he reached first after that mighty blow, he promptly got picked off. You win some, you lose some.

He never homered for the Braves, but did hit two as a Cleveland Indian, including one off former Brave closer Jack Acker.

Paul Zuvella is one of the last alphabetic listings in the baseball almanac, but as long as Dutch Zwilling is around, I'm afraid Paul will only remain second best in that category.

1910's alphabetically low slugger
Edward "Dutch" Zwilling.

#85 LARRY BRADFORD

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#85 LARRY BRADFORD

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977-1981

Larry "Third of an inning" Bradford had had his best season in the majors in 1980 for the Braves, pitching in 56 games and winning three. He pitched one inning or less in 42 of them. Larry's third of an inning victory in his last year of 1981 was on April 12, 1981. He came in in the 8th inning of that game and retired Ken Griffey and departed. His team rallied and won the game for him. One batter and out is definitely the way I remember Mr. Bradford.

Larry passed away in Atlanta in 1998 at the age of 48.

#86 DAVID PALMER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#86 DAVID PALMER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1986-1987

David Palmer signed with the Braves in 1986 after a few fairly good seasons with Montreal. He had a career high in wins for the Braves in 1986, which was second best on the team behind Rick Mahler. He slumped a bit in 1987, his last year with the team.

His best game as a Brave may have been a complete game victory over the Phillies and Steve Carlton on May 2, 1986. He gave up five hits and seven walks in that game, but only allowed one run to score.

He also hit two of his five career home runs as a Brave, including a three-run job against Ted Power of the Reds on April 30, 1987.

David is no relation to golfing great Arnold Palmer.
If I were to do a blog on my all-time favorite golfers, Arnold
would probably head the list.

#87 RICK BEHENNA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#87 RICK BEHENNA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1983

I was definitely at Jagger's Pub on June 8, 1983. I remember the game on the TV in said pub featured a home run from promising rookie pitcher Rick Behenna. Unfortunately, Rick and the other Braves pitchers weren't too successful that night as they lost to Fernando Valenzuela and the Dodgers 11-5.

Rick's career started out well in 1983 as he won his first three decisions and his ERA was 1.66 on May 8th. He then began to be hit hard and lost his next three decisions before being traded to Cleveland as part of the ill-advised Brett Butler trade. He never won a major league game again, losing all seven of his career decisions as a Cleveland Indian.

Rick died in Newnan, Georgia in 2012.

#88 MATT SINATRO

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#88 MATT SINATRO

ATLANTA BRAVES 1981-1984

Interesting stat on Matt Sinatro. He played in ten major league seasons, but the most games he ever played in any of them was 37. That was in 1982, the year I think of if I think of Matt playing. He only hit .136 that year, but he did club his only major league home run on August 27, 1982 off of Pete Falcone in a 9-8 Braves win. Matt also made the last out for the Braves for the 1982 season in a loss to the Padres. That same day the Giant beat the Dodgers giving the Braves the division.

I can't have a post on Matt Sinatro without the predictable reference to his almost namesake-

Mr. Frank Sinatra!

Since Ol' Blue Eyes was a Dodger fan, the last day of the
'82 season was much better for Sinat-ro than Sinat-ra

#89 TONY CASTILLO

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#89 TONY CASTILLO

ATLANTA BRAVES 1989-1991

Tony Castillo was 5-1 for a very bad Braves team in 1990.

He won one game in 1991 for a very good Braves team (And they needed every single victory.)

His contribution in the 80's can be summed up as 12 games, no wins, no saves.

So what was this 1991 game all about then? On August 21, the Braves were trailing the Reds going into the top of the ninth in what had been a see-saw affair. Francisco Cabrera connected on a three-run homer to tie the game at 9 and send it into extra innings. The game was still tied in the bottom of the twelfth when Tony came in and retired the Reds despite giving up two walks. The Braves broke through in the 13th on a David Justice RBI double. Tony came back to pitch the bottom of the 13th and gave up another walk and a single, but held on for the win.

#90 KEN DAYLEY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#90 KEN DAYLEY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1982-1984

Ken was a highly touted prospect when he came up with the Braves in 1982 and the Braves gave him a chance in the starting rotation for the next 2 1/2 years. The result was a 10-17 record and a trade to the Cardinals in 1984 for Ken Oberkfell. The Cardinals turned him into a reliever where he met with much greater success over the next several seasons.

In his 48 career starts for the Braves, he never pitched a complete game.

He almost did on June 24, 1983. He had a 10-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth, when the Reds rallied for five runs and he was replaced by Steve Bedrosian with two out in the ninth. At least he still got the win.

I do like this action photo even if I don't
like the 1984 TOPPS set overall.

#91 CHARLIE PUELO

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#91 CHARLIE PUELO

ATLANTA BRAVES 1986-1989

Charlie Puelo had the misfortune of pitching four years for the Braves during possibly the worst four year run in their history. Charlie was one of those guys who started here and there, but mostly came in in relief. He finished with 13 of his 29 career wins as aBrave.

Charlie got his last (of 2!) major league saves a Braves by retiring the Expos in the bottom of the 15th on July 2, 1988. 

He was the winning pitcher in his final major league game on September 25, 1989 against the Astros. 

Charlie Puelo also hit his only career home run as a Brave, off of Rick Sutcliffe of the Cubs on May 24, 1987.

 

#92 JUAN EICHELBERGER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#92 JUAN EICHELBERGER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1988

If there were a Baseball Hall of Fame for names, Juan Tyrone Eichelberger would get elected on the first ballot. I remember Juan mostly pitching for the Padres in the early 80's. When he signed with the Braves in 1988, he hadn't pitched in the majors since 1983.

He won both of his decisions with the Braves that year, the most interesting being a game against Houston on June 10, 1988. The  Braves and the Astros were tied going into the bottom of the 12th when Juan came into the game. Despite giving up a double and two intentional walks, Juan held the Astros. In the top of the 13th, the Braves exploded for seven runs, giving Juan the victory. However, this momentary triumph wasn't enough to keep Juan around for another season.

There aren't any Atlanta Braves cards
featuring Juan, but I think we can all
agree he had some mighty fine chops
on this Padres card.

Paul Assenmacher also pitched in that June 10th game,
giving the Braves an most interesting pitching line
that featured an Eichelberger and an Assenmacher.

#93 MARTY CLARY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#93 MARTY CLARY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1987-1990

Marty Clary had the misfortune of pitching for the Braves when they were at their absolute worst. He did have a decent 1989 season for the Braves on his way to a 4-3 record, even recording a five-hit shutout against the Cardinals on August 23rd of that year. Unfortunately, everything went downhill for Marty in 1990, posting a 1-10 record before being released at the end of that season.

Glavine, Smoltz and Avery were coming along for the Braves at about this same time, but Marty was just not going to be there when the Braves hit better times.

#94 JOHN RUSSELL

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#94 JOHN RUSSELL

ATLANTA BRAVES 1989

Catcher John Russell showed some pop in his bat for a couple of seasons in the mid 80's for the Phillies, so I had some hope when the Braves signed him for the 1989 season. It was not to pan out as John hit only .182 with 2 home runs for the team. He did hit one of those homers in his last appearance of the year on September 26, 1989, but it wasn't enough to keep John with the team for another season. On a positive note, John faced one hitter that year as a pitcher and got him out! 0.00 ERA for the season. Nice job, John!

No relation to the 18th century
British Prime Minister of the
same name.

#95 JOSE ALVAREZ

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#95 JOSE ALVAREZ

ATLANTA BRAVES 1981-1982, 1988-1989

Jose Alvarez spent parts of fourteen seasons in the minors totalling 354 games pitched. He got his first shot at the big leagues with the Braves in 1981 and 1982 for a grand total of  eight games. He didn't get another shot in the bigs until 1988 (also with the Braves). He pitched okay in relief in the '88 and '89 season with an ERA under 3.00 both years. However, he never made it back to the majors after the 1989 season. 

Career highlight might be a three-inning save against the Reds on October 1, 1988, the next to last game of that dreadful Braves season.

Jose Alvarez never had a major league baseball card
until 1989, despite making a major league appearance
as early as 1981. Here is a minor league card of Jose where
he spent the vast majority of his career.

#96 JOE COWLEY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#96 JOE COWLEY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1982

Joe Cowley won a few games as a starter in the mid 80's for the Yankees and White Sox. However, he got his major league start as a Brave and I was surprised that his career Atlanta record was only 1-2 and he only pitched in 17 games!

Joe's only Brave win was on July 20, 1982. The Braves scored 5 runs in the top of the first that game, but the Cardinals scored 6 in the bottom of the first. Braves starter Rick Mahler didn't even get one man out before being removed from the game. The Braves rallied in the fifth and scored three runs highlighted by a Claudell Washington 2-run single. Joe Cowley pitched the bottom of the fourth and the Braves bullpen held on to give Joe the win.

Joe went back to the minors for 1983 before being signed by the Yankees the next season. He pitched a no-hitter for the White Sox in 1986.

#97 DEREK LILLIQUIST

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#97 DEREK LILLIQUIST
ATLANTA BRAVES 1989-1990

Former University of Georgia Bulldog Derek Lilliquist was one Braves pitching prospect from the late 80's that didn't quite pan out as hoped. He won eight games during his rookie season of 1989, which proved to be the high water mark of his eight year career. He did have several good games that year, including pitching seven innings for the win against the Padres in his major league debut on April 13, 1989.

Derek was also a pretty good hitter, hitting two home runs against Ron Darling and the Mets on May 1, 1990. His batting career ended after heading to the American League in 1992. Damn you, Designated Hitter Rule!

Anti-Designated Hitter
Meme of the day

#98 CARLOS DIAZ

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#98 CARLOS DIAZ
ATLANTA BRAVES 1982

Middle reliever Carlos Diaz was acquired from Seattle in 1981 for Jeff Burroughs. This seems kind of strange in that a couple of years before that, Burroughs seemed like the franchise and then he was traded for basically a journeyman pitcher. Carlos did pitch in 19 games for the Braves during their division winning year of 1982. He won three of those games including his first in the major leagues on June 30, 1982. This was one of the most memorable games of that season in that Bob Horner and Dale Murphy both homered in the bottom of the ninth to give the Braves and Diaz a come from behind 5-4 win.

Additional search note: If you go to an internet search engine and look up "Carlos Diaz" without specifying "baseball," you will probably find hundreds of pictures of people named Carlos Diaz that have nothing to do with the baseball player named Carlos Diaz. You have been warned!

Sportscaster Carlos Diaz-
One of then many people in the
world named Carlos Diaz.

#99 MARK EICHORN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#99 MARK EICHORN
ATLANTA BRAVES 1989

Interesting stat on Mark Eichorn's eleven year major league career-He started the first seven games of his career and never started again for the last 557. If you throw side-armed, middle relief is for you, I guess. During his year with the Braves, he won five games and lost five games. His best game was probably a four inning outing against the Padres on August 11, 1989, when he struck out five and picked up a win.

There really aren't enough cards that depict
the ball being casually flipped back to the pitcher.

#100 DWAYNE HENRY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#100 DWAYNE HENRY
ATLANTA BRAVES 1989-1990

Journeyman major leaguer Dwayne Henry pitched 44 games in relief for during his two years for the Braves. He won two games for the Braves in 1990.

I'm going to be honest here. Some of the names I'm pulling up, I'm a bit hazy on the details. I do remember Dwayne Henry pitching for the team. But did he pitch in 1989? Or was it 1985? How about 1982? One of the reasons I'm doing this is to try to jog some of those old memories. But the memories of old Dwayne The Brave are very, very dim.

Since I feel I slighted Dwayne with my
faulty recollections, I'll include
another one of his cards here.

#101 GERONIMO BERROA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#101 
ATLANTA BRAVES 1989-1990

Geronimo Berroa had a couple of good power years in the 90's, including a 36 homer season for Oakland in 1996. But we are only interested in his Braves career here and there's not much to tell on that front. He got his first major league hit for the Braves on April 5, 1989 off Danny Darwin of the Astros. He got his first major league homer off Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers of June 7, 1989. He got his second major league homer off Jim Deshaies of the Astros on June 11, 1989. That's about it for Geronimo the Brave. He was released after 1991.

Another Geronimo (Cesar) was also from
the Dominican Repbulic.

#102 ED OLWINE

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#102 ED OLWINE
ATLANTA BRAVES 1986-1988

In looking up the career stats for Ed Olwine, I noticed an unusual thing. He pitched in 80 games during his three years major league career without ever winning one. Not even one! I figured that had to be a record. And sure enough, it's a major league record! (The record has since been tied, but can it really ever be equaled?) In Ed's defense, he did save three major league games and only lost one, so we are looking at mostly a lot of middle relief no-decisions here.

I was curious about the Braves record during that 80 games and the results are: Braves win 15-Braves lose 65. Not too good. But still not close to Rick Kester's perfect career record of having his team lose all 21 games in which he appeared in. Still not sure if THAT one is a record.

In Rick Kester's defense,
he never lost a major league decision.

#103 LARRY McWILLIAMS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#103 LARRY McWILLIAMS
ATLANTA BRAVES 1978-1982

AND ON THE LIST WITHIN A LIST...

COMING IN AT #1 ON THE

"BRAVES GUYS I INCLUDED IN THE 70'S LIST AND WASN'T GOING TO INCLUDE ON THE 80'S LIST BUT NOW I HAVE TO SINCE I DECIDED TO LIST EVERY SINGLE PLAYER THAT WORE A BRAVES UNIFORM DURING THE 1980'S"

Larry McWilliams made quite a splash when he was first called up to the Braves in 1978, but his career hit a bit of a slump in 1980, when he lost 14 of his 23 decisions. He did have a two-hit shutout in 1981 against the Padres on September 18, 1981. He was traded to Pittsburgh during the 1982 season and had a couple of good seasons for the Pirates.

Larry Mc's 1982 Police Athletic League Card.

On the back of the card, Larry reminds of
the lack of a correlation between
good grades and "dope." So don't be a
ding-dong and don't do drugs!

#104 EDDIE MILLER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#104 EDDIE MILLER
ATLANTA BRAVES 1978-1981

AND ON THE LIST WITHIN A LIST...

COMING IN AT #2 ON THE

"BRAVES GUYS I INCLUDED IN THE 70'S LIST AND WASN'T GOING TO INCLUDE ON THE 80'S LIST BUT NOW I HAVE TO SINCE I DECIDED TO LIST EVERY SINGLE PLAYER THAT WORE A BRAVES UNIFORM DURING THE 1980'S"

Speedy Eddie Miller was supposed to be the Braves lead-off man for years. It didn't work out that way as things turned out, but he did have some moments, including 23 stolen bases in 1981. His finest moment that year was probably on September 2, 1981 when he singled in the tying run in the ninth inning of that game. He then stole second and then third before scoring the winning run on a sacrifice fly.

The Millerites prediction for the end of the world didn't
come true in 1844 and...I can't remember where I was going
with this.

#105 JOE NOLAN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#105
ATLANTA BRAVES 1975-1980

AND ON THE LIST WITHIN A LIST...

COMING IN AT #3 ON THE

"BRAVES GUYS I INCLUDED IN THE 70'S LIST AND WASN'T GOING TO INCLUDE ON THE 80'S LIST BUT NOW I HAVE TO SINCE I DECIDED TO LIST EVERY SINGLE PLAYER THAT WORE A BRAVES UNIFORM DURING THE 1980'S"

I remember Joe as a pretty good backup catcher for the Braves during the 70's, but he did have twenty-four at-bats for the Braves in 1980 making him an 80's Brave as well. I honestly have nothing to add for the 80's Brave Nolan, so I'll just mention that Joe drew an intentional walk in the 1983 World Series as a member of the Baltimore Orioles.

I remember DICK Nolan as an NFL coach. But apparently
before that he was a DB that liked a nice aftergame smoke.

#106 MIKE LUM

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#106 MIKE LUM
ATLANTA BRAVES 1967-1975, 1979-1981

AND ON THE LIST WITHIN A LIST...

COMING IN AT #4 ON THE

"BRAVES GUYS I INCLUDED IN THE 70'S LIST AND WASN'T GOING TO INCLUDE ON THE 80'S LIST BUT NOW I HAVE TO SINCE I DECIDED TO LIST EVERY SINGLE PLAYER THAT WORE A BRAVES UNIFORM DURING THE 1980'S"

Mike gets points from me for a lot of reasons. He hit a home run in the first game I ever went to in 1971, was an amateur magician and who couldn't like someone nicknamed "Hawaiian Punch?" Mike's second run with the Braves was mostly as a pinch-hitter. Mike's only hit his last season with the Braves was a pinch-hit single off the Dodgers on April 28, 1981. I'd like to tell you it was a game-winning hit, but that wouldn't be the truth. We still like Mike, anyway.

Some consider this a Larry Hisle rookie card.
I consider it a Mike Lum rookie card.
Decide for yourself!

"How 'bout a nice Hawaiian punch?"

#107 CHARLIE SPIKES

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1980'S

#107 CHARLIE SPIKES
ATLANTA BRAVES 1979-1980

Not sure who this card is addressed to,
but still glad that Charlie sends his best wishes.

AND ON THE LIST WITHIN A LIST...

COMING IN AT #5 ON THE

"BRAVES GUYS I INCLUDED IN THE 70'S LIST AND WASN'T GOING TO INCLUDE ON THE 80'S LIST BUT NOW I HAVE TO SINCE I DECIDED TO LIST EVERY SINGLE PLAYER THAT WORE A BRAVES UNIFORM DURING THE 1980'S"

If you had quizzed me at what age Charlie Spikes played his last major league game, I would have guessed a lot older than the actual answer of 29. He had a nice season for the Braves as a pinch-hitter in 1979, hitting .284. He also hit .278 as a pinch-hitter mostly in 1981, but it proved to be his last major league season. His last career RBI came in the middle of a five-run ninth inning rally against the Dodgers on August 5, 1980.

The rookie card of Charlie Spikes.
Charlie is the one with the killer sideburns.