(22) celebrate a victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Phillies 9-5. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
“Put me in coach, I’m ready to play — today, look at me, I can be, Centerfield”! John Fogerty summed it up best.
The Center-field position, and those Atlanta Braves whom have played there, have been some of the best in the game. Most of them a bit more recent than others. I can promise you, though, there won’t be a shortage of names for this throwbacks list.
Atlanta has seen many, many worthy center fielders come and go. Of course, as always, I’ll give you 4 or 5, and then give you the Honorable Mentions. Just for some clarification, the Honorable Mentions doesn’t mean that they were any less of a player than those singled out on the “top 4 or 5” I go over. This just simply means that I didn’t want to over load you with a 10-15 page slideshow … You’re welcome.
Of course, there will always be someone that gets left of the list or doesn’t get mentioned. However, I’m not too proud to admit, that I don’t know everything about the Atlanta Braves or the players. Even though I sometimes think I do.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip down Nostalgia Lane. Here are your Atlanta Brave center-fielders over the last 50 years!
As I did last time, starting a list like this off with the first Atlanta CF’er seems like the right thing to do.
Known as “Mack the Knife”, Mack Jones was the Atlanta Braves first center fielder. A career .252 hitter and carry over from Milwaukee, Mack never set the league a blaze. In 1966, Jones hit .264/.335/.468/.803. Jones only played in 118 games that season.
Jones was an average fielder at best in center, sporting a .976 career fielding percentage. He accumulated 38 errors over his career, 20 of them in CF on 951 chances.
Other than a cool nickname, Mack the Knife was the average center-fielder who was able to sustain a 10 year career. Nothing jumps out from the page on him, but he was Atlanta’s first, so just tuck that away into the Braves trivia bank.
However, thankfully, the Braves got better in center, and we’ve only scratched the surface!
Mar 29, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Marquis Grissom (9) is introduced during the ceremony for the 1994 Expos before the game between the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays at Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Marquis Grissom was a pivotal piece to Atlanta’s road to the World Series title in 1995 … my God, has it really been 20 years? I’d say we’re due …
Grissom came over form the Expos and spent 2 years in Atlanta. Oh, but it was a splendid 2 years. His best year was in 1996, where he slashed .308/.349/.489/.838, all career highs (except OPB). He also had an OPS+ of 114.
But it’s 1995 that we’ll most remember. He recorded the final out to seal the deal against John Hart‘s Cleveland Indians.
Personal accolades for Grissom include 4 Gold Gloves, 2 All-Star appearances, and one World Series Championship.
Grissom still comes around during Spring Training for Braves Fantasy Camps and to help as a special instructor.
Andruw Jones spent the summers of 1996 through 2007 patrolling center field for the Bravos. He landed on the map with authority in 1996. Homering twice as a 19 year old during the 1996 WS, his first.
Let’s look at some more of his out-of-this-world numbers.
12 years total with Atlanta, Jones compiled a .263/.342/.497/.839 slash-line. He put up a OPS+ of 113 over those 12 years. A nice tidbit, Andruw ranks first for Braves center-fielders with 1,641 games played.
Andruw won 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1998-2007. He was also a 5-time All-Star and finished as high as 2nd in the 2005 NL MVP race. He won is only Silver Slugger award in 2005 slugging an astounding .575 with a .922 OPS and an OPS+ of 136.
Jones set career highs in HR’s with 51 in 2005 adding 128 RBIs as well. Both led the league.
However, Jones just didn’t produce at the plate. Andruw finished his career as a .990 fielder. He made only 50 errors over 17 seasons in MLB. That covers 5,128 total chances spanning 17,038 innings.
Jones led the league in Defensive WAR four times. 1998 (3.9), 2000-2002 (2.7, 2.9, 2.3). His 12 years in Atlanta produced a 61.0 WAR and 631 RAR.
Andruw Jones has to be considered the best center-fielder the Braves franchise has seen. He concluded his 12 years as a Brave with 368 HRs, 1,117 RBIs, 138 SBs, 330 2Bs, 34 3Bs, and 1,683 hits and 717 BBs.
You didn’t think I could get through a Braves “who’s-who” of center-fielders, without dedicating a page to Dale Murphy, did you?
That’s rhetorical by the way, you don’t have to answer that. I’m pretty sure I know the answer.
Myself included, I think Murph had quite a few fans, and I wouldn’t doubt that he most likely still does. Had Twitter been around in those days, Murphy probably could have been the most popular athlete in the twitter-sphere.
Not only a GREAT ball player, but an even BETTER human being.
Murphy took a little bit of development before landing in the outfield. Coming up as a catcher, he bounced from backstop to 1B, where defensive struggles forced him into the outfield. A move Murphy himself has stated, that if it weren’t for Bobby Cox, he would not be the player he turned out to be.
Dale made 7 All-Star teams, 6 of them consecutive from 1982-1987. His first was in 1980. He also ended up being a pretty darn good fielder, bringing home 5 consecutive Gold Gloves to go along with 4 consecutive Silver Sluggers. Not bad for a guy whose defense was suspect early on in his career.
Oh yeah, and there was that whole back-to-back MVP thing in 1982 and 1983. It’s hard to believe that Murphy couldn’t get into the Hall of Fame.
Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-8Has Braves window to extend Max Fried already passed them by? /
Character is one of the many things voters look at. He should be in on that alone. However, his last couple of years, especially in Colorado and his last year in Philly, really hurt his chances.
In 62 AB’s for the Phillies in ’92, he posted a .161/.175/.274/.449 slash with 2 HR’s. He tallied 42 AB’s in his last season with the Rockies in ’93, hitting well below the Mendoza Line at .143 an no HR’s. He fell short of 400 HR’s by two. His last game was May 21, 1993, at age 37, the next day Dale hung’em up.
In the decade that was the 1980’s, I would argue that there were none better than Murph, at least no one feared more than him. With Atlanta, Murphy batted .268/.351/.478/.829.
Some season/league highs for Murphy in Atlanta include, but are not limited to, runs (118) in 1985, HR’s twice (36 & 37) in ’84 and ’85. He led in RBIs (109, 121) in ’82/’83, SLG (.540 & .547) in ’83 & ’84.
Murphy’s 18 year career culminated with a .265 lifetime average, 398 HRs, 2,111 hits, 350 2B’s, 1,266 RBI’s, 986 BB’s (159 IBB), and a .982 fielding percentage. Murphy also ranks 3rd All-Time with 1,040 games played in center by a Brave.
He was #3 on the field, but in the hearts of Braves fans, he will always be #1!
Next: The Other Notables
The Notables –
Of course, as always there are plenty more who could have had a page all to themselves, like long time CFer Rowland Office, who roamed CF from 1974-1979. Or fleet-footed Otis Nixon, who will be remembered for his Superman-like catch in 1992. If you never saw it, have a look. It is simply known by Braves fans as “The Catch”.
All of these men helped establish a standard unlike no other. The Atlanta Braves have always been a class organization, no doubt about it. But they could only have earned that reputation by putting class people on the field year in and year out.
Rookies have had the right vets teaching them. Those rookies grew into vets and taught the new wave of rookies the same way, a way know only as … the Brave Way.
