Atlanta Braves Throwback Thursday Special – A50: The Shortstops
By Dan Horton
#4: Jeff Blauser –
Jeff Blauser was the mainstay at shortstop from 1989 – 1997. His best seasons occurred in 1993, where he earned the first of his two All-Star Game bids, and 1997 where he slashed .308/.405/.482/.886 on his way to earning the Silver Slugger Award that year.
1993 could arguably be his best season in a Braves uniform. Amassing a 5.7 WAR for the year, easily the best in his career. Blauser was a much better all-around player than Ramirez was. Blauser signed as a free agent in December, 1997 with the Cubs. He spent 1998 and 1999 in Chicago.
A friend from the earlier mentioned Braves Support Group, provided this information on Blauser:
"“Blauser leads all Atlanta SS’s in HR, Runs Scored, and RBI. Only Renteria and Yunel Escobar had a higher OBP percentage. Only Renteria and (Wilson) Betemit (550 PAs) had a higher SLG percentage. Blauser played roughly league average defense, and he was pretty well above average offensively as a SS” Comment in Braves Support Group."
Blauser was a longtime fan favorite. I always liked seeing him play. Not always a vocal presence, but he did his talking on the field. A lot of people probably didn’t look at Blauser as a typical leader; I kind of did. His character is one of the many qualities I admired about Blauser. His intangibles were unquantifiable.