Atlanta Braves history: top five franchise first basemen

As the Atlanta Braves prepare for 2020 with a roster full of young stars, we look back at the best players at each position in franchise history.

When I decided to do this series, I knew context would affect the final list, but felt I’d quickly identify the number one Atlanta Braves player at each position. It wasn’t easy; that’s what I get for thinking.

I knew I had to set a limit on the fewest games played. As you’ll see, as I go through the positions, I couldn’t use the same number of games for each position.

The franchise’s long history meant I had to attempt to level the playing field across seven generations of players. I settled on ‘plus stats’ as the way to do that.  Plus stats like OPS+ tell us how well a player stacks up against the rest of the league when he played, with 100 as league average.

Using a Fangraphs custom player search by position, a created a table of the following plus stats.

• wOBA – if you care about determining how well a player contributes to run-scoring, wOBA is a more accurate representation of that contribution than OPS
• wRC+ – If you want a rate statistic for hitters that weights each offensive action and controls for league and park effects, wRC+ is for you.
• BB%+
• K%+
• AVG+
• OBP+
• SLG+

I ranked every player’s plus stats from one through six and created the top five list. This post looks at first baseman who played at least 600 games for the Braves franchise.

Why 600 games?

Six-hundred isn’t the first number that comes to mind, and I started with a 750 game cutoff.  At that point, the list contained some famous names, but I noticed one omitted name that I felt demanded consideration: Fred McGriff.

Crime dog played only 636 games, but his play in those games took the Atlanta Braves to several division titles; I had to include him even if he eventually fell off the list.

Number five – The second “Earl of Snohomish,”

Earl Torgeson joined the Boston Braves in 1947 after a year in the PCL with the Seattle Rainiers.

“He can’t miss,” said Torchy Torrance, the Rainiers’ general manager. “He can hit, run, field, and think, and what else do you have to do? Wait and see what this kid does to big league pitching.”

In his first season, Torgeson batted .281/.403/.481/.885 with a .885 OPS+. Fangraphs says that’s worth 134 wRC+, a wOBA of .410 and 3.5 fWAR; not a bad start for a 23-year old rookie.

Over the next six seasons, Torgeson batted .265/.385/.427/.812 with an OPS+ of 122. a .380 wOBA, 124 wRC+, 16.5 fWAR, 18.6 rWAR. and finished top 30 in MVP voting twice – 1949 and 1950.

According to his SABR biography, “a tall (6-foot-3), bespectacled left-handed first baseman who smoked several cigars a day.”

In the 1948 World Series, Torgeson batted .389/.450/.556/1.006 as the Braves lost to Cleveland 4-2.

Torgeson dislocated his shoulder early in 1949 and returned in August in an after-hours fight with a teammate, so I’m not sure how he finished #27 in MVP voting, but he did.

He returned in 1950 to bat .290/.412/.472/.885 with a 138 OPS+, .407 wOBA,140 wRC+, 5.4 fWAR, and 6.0 rWAR.  The following season saw him produce another 3.3 fWAR, 124 wRC+ season for Boston, but fans and press speculated that rookie George Crowe would take his place in 1952.

Torgeson held on to his job but posted a season that remains the worst of his career. In February of 1953, the Braves traded him to Philadelphia. Torgeson’s bat returned in Philly, and he finished his career with an .802 OPS.

The last season hurt his Braves plus stat line (AVG+OBP+SLG+) reads 100/122/105, with a 124 wRC+ and a .380 wOBA.

Torgeson gave the Boston Braves an edge, similar to the one Josh Donaldson provided the Atlanta Braves in 2019. He played hard and found himself in a lot of on-field fights, yet everyone liked him.

The trade gave the Braves Torgeson’s replacement and the next first baseman on the list. Joe Adcock.

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.

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.

Number two – Right said Fred

In 1894, at 22-years old, Fred Tenney played his first  27 games for the Boston Beaneaters and batted .395/.469/.570/1.039 with a 138 OPS+.

He came back to earth the following season and over the next 14 seasons batted  .303/.377/.369/.747 with an OPS+ of 113. Those stats and a 114 wRC+ earn him the rank of the ninth-best first baseman in that span, but there’s more to the story,

You could call Tenney the Freddie Freeman of his day. In Tenney’s SABR biography, Mark Sternman calls Tenney the number two first baseman of the Deadball Era who developed the style of playing deep and well off the bag, as modern first basemen do. That style allowed him to lead the NL in putouts in 1905, 1907, and 1908.

“Tenney’s way is far different from that of other first baseman,” wrote a Chicago News reporter in 1897. “He reaches his hands far out for the ball, and stretches his legs, so that he is farther out from the bag on every throw than any other first baseman in the league.”

Fred Tenney created the first baseman stretch. He almost had to, at five-feet, nine inches tall, and 155 pounds, he wasn’t a big target.

He’s also considered the originator of the 3-6-3 double play. Tenney’s new play and his ability to play deep helped him lead the NL in assists from 1901 through 1907.

Fangraphs gives Tenney 40.7 fWAR and a DEF score of 30.2 over that 14-year span while Baseball-Reference gives him 39.3 rWAR and 3.8 dWAR.  His career Fangraphs DEF score of 36.3 makes him number four all-time. Baseball-Reference also ranks him number four in dWAR.

His Beaneaters plus stat line (AVG+OBP+SLG+) reads 110/112/106 with 114 wRC+, and a .363 wOBA.

Tenney produced 2.9 fWAR in 1897 and 3.3 fWARin 1898 as the  Beaneaters won back-to-back NL Championships. His 40.4 remains the highest total fWAR of any Braves first baseman to date, although Atlanta Braves’ current first baseman should catch him in two years.

There’s an excellent case for Tenney belonging in the Hall of Fame, but there’s little chance that happens.

Number one… Freddie

I wanted to build some drama for number one on each list, but Freddie Freeman is so obviously the man, I couldn’t.

Freeman gave the league a hint of what was ahead with a pinch-hit home run off Roy Halladay on September 21, 2010. He took over the everyday first-base job in 2011 and isn’t going to relinquish it any time soon.

He’s taken over the mantle of team leader and face of the franchise from his friend and mentor Chipper Jones and made it known he wants to remain an Atlanta Brave for the remainder of his career.

Over his last five seasons, Freeman’s batted .299/.390/.537/.927, with a .388 wOBA and 142 wRC+.

His Atlanta Braves plus stat line (AVG+/OBP+/SLG+) reads 113/116/121 with 137 wRC+ and a .376 wOBA.

Freeman finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2011, was an All-Star in 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019, and finished in the top-ten for NL MVP five times, and  MLB Network named the Atlanta Braves first sacker the top first baseman in baseball for 2019.

Honorable mentions

Players who were close, but failed to make the list, include Bob Horner(1978-1986), Felipe Alou (1964-1969), Chris Chambliss(1980-1986), John Morrill (1876-1888), and Tommy Tucker (1891-1896).

Jim O’Rourke (1872-1880)  lacked enough games to make the list.  As a member of the Boston Red Stockings O’Rourke batted .313/340/.435/.775, posted a .353 wOBA and 136 wRC+, which earned him 16.5 fWAR.

O’Rourke’s plus stat line (AVG+/OBP+/SLG+) reads 117/120/131, making him roughly 20% better than his peers. The veteran’s committed elected O’Rourke to the Hall of Fame in 1945.

That’s a wrap

First-base proved harder than I believed it would. I know Tenney would enjoy watching Freeman use the techniques he introduced into the game 120+ years ago.  Torgeson and Adcock were big hitters like McGriff and Freeman; they’d make a lot more money today.

I’ll work my way around the diamond as the week goes on, so stay tuned here at the take and see if any other current or recent Atlanta Braves are on the list.