Atlanta Braves history: top five franchise first basemen
By Fred Owens
Number Four – Billy Joe
As far as anyone knows, Vin Scully is the only man to call Milwaukee Braves 6-4, 210 pound, first baseman Joe Adcock Billy Joe; most called him Big Joe.
The Braves acquired him from Cincinnati as part of a four-team deal that sent $50,000 to the Reds and Torgeson to Philadelphia and Adcock remained with the Braves for the next ten years.
After a .285/.334/.453/.787 first season, Adcock settled in as one of the NL’s most feared hitters batting .285/.345/.521/.866, with a 134 OPS+, and crushing 221 home runs, in a lineup that saw him hit behind Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews.
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Adcock finished number eight in MVP voting in 1954, #11 in 1956, #22 in 1958, and #19 in 1960.
Adcock hit monster homers that would earn him a lot of money in today’s game. On July 31, 1954, he hurt the Dodgers feelings.
- Homered off Don Newcombe in the second,
- Doubled off Erv Palica in the third,
- Homered off Palica again in the fifth,
- Homered of Pete Wojey, in the seventh, and
- Homered off Johnny Podres in the ninth
Those homers made Adcock the seventh player in baseball history to hit four in a game, and the double set a Major League record for total bases in a nine-inning game (18). The next day, Dodger pitcher Clem Labine beaned him.
On June 17, 1956, he a walk-off homer over the 365-foot sign in left-center field, over the 83-foot-high grandstand that hit on top the upper-deck roof in Ebbets Field,
SABR’s Gregory Wolf. called Adcock, “One of the most feared sluggers of the 1950s and early 1960s.”
"an accomplished and underrated first baseman whose long arms helped him dig out errant throws . . . led first basemen in fielding percentage four times, including three consecutive seasons . . retired with the third-highest fielding percentage (.994) at first base in major-league history. . ."
Adcock hit 289 career homers, 251 as a Brave, but he should have one more.
His plus stat line (AVG+OBP+SLG+) reads 106/102/122 with 150 wRC+ and a .376 wOBA
In the thirteenth inning of the greatest game ever pitched when Lew Burdette and Harvey Haddix both pitched complete games, Adcock won the game with a hit a ball out of the ballpark. However, the runner ahead of him – Hank Aaron – headed for the dugout after the winning run scored, and Adcock got credit for a double.
Adcock would fit right in with today’s Atlanta Braves.