Two 300-game winners
The Atlanta Braves of the 1990s were led mostly by their dominant pitching. But what about the staff they had in 1981? It was led by not one, but two pitchers who would end their career with 300+ wins. Unfortunately, both Phil Niekro and Gaylord Perry were 42 during the 1981 season. This was an odd pitching staff, Tommy Boggs was the only other pitcher I would consider a true starting pitcher.
Bobby Cox
29 years later and we see a card for a person still in the same position in 2010 as he was in 1981. Of course he left to manage the Blue Jays for a short period before returning to Atlanta to apparently become the Connie Mack of our time.
Best Player On This Team
Since I started this blog, I have attempted to put up the card in the first spot of who I thought the team MVP was for the year. I have to say, I am going to give that honor to Rick Camp. He was 4th in the league in saves and had a 1.78 ERA. N0 other batters or pitchers on this team seemed to stand out that much. I knew nothing about this player, so looking at his career on baseball-reference.com, it looked like he played for the Braves from 1976-1985. He had a pretty solid 1980 and 1981, posting two sub 2.00 ERA seasons back to back as the teams closer. It looks like he attempted to move into the starting rotation in 1982 and was roughly a .500 pitcher and fell into relative obscurity. This is why sometimes, maybe if it isn't broke don't fix it. Then again I don't know much else about why he was moved into the starting rotation other than looking at his stats.
New Uniforms
The Gaylord Perry card posted above is from the traded set. All the other cards are from the regular 1981 sets that feature photographs taken during the 1980 season. In 1981, the Braves must've moved from the uniforms with the lower case "a" on the hat I associate with Braves wearing when Hank Aaron took over the career home run record, to the scripted "A" that is similar to what they wear now. Although I don't remember them changing hues of blue, it looks like the blue is a slightly different shade than what they wear now.
Starters
| __ | TO | 108 | C | Bruce Benedict | ATL |
| __ | TO | 155 | 1B | Chris Chambliss | ATL |
| __ | TO | 247 | 2B | Glenn Hubbard | ATL |
| __ | TO | 355 | 3B | Bob Horner | ATL |
| __ | FL | 266 | SS | Rafael Ramirez | ATL |
| __ | LF | Rufino Linares | |||
| __ | TO | 504 | CF | Dale Murphy | ATL |
| __ | TT | 854 | RF | Claudell Washington | ATL |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 387 | SP | Phil Niekro | ATL |
| __ | TT | 812 | SP | Gaylord Perry | ATL |
| __ | TO | 132 | SP | Tommy Boggs | ATL |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TO | 87 | CL | Rick Camp | ATL |
| __ | RP | Rick Mahler | |||
| __ | TO | 307 | RP | Gene Garber | ATL |
| __ | TO | 636 | RP | Al Hrabosky | ATL |
| __ | TT | 804 | RP | John Montefusco | ATL |
| __ | TO | 44 | SP | Larry McWilliams | ATL |
| __ | TT | 853 | SP | Bob Walk | ATL |
| __ | TO | 594 | RP | Preston Hanna | ATL |
Other Players
| __ | LF | Eddie Miller | |||
| __ | LF | Brett Butler | |||
| __ | TO | 326 | 3B | Biff Pocoroba | ATL |
| __ | TO | 268 | IF | Jerry Royster | ATL |
| __ | TO | 64 | OF | Brian Asselstine | ATL |
| __ | OF | Terry Harper | |||
| __ | TO | 477 | IF | Luis Gomez | ATL |
| __ | C | Matt Sinatro | |||
| __ | SS | Paul Runge | |||
| __ | C | Larry Owen | |||
| __ | PH | Bob Porter | |||
| __ | TO | 296 | UT | Bill Nahorodny | ATL |
| __ | TO | 457 | LF | Mike Lum | ATL |
| __ | 3B | Brook Jacoby | |||
| __ | OF | Larry Whisenton | |||
| __ | OF | Albert Hall | |||
| __ | 1B | Ken Smith | |||
| __ | TO | 542 | RP | Larry Bradford | ATL |
| __ | RP | Steve Bedrosian | |||
| __ | TO | 611 | RP | Rick Matula | ATL |
| __ | RP | Jose Alvarez |
Manager/Coaches
| __ | FL | 247 | MG | Bobby Cox (or DO 426) | ATL |
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