Atlanta Braves history: Top 5 franchise second basemen
By Fred Owens
Number four – Without a Tinkers Chance
I wrote about Johnny Evers in The Top 16 franchise-making trades in Atlanta Braves history. In his prime Evers ranked among baseball’s elite second basemen’ by the joined the Boston Braves, that peak had passed.
He was a hothead with a penchant for getting ejected, had trouble maintaining his weight, and plagued by injuries that kept him off the field. However, none of that bothered Evers during the 1914-run by the Miracle Braves.
Manager George Stallings knew Evers wanted to get even with his former team for firing him, so he made him team captain. Evers took to the job with gusto working the players as hard as he worked himself.
He took Rabbit Maranville under his wing and taught him how to read batters. A student of the game, In Run Rabbit Run, Maranville, said Evers’ baseball knowledge amazed him.
"“Evers . . . was psychic. He could sense where a player was going to hit if the pitcher threw the ball where he was supposed to.”"
Evers wasn’t psychic, he kept a mental book on opposing hitters, and helped Maranville learn to shift to the places the batter was likely to hit the ball.
From July 6 through August 14, the Braves went 22-4 with Evers showing the way as he batted .337/.447/.411/8.858.
The Braves met the heavily-favored Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series and won four straight for the sweep. Evers batted.438/.500/.439/.938 in the series – second only to Hank Gowdy’s .545/.688/1.273/1.960.
Evers finished the season with 4.9 rWAR, 4.7 fWAR, led all second basemen with 1.8 dWAR and 16.0 DEF, and won the Chalmers Award as NL MVP.
Evers became a member of the Hall of Fame in 1946.