Tuesday, May 4, 2010

1982 Atlanta Braves



The '82 Braves, managed by Joe Torre, hold the record (along with the '87 Brewers) for having the best start in baseball history, winning their first 13 games in a row. But by the end they just barely edged out the Dodgers and the Giants for the NL West division title.

MVP
The real 1982 NL MVP is Dale Murphy. Looking at the stats, it isn't even close for the Braves. He led the Braves in HR, RBI, runs scored, and OBP. The thing with his card is that it must've been taken in 1980 or earlier, as he still has the old style Braves batting helmet. Maybe they still used these in spring training in 1981..a Braves fan would have to let me know.

Cy Young
This was much closer. I am giving the nod to Phil Niekro, as he had a 17-4 record with a 3.61 ERA. This was a team that only had three reliable starting pitchers (maybe using that loosely, but the Braves only had 3 pitchers with 25+ starts), and Niekro was the ace. Honorable mention goes to closer Gene Garber. He had 30 saves and a 2.34 ERA. In the real Cy Young voting for 1982, Phil Niekro came in 5th overall and Garber came in 7th.

Rookie Card of the Year and Most Interesting Non-Topps card
These awards both go to the same player, Brett Butler. He is listed on the multi-player rookie card for the Braves in the Topps set, but his only solo card for 1982 can be found in the Donruss set. He didn't stay on the Braves long and was traded to the Indians with Brook Jacoby for Len Barker. One of those trades that had the locals up in arms (from an Indians point of view), but turned out to be a rip off of the Braves. Butler went on to a long career that ended in 1997, playing for the Indians, Giants, Mets, and Dodgers. He accumulated over 2000 hits and over 500 stolen bases.

Starters
__ TO 424 C Bruce Benedict ATL
__ TO 320 1B Chris Chambliss ATL
__ TO 482 2B Glenn Hubbard ATL
__ TO 145 3B Bob Horner ATL
__ TO 536 SS Rafael Ramirez ATL
__ TO 668 LF Dale Murphy ATL
__ DO 275 CF Brett Butler ATL
__ TO 758 RF Claudell Washington ATL
__ TO 608 UT Jerry Royster ATL

Starting Pitchers
__ TO 185 SP Phil Niekro ATL
__ TO 579 SP Rick Mahler ATL
__ TO 296 SP Bob Walk ATL

Relief Pitchers
__ TO 32 CL Gene Garber ATL
__ TT 4 RP Steve Bedrosian ATL
__ TO 637 RP Rick Camp ATL
__ TO 383 SP Pascual Perez PIT
__ DO 501 SP Ken Dayley ATL
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RP Joe Cowley

Other Players
__ TO 244 LF Rufino Linares ATL
__

LF Larry Whisenton
__ TO 507 OF Terry Harper ATL
__ TO 88 C Biff Pocoroba ATL
__ TT 125 1B Bob Watson ATL
__ DO 149 C Matt Sinatro ATL
__

IF Randy Johnson
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UT Ken Smith
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UT Bob Porter
__

C Larry Owen
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PH Paul Runge
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SS Paul Zuvella
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PR Albert Hall
__ TO 61 SP Tommy Boggs ATL
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RP Larry McWilliams
__ TO 393 RP Al Hrabosky ATL
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RP Preston Hanna
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RP Donnie Moore
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RP Carlos Diaz
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RP Jose Alvarez
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RP Tom Hausman

Manager/Coaches
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MG Joe Torre

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