#71 CHUCK GOGGIN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#71 CHUCK GOGGIN

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973

I remember liking utility man Chuck during his year with the Braves, when he hit .289 in 90 at-bats. He also made a key defensive play to preserve the Braves only no-hitter of the decade (for Phil Niekro) on September 8, 1973.

One other thing about Chuck-He's the most decorated Vietnam veteran in major league history. Semper fi, my man.

Corporal Chuck Goggin (right) 

#72 BOB DIDIER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#72 BOB DIDIER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969-1972

Light hitting catcher Bob Didier had his best year with the Braves during their division championship season of 1969. During 1970 and 1971, his playing time was more scarce, but I seem to remember him catching Hoyt Wilhelm when Bob was 22 and Hoyt was 52 or something like that which they made a big deal of at the time.  My memory on the Didier/Wilhelm thing may be a little hazy, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Interesting that Bob's 1972 Topps card above has him trying to tag out Cleon Jones at the plate because I then found this 1969 playoff picture with Bob searching for the ball as Cleon Jones slides into home. So what's up with Bob and Cleon Jones?

#73 JOE HOERNER

#73 JOE HOERNER
ATLANTA BRAVES 1972-1973

Joe Hoerner is a real reach to be on this list at all, even at number 99. His two season with the Atlanta Braves resulted in earned run averages of over six runs per game. Which is kind of funny when you consider the years leading up to his time with the Braves featured three years with ERAs under two! Well, this isn't a career list and despite a very good career ERA of 2.99, Joe only manages to come in at #99 on the favorite player of the 70's poll.

Joe Hoerner died in 1996 at the age of 59.

This just in: I noticed that I had a ticket stub to one of the first games I ever went to: July 23, 1972. Final Score: Braves 3 Cardinals 2 and Joe Hoerner was the winning pitcher!.

I'm glad I included him on the list now and I'll even move him up a bit to #73.

#74 RICK MATULA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#74 RICK MATULA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1979-1981

Rick "The Shiek" Matula  and his rather thick eyebrows broke into the Braves starting rotation in 1979. He won 8 games in 1979 and  11 in 1980 before disappearing from the major league scene in 1981.  I really got nothing else to say about Matula...did I mention he had thick eyebrows?

#75 JIM BREAZEALE

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#75 JIM BREAZEALE

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969, 1971-1972

Big Frank Howard (The Capital Punisher) and his signature glasses hit many a mighty home run for the Washington Senators during the late 60's and early 70's.

What does this have to do with Jim Brezeale? Well, I always thought Jim looked like Frank on his baseball cards. But the similarities ended there.  Jim hit six of his career nine home runs as a Brave. He hit his first career homer on the last day of the 1971 season off Milt Wilcox and the Reds.

Of course, Frank Howard hit 382 career homers, but who's counting. 

#76 TOMMY BOGGS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#76 TOMMY BOGGS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1978-1983

For a pitcher who was said to have so much promise, Boggs was a disappointing 19-34 for his Braves career (Not to mention his 1-10 lifetime record for the Rangers) He did throw a four-hit shutout at Philadelphia on July 25, 1978 to account for half of his two Braves wins for the decade. To be fair, he did have a pretty good 1980 season, going 12-9, but overall he was another case of unrealized potential that the Braves pitching staff seemed to have plenty of during the decade. 

#77 CRAIG ROBINSON

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#77 CRAIG ROBINSON

ATLANTA BRAVES 1974-1975, 1976-1977

The Orioles may have had Frank and Brooks Robinson, but by God, the Braves had Craig Robinson! The light hitting shortstop had  no home runs and a .219 career batting average during his six year major league career. His career year by far was 1974 when he got 104 of his career 157 hits in 145 games for the Braves.  He also gets extra points for playing for the Braves twice in the seventies (like Adrian Devine, Mike Lum etc.) and for always playing with some mighty cool shades.

#78 MICKEY MAHLER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#78 MICKEY MAHLER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977-1979

Once a highly prized prospect, Mickey's three years with the Braves resulted in a Frank Lacorte/Jamie Easterlylike career Brave record of 10-24.  Rick's best game was probably a 2-1 complete game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on June 12, 1978. 

His younger brother Rick had a more successful run with Atlanta and was probably the best pitcher on the team for much of the 80's.

#79 ROB BELLOIR

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#79 ROB BELLOIR

ATLANTA BRAVES 1975-1978

Infielder Rob Belloir's career with the Braves wasn't much to speak of. 0 career home runs, .216 batting average. Let's see...He was born Germany...attended Mercer University in Macon, Georgia...and if I'm not mistaken, he retired in 1978 to become a youth minister. At least that's how I remember it.

#80 HAL KING

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#80 HAL KING

ATLANTA BRAVES 1970-1971

Two things I remember about Hal King (Other than his 71 Topps card above). He was traded to the Rangers for Paul Casanova in the "Trade of African-American catchers of 1971." And he was slow. Braves announcers Milo Hamilton and Ernie Johnson kept saying King was slow, even for a catcher. When he crushed a ball off the outfield during one road game and only ended up with a single, it was the first time I had ever seen that occur. I then had to concede that yes, he was slow, even for a catcher. 

Hal's best season was 1970 when he hit 11 homeruns. This included a grand slam against Tug McGraw on August 14, 1970. More importantly, on July 18, 1970, the slow footed King got his only career stolen base against the battery of Bob Gibson and Joe Torre. I'm guessing this may be why Torre's days as a catcher were numbered after that. 

#81 OSCAR BROWN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#81 OSCAR BROWN

ATLANTA BRAVES 1969-1973

Oscar spent part of five seasons with the Atlanta Braves, but I honestly seem to have little recollection of him playing. I do remember his baseball cards, including his sharing of a rookie card with Earl Williams. Oscar only hit four career home runs, but he did hit two of them in back to back games: April 20, 1972 off of Claude Osteen and the Dodgers and April 22, 1972 off of Pedro Borbon and the Reds. He couldn't keep that momentum up and was released after the 1973 season. But he does get extra points for spending all of his playing years in a Braves uniform. 

#82 EDDIE MILLER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#82 EDDIE MILLER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1978-1981

The Atlanta Braves speedy sometime lead-off hitter Eddie Miller hit .310 and stole 15 bases in 27 games for the 1979 team. Possibly his best game of that season was on September 6, 1979 against Don Sutton and the Dodgers where he had 3 hits and 3 stolen bases. I also remember one moment during a game at the Astrodome where after a headfirst slide into the plate, Eddie got chalk all over his body. Announcer Skip Caray added, "He looks like The Jazz Singer in reverse!"

#83 PEPE FRIAS

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#83 PEPE FRIAS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1979

Pepe deserves a spot on this list just for having the rhythmic full name of Jesus Maria (Andujar) Frias. Pepe's one year with the Braves was easily the best year of his nine major league seasons. He also managed his only career home run that year (in 1,346 career at-bats) off of John Candelaria and the Pirates on May 2, 1979. The Braves lost that game 10-2 despite Pepe's home run heroics.

I also remember, despite being obtained for his steady glove, Pepe made five errors during his first home series for the Braves against the Reds April 9-11. 

#84 BOB TILLMAN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#84 BOB TILLMAN

ATLANTA BRAVES 1968-1970

I don't remember Georgia Tech graduate Bob Tillman ever playing for the Braves, as his playing career ended the year before I became interested in baseball. I did like Bob's baseball card in 1971 where he is emerging from the dugout and appears ready to pop one of the 11 dingers he cracked in 1970. So my addition of Bob on this list is completely attributable to the impression the twenty copies of his card I got in wax packs made on me in 1971.

Bob passed away in 2000 at the age of 63.

#85 CITO GASTON/TONY LARUSSA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#85 (tie) TONY LARUSSA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1971

The future four time manager of the year seemed to live by the adage that those who can't do, should at least learn to teach.

Bumming around the majors between 1963 and 1973, Tony managed a career .199 average, 43 hits and zero home runs. I mostly remember him for the baseball card I had above. Interestingly, both his career Brave hits came off of Milt Wilcox and the Reds on September 30, 1971. 

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CITO GASTON

ATLANTA BRAVES 1967, 1975-1978

Clarence "Cito" Gaston also is best known for being a manager, though he also had his moments as a player, including making the All-Star team with the Padres in 1970. He actually got his first major league hit with the Braves in 1967 off of Nelson Briles and the St. Louis Cardinals.  He was traded to San Diego the following year before returning to the Braves in 1975, mostly as a reserve. One moment I do remember with Cito was during the Expos 19-0 massacre of the Braves on July 30, 1978. I was at that game and I remember Cito getting on first and the team down 19 runs. Someone from the stands shouted out, "Come on Cito, get in scoring position!" I believe the fan was using sarcasm, at least I hope so.

#86 DAVE MAY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#86 DAVE MAY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1975-1976

Dave May's career year was a 25 homer, 93 RBI,.303 average 1973 with the Milwaukee Brewers. But really he is mostly remembered as the guy the Braves traded Hank Aaron to the Brewers for so Hank could spend his last couple of years as a DH. Even in Dave's TOPPS card above, he looks like he's thinking, "I was traded for who?" He hit 12 homeruns for the Braves in 1975 before slumping and getting traded to the Texas Rangers in 1976 in the Jeff Burroughs trade.

Dave May passed away in 2012 at the age of 68.

#87 FRANK LACORTE

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#87 FRANK LACORTE

ATLANTA BRAVES 1975-1979

A starter that had a lot of promise when he came up with the Braves, Lacorte posted a career 4-24 (ouch!) record as a starter during his years with the Braves. Much like Jamie Easterly, Frank became a much better pitcher after he left Atlanta (to the Astros) and became a reliever. I tried to find a career Brave highlight for Lacorte and it looks like his best outing was a complete game victory over Burt Hooton and the Dodgers on September 13, 1976.

#88 RON SCHUELER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#88 RON SCHEULER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1972-1973

Ron is probably best known in baseball circles as a pitching coach and as a former general manager of the Chicago White Sox. But he was a decent rotation starter for the Braves during 1972 and 1973 posting a 13-15 record during his Brave career. His most memorable game as a Brave is probably a two-hit shutout thrown against the Mets at Shea Stadium on July 6, 1973. In that game, he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before Ron Hodges broke it up.

#89 PAT ROCKETT

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S
#89 PAT ROCKETT

ATLANTA BRAVES 1976-1978

Shortstop Pat Rockett compiled a .214 during parts of three seasons with the Braves. 

His only career Home Run was against Mark Lemongello of the Astros on  September 28, 1977.

His most memorable moment to me was the game I refer to as "The Miracle at Chavez Ravine."

It was July 5, 1978, the L. A. Dodgers were beating the Braves just like they did most every time they played them during the 70's. It was 8-3 Dodgers and there was one out in the 9th and Pat Rockett and his .100 or so batting average was coming up followed by Darrell Chaney, whose average wasn't much better. But Rockett gets a hit! And Chaney gets a hit! And on and on and the Braves score six times and beat the unbeatable Dodgers 9-8  in L. A.! Pat gets on this list just for starting that rally.

#90 PABLO TORREALBA/FREDDIE VELAZQUEZ

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#90 (TIE) PABLO TORREABLA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1975-1976

Venezuelan born Pablo Torrealba never won a game in his two years with the Braves. He also only had two saves during his Brave career. But interestingly enough, his two saves came on back to back nights in San Diego. He saved a game for Phil Niekro on April 10, 1976 and one for Dick Ruthven on April 11, 1976. I'm afraid that's about all there is to say about Pablo's Brave career.

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FREDDIE VELAZQUEZ

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973

The Brave career of Dominican Republic born Freddie Velzaquez was so brief that I was unable to find any picture of him in a Brave uniform on the Internet. So I've included a picture of him during his year with the Seattle Pilots here, because he was Jim Bouton's teammate that year and that gives him some instant cred in my book. He was 8 for 23 during his extremely brief Brave career (a nice .348 lifetime Brave average). I know him mostly for Braves announcer Ernie Johnson always exaggerating his name :Freddie VEL-AZ-QUEZ! I remember visiting my cousin that year and us looking at each other and saying Freddie VEL-AZ-QUEZ! At least a couple of times during the weeks he was with the team. Ah, the Summer of '73!

Additional note on Freddie: Freddie's minor league career spanned fourteen years, between 1958 and 1976. During that time, he had 4,347 minor league at-bats and 152 minor league home runs! So his 8 hit Summer of '73 was very well earned!

#91 TONY BRIZZOLARA

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#91 TONY BRIZZOLARA

ATLANTA BRAVES 1979, 1983-1984

May 23, 1979: Young Braves starter Tony Brizzolara (and his cool sounding Italian last name) gives up 4 runs to the Houston Astros in the first inning of his second major league start. But he settles down and doesn't give up any runs for the next eight innings as the Braves come back and win with five runs in the bottom of the eighth! Perhaps that game is what I remember most about Tony. He went on to post a 6-9 record that year before going back to the minor leagues. He only managed two major league wins after that, but clearly the impressive start to his career made an impression on me.

#92 LARRY BRADFORD

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#92 LARRY BRADFORD

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977, 1979-1981

I had a friend who always called Larry "Third of an inning Bradford" for his use by Bobby Cox of mostly trying to get out one left handed batter before departing for the showers.  He pitched in 104 major league games for only 103.2 innings, truly living up to his nickname. He did spend his entire brief career for the Braves, which earns him some extra points here, as well as sharing his rookie card with Bruce Benedict.

His only decision during the 70's was a win over the Phillies and Rawly Eastwick on August 21, 1979. It should be of no surprise that in that game he pitched 1/3 of an inning.

Bradford passed away at the young age of 48 in 1996.

#93 JAMIE EASTERLY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#93 JAMIE EASTERLY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1974-1979

If you asked me who typifies bad Braves pitchers of the 70's, I would say Jamie Easterly right off the bat. During parts of six season with the Braves, his cumulative Atlanta record was 8-20 and had a 5.72 ERA during that span. He had a reputation as being a good hitting pitcher, but wasn't much of a good pitching pitcher during his time with the Braves.

The funny thing is, once Jamie went to the American League, he had several fairly good seasons as a middle reliever with the Brewers and Indians during the 80's.

#94 JACK PIERCE

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#94 JACK PIERCE

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973-1974

Jack Pierce never had much of a career while he was with the Braves, having only 2 hits in 28 at bats over two years. What I still remember most about Jack was his first major league at bat against Tom Seaver on April 27, 1973. Seaver threw him three pitches. Pierce swung three times. Pierce never came close to hitting the ball on any of his swings. Seaver's dominance during that at-bat seemed quite scary at the time. Thinking about it today it's still scary.

Jack did manage to hit 8 home runs for the 1975 Tigers.

Jack passed away at age 63 in 2012.

#95 LEO FOSTER

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S 

#95 LEO FOSTER

ATLANTA BRAVES 1971, 1973-1974

I don't think anyone defines the Braves decade during the 70's more than Leo Foster. At his major league debut on July 9. 1971 against the Pirates, Leo made an error on the first ball hit to him. In his first at bat, he made an out on a fly ball. On his next at-bat, he hit into a double play. As if the night wasn't memorable enough for Leo already, on his next at bat, he grounded into a triple play! Since there is no such thing as a quadruple play in baseball, the symmetry of the evening had to end there and Leo didn't get another at bat that night anyway.

He never managed a season hitting over .200 for the Braves. Leo's only career home run came on May 1, 1974 off the Cardinal's John Curtis. In 1975, Leo was traded to the Mets for Joe Nolan, one of the few 70's trades the Braves got the better end of.

#96 CHICO RUIZ

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S 

#96 CHICO RUIZ
ATLANTA BRAVES 1978, 1980

Utility infielder Chico Ruiz only played 18 games for the Braves during the 70's and hit .283 during that time. He also managed a .292 career average over 43 at-bats.

But what I remember him mostly for is a Monday night baseball gaffe by Howard Cosell. A better known player named Chico Ruiz played in the majors between 1964 and 1971, mostly for the Cincinnati Reds. That Chico Ruiz died in an automobile accident in 1972. Fast forward to the 1978 Monday night game and Howard Cosell states about the Brave Chico Ruiz about how this guy had been around the majors for a long time and such, clearly mixing up his Chico's. Howard obviously didn't get the news that the Chico he was thinking about died six years earlier. After a commercial break, Howard obviously was given the word that this was not the same Chico Ruiz and said something to the effect of "That's not the same Chico Ruiz." He didn't bring it up again that I remember.

#97 JOHN ODOM

#97 JOHN "BLUE MOON" ODOM

ATLANTA BRAVES 1975

I'm probably only including "Blue Moon" Odom on this list at all because of his contribution with another team. (Three World Series in a row with the Oakland A's)  And also for having a one of baseball all-time coolest nicknames.

But his one year with the Braves? ...1-7 with a 7.07 ERA. Ugh!

Well, he was born in Macon, Georgia...and did I mention he had a cool nickname?

His only win as a Brave was July 29, 1975 over the Dodgers and Andy Messersmith.

#98 HANK SMALL

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S 

#98 HANK SMALL

ATLANTA BRAVES 1978

Legendary Braves broadcaster Ernie Johnson was always big on reporting on how the Braves farm teams were doing during Braves games, especially if someone with local ties was involved. In 1978, I heard a lot about how Atlanta native Hank Small hit 25 homers and 101 RBI's at Richmond and seemed a sure bet to make the team next year. I remember when he was called up late in the year and went 0-4. I believe he did hit a ball that went to the warning track, but was caught...He never played in the majors again. If that ball had gone out, would he have gotten another chance? Nobody knows. I think it's rather sad that Hank never got another shot at the majors, but at least I can say I watched every major league at-bat Hank Small ever had on TV.

Hank Small died in 2010 at the age of 56.

#99 DUANE THEISS/MIKE DAVEY

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

(tie) #99 DUANE THEISS

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977-1978

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MIKE DAVEY

ATLANTA BRAVES 1977-1978

Braves legendary announcer Ernie Johnson was nothing if not optimistic. During some of the Braves worst teams of the late seventies, he would always point out all of the young talent the Braves had on their farm teams. During 1977, he kept talking about Richmond pitchers Mike Davey and Duanne Theiss and how good they were going to be once they got to the team.  I even began to think that "Davey-Theiss" was one person after awhile.

But when they finally got there...

The bottom line: Mike Davey: 1 major league win.

Duane Theiss: 0 major league wins.

I guess Davey-Theiss never quite lived up to Rice-Lynn or Horner-Murphy

Only for Ernie Johnson do I include them on this list at all.

#100 DENNY McLAIN

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#100 DENNY McLAIN

ATLANTA BRAVES 1972

Boy, was I excited when the Braves got Denny McLain! 

I knew about his 31-6 record with the Detroit Tigers just four years earlier and...that might as well have been forty years earlier. Traded for in 1972 for Orlando Cepada (another bad 70's Braves trade) Atlanta was the last stop of his career and Denny managed 3 wins with the '72 Braves before getting released. His longest standing contribution to Atlanta was the bar called Denny Mclain's Gaffers, which opened up on Peachtree Street across from the Fox Theater and closed within about six months. However, for some reason the sign remained blowing in the breeze on Peachtree Street for several years afterwards! You think someone would have taken it down sooner. But it did serve as a reminder of yet another failure of the 70's Atlanta Braves in what proved to be a very trying decade.

His complete game victory over Houston on August 8, 1972 proved to be his last in the majors. The man who at one time appeared to be well on his way to a Hall of Fame career found that career over at age 28.