Atlanta Braves: All-time WAR leaders

Atlanta Braves all-time WAR leaders #1: Hank Aaron (OF)

136.0 fWAR
3,076 games
1954-1974

Still standing firm with the second-most home runs all-time, Aaron’s 755 homers are still making the Atlanta Braves franchise look good. The recent birthday boy (he turned 85-years-old on February 5) had an impeccable 23-year career in the big leagues.

The Accolades

Hank Aaron is easily the best baseball player to ever wear an Atlanta Braves uniform. I don’t think there’s any doubt in that statement. I could write hundreds of words just listing all of the statistical categories that Aaron either ranks first or in the top-5 in franchise history all-time.

There are a broad number of offensive statistics that list Aaron right there with names like Ruth, Bonds, Mays and Cobb at the Major League level as well. Hank Aaron is an all-time great and his legacy will always be remembered by anyone who has anything to do with Atlanta Braves baseball.

Aaron won two Batting Titles, appeared in 25 All-Star games and won the 1957 National League MVP. The right fielder and first baseman also won three Gold Glove awards for his work on defense.

It doesn’t take a statistician to see why he received 97.8% of the ballots (406 of 415) in 1982’s Hall of Fame voting – giving him the highest percentage of ballots on that year’s docket.

Hank Aaron’s performance in his team’s (Milwaukee Braves) World Series win in 1957 against the Yankees deserves applause, too. In that series, Hammerin’ Hank came to bat 28 times and batted .398 with a ridiculous 1.200 OPS. He hit three home runs and knocked in seven runs in route to winning the Series four games to three.

That ’57 World Series was a beautiful conclusion to a spectacular season for Aaron, as he posted a .322 batting average with 44 homers and 132 RBI. The season of 1957 was only his fourth big league season, but it was his best yet – and there would be plenty more to come.

The Player

Hank Aaron was born right here in “Braves Country”, in Mobile, Alabama. He played his high school baseball at Allen Institute in Mobile. At the age of 20, Aaron made his Major League debut with the Milwaukee Braves, and like so many who make their debut, it wasn’t pretty.

In a game against the Cincinnati Redlegs (Reds), on April 13, 1954, Aaron struggled to a tune of 0 for 5, although he avoided any strikeouts. He ended up playing left field in that game and the Braves would go on to lose 9-8.

His second game? 2 for 5 with a double and run scored behind a Warren Spahn victory.

That 1954 rookie season featured 122 games for Aaron, as he accumulated over 500 plate-appearances that year. He would go on to finish that first taste of the majors by posting an impressive .280 batting average and slugging 13 home runs – all good for 1.2 fWAR.

It was a good first-year for Aaron, but it wouldn’t take him long at all to get acclimated in the majors. He would go from 1955 to record 20 straight seasons with at least 20 homers, while also being worth at least 5.2 fWAR for 17 straight years in that span.

As I mentioned above, it would take an entirely separate piece to list all of the stats in which Aaron ranked first or nearly so. We’ll save most of that for another day.

However, I think the least I can do is make you aware of how Aaron stacked up in regards to stats that we are all familiar with and see often. Just know that there are many more stat categories that Aaron either leads or ranks in the top-5.

Always a Threat

The following are career-stats followed by his rank all-time (stats from Fangraphs). These stats include the 21 seasons playing for the Braves, but also the two seasons he spent with the Brewers at the end of his career:

3,298 games-played (3rd)
755 home runs (2nd…technically)
2,174 runs (5th)
2,297 RBI (1st)
153 wRC+ (t-23rd)
136.3 fWAR (6th)

What’s even more amazing is when you look at his career and average out his performance for his entire time in the majors. More so for players with large MLB tenures, this will allow you to see a player’s average performance – which can give you a stat-line that best represents a player’s season year-to-year.

Synonyms for the word average are “normal” and “typical games played.” Hank Aaron’s average performance is quite impressive.

Just look at this stat-line as: “This is a typical Hank Aaron season.”

143 games-played
.305 BA
32 HR
10 SB
153 wRC+
5.9 fWAR

It’s amazing how some guys were able to basically have MVP-like seasons pretty much on a “normal” basis. The durability to be able to average 143 games over a 23-season career is just mind-blowing.

It just goes to show how important Aaron was to the Atlanta Braves, as it’s pretty obvious that when he was on the field, he was more than likely playing at a very high level.

Best Season

More from Tomahawk Take

1961 (8.9 WAR)

155 G
.327 BA
34 HR
21 SB
153 wRC+

The 1961 season was a great one for Aaron, but not so much the Braves. Aaron was still only 27-years-old but was the catalyst for that Braves team as the cleanup hitter.

The Braves finished the season in 4th-place in the National League (83-71), with the Reds winning the League (93-61) behind Frank Robinson who hit 37 homers that year.

In that 1961 season, Aaron would finish eighth in the NL MVP voting. He would go on to finish with at least 8-wins in each of the next two seasons while playing another 13 seasons with the Braves.

Here’s a little tape of Hank Aaron to close out this piece…

Thus we have the Top 10 best Atlanta Braves in history by WAR value. Dale Murphy and Fred Tenney would be #11 and #12 respectively. But at 30.8, Freddie Freeman is making a run at someday breaking into the Top 10.