Atlanta Braves franchise best outfielders: No. 4 Wally Berger
By Fred Owens
Boston’s big Berger
If the Rookie of the Year Award had existed in 1930, Wally Berger’s record would show he won. He exploded onto the National League stage, much like Ronald Acuna Jr. for the Atlanta Braves in 2018 — minus the stolen bases.
In Harold Kaese’s book The Boston Braves, he describes Berger as a “lanky, raw-boned blond, a free-swinging young giant.” At 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, Berger was tall for the time and proved himself a giant in centerfield and at the plate.
On September 17, in the Braves 30th doubleheader of the year and sixth in the homestand. Berger went 5-for-8 in the twin-bill, with three home runs, a double, seven RBI, and three runs scored, bringing his total for the year to 37 homers and 116 RBI.
When the season ended, Berger had batted 310/.375/.614/.990, good for a 137 OPS+, hit a Major League rookie record 38 homers, drove in an NL rookie record 119 runs. Fangraphs retrospectively make that a 4.5 fWAR season with a .422 wOBA, and 131 wRC+.
At that time, his .990 OPS as a rookie ranked second all-time among qualified players in the live-ball era (post-1918) and ranks sixth all-time today.
Frank Robinson tied Berger’s rookie home run record in 1956, but their joint record stood until Mark McGwire hit 49 homers in 1987. Berger retained the NL rookie RBI record until Albert Pujols drove in 130 runs 71-years later in 2001.
Pete Alonso budged Berger into third place on the NL list when he drove in 120 runs in 2019; it took Alonso 10 more games and 42 more PA than Berger to grab second.
In 1931 Berger’s average climbed to .323, and his on-base rose to .380, but his power numbers dipped to 19.
We don’t know why, but it’s likely tied to Braves’ Field. Data from Baseball-Reference.com shows that home runs dropped off for everyone, including teams visiting the Braves in both 1931 and 1932.
His drop in home runs aside, Berger’s 1931 was good for 6.0 rWAR, 6.2 fWAR, a .404 wOBA, and 141 wRC+. He followed that with a 4.0 rWAR, 4.1 fWAR, .365 wOBA, and 122 wRC+, and a 13th place finish in NL MVP voting in 1932.
MLB’s first All-Star game took place in 1933 and Wally Berger started in centerfield. He repeated that start for the next three seasons. Atlanta Braves centerfielder Andruw Jones started five All-Star games, but never more than two in a row.
The Braves finished the season in fourth place with an 83-71 record, their first 80-win season since 1916, and the first time above 79 wins since 1921, thanks to Berger.
He ended the 1933 season with 27 home runs, 106 RBI, a .566 slugging rate, a .932 OPS, and a 172 OPS plus, all ranked second in NL.
Fangraphs made that his best year in Boston, worth 6.4 fWAR, a .419 wOBA, and 168 wRC+, while BBR called it a 7.0 rWAR season. Baseball writers were impressed as well, giving the Braves’ centerfielder a third-place finish in MVP voting.