The Atlanta Braves franchise has a long and storied history have a long and storied history. The franchise got its start in Boston, moved to Milwaukee, and eventually found its forever home (probably) in Atlanta. A look through the team's rich history reveals that not only has the franchise itself moved around a bit, but the players who have worn the Braves' uniform have come from all over the world.
Modern baseball has become an international game in recent years, and the addition of international free agents has dramatically elevated the talent level in MLB. However, that is a relatively recent phenomenon, and it wasn't really THAT long ago that the Braves had to primarily rely on searching for talent throughout the US.
As to who the best Braves players from each state in the US were, well...that depends entirely on how their origins are defined, but the list is fascinating no matter how you look at it.
Here are the best Braves players from each state in the US (if any)
For the most part, where a Braves player was born largely determines if they qualify for a given state. However, we fudged things a little bit when a player grew up in a different state, or it otherwise made sense to include them under another state to add variety. In short, birthplace was the primary determining factor for this list, but it isn't a hard-and-fast rule. "Best" is also very subjective as a designation, but career WAR played a major role in the choices made here.
Alabama: Hank Aaron
Well, lets just start this off with a bang, shall we? Hank Aaron is the best player to ever wear a Braves uniform, so it was a given that he would get the nod regardless of what state he was from. Aaron originally hailed from Mobile, Alabama, but he isn't necessarily the best player ever from the state. If you are looking strictly at WAR, fellow Hall of Famer Willie Mays (156.2 rWAR) barely edges Aaron (143.2) out.
Alaska: None
There have only been a handful of players from Alaska to ever play in the big leagues, with Curt Schilling the highest performing one by a very wide margin. Unfortunately, none of them ever saw time in the majors with the Braves as best as we can tell.
Arizona: Bob Horner
This is a case where we made an exception to the birthplace rule, as Bob Horner was born in Kansas, but grew up in Arizona and went to Arizona State before the Braves picked him first overall in the 1978 MLB Draft. Horner never really lived up to his mythic reputation, but he was still a very good player and one that is still fondly remembered today.
Arkansas: Johnny Sain
It is a little unfortunate that Johnny Sain isn't more well known to modern Braves fans, because he was quite good with the Boston Braves. In fact, he nearly won an MVP award as a pitcher in 1948 when he posted a 2.60 ERA in 314.2 innings as the pride of Havana, Arkansas.
California: Freddie Freeman
The list of MLB players from California is absolutely loaded with Barry Bonds and Ted Williams taking the first two slots. As for the best Braves player from the Golden State, that goes to former Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career, although having to see him play the latter portion of that career with the Dodgers still hurts to watch.
Colorado: Kevin Gausman
Colorado has a surprisingly rich history of baseball players that includes Roy Halladay and Goose Gossage. However, the best Braves player from the state did not play in Atlanta long, as Kevin Gausman made a total of 26 starts with the Braves. However, he went on to be one of the better pitchers in baseball after he left town.
Connecticut: Joey Jay
Connecticut isn't as much of a baseball hot bed these days, but there were some early Hall of Famers to come out around closer to the turn of the last century. However, the Braves' history in the state is severely lacking, but Joey Jay put together a pretty solid 13-year career in the 1950s and 1960s, with the final season of his career coming in Atlanta.
Delaware: Dave May
Delaware is such a small state, it is a wonder than many MLB players all have come from there, let along baseball luminaries like Paul Goldschmidt. Like several states on the list, the Braves don't have much of a connection to Delaware, with journeyman Dave May being the best of the bunch despite only playing two seasons in the 1970s in Atlanta.
Florida: Chipper Jones
This one is a gimme, as Chipper Jones is the second-best MLB player from Florida ever by rWAR, behind only Steve Carlton. Jones was the first overall pick in the 1990 MLB Draft and went on to be considered one of the absolute best third basemen to ever play the game. There have been a lot of good players to come out of Florida, but Jones is the easy choice here.
Georgia: Tim Hudson
The Braves have historically been very active in their own backyard, and Georgia has historically been a great baseball state that birthed Ty Cobb, Frank Thomas, and Jackie Robinson. However, none of those guys played for the Braves, while Tim Hudson ended his career with the second-highest WAR among Georgia-born pitchers ever, behind only Kevin Brown.
Hawaii: Kurt Suzuki
While there are not a lot of MLB players from Hawaii, there have been a few pretty good ones, including Charlie Hough, Shane Victorino, and Ron Darling. Curiously, the best Braves player from Hawaii actually played for the team. Kurt Suzuki put together a 16-year career as a MLB catcher that included a two-year stop with the Braves before retiring and eventually becoming the Angels' manager.
Idaho: Jason Schmidt
Other than Harmon Killebrew, there is a lack of quality baseball players to come out of Idaho. Oddly enough, one of the absolute best to come from the state, Jason Schmidt, got his start with the Braves as a top pitching prospect before making his MLB debut in 1995. Schmidt's best years came later in his career with Giants, but the pride of Lewiston, Idaho got his start right here in Atlanta.
Illinois: Red Schoendienst
Illinois has been a critical source of baseball talent over the years, with the late Rickey Henderson leading the way. Of the dozen or so Hall of Famers from the state, one of them, Red Schoendienst, did actually play for the Braves. While he was past his prime, Schoendienst played for the Milwaukee Braves from 1957 to 1960 before finishing his career back with the Cardinals where he had spent the bulk of his career.
Indiana: Kenny Lofton
Don't kill the messenger. Indiana is another state with a TON that was home to a ton of Hall of Famers, including Scott Rolen and Gil Hodges. However, the best Braves from Indiana is actually a Cooperstown snub in Kenny Lofton. It does feel like the writers should have given Lofton more consideration, despite the fact that he seemed to hate every moment he played in Atlanta during the 1997 season. Lofton bounced around towards the end of his career, but he was THE stolen base threat of his generation and a hell of a player.
Iowa: Denis Menke
The midwest was where it was at when it came to baseball back in the day, although the corn fields of Iowa weren't quite as fruitful as some of the other states in America's heartland. Denis Menke gets the nod here amongst the Iowans thanks to spending the first six seasons of his career with the Braves, including his best year in 1964 where he posted an .847 OPS with 20 homers.
Kansas: Ray Sadecki
Kansas doesn't quite have the same prestige in terms of baseball players, although it was home to Walter Johnson who has a strong argument for being the best pitcher to ever live. The best Braves player from Kansas isn't quite as exciting, as Ray Sadecki and his career 19.3 rWAR, who made 25 appearances with the Braves in 1975.
Kentucky: Dan Uggla
Dan Uggla arrived in Atlanta with extremely high expectations, and boy did he not reach those expectations aside from a very fun 33-game hitting streak in 2011. Still, despite his subpar tenure with the Braves, he is still the best player from Kentucky to play for the team from what is a surprising mediocre pool of players.
Louisiana: Bill Lee
While the best player ever from Louisiana is Mel Ott who started his career in the 1920s, the state has been an increasingly important in the modern game of baseball, especially with the strength of LSU's college program. The home of Will Clark, Chuck Finley, and Vida Blue unfortunately didn't have any all-time Braves greats, although Bill Lee a very good 14-year career in the 1930s and 1940s.
Maine: Ryan Flaherty
No, that is not a typo. There have been around 80 MLB players from the fine state of Maine and it isn't exactly an illustrious list. Most of the players from Maine who put up anything passing for decent numbers played in the 1890s and 1900s, and the list drops off considerably once you get past the first few names. In fact, Braves "legend" Ryan Flaherty ranks in the top 25 in rWAR for players from Maine with a career 0.92 rWAR.
Maryland: Babe Ruth
Alright, this is going to require a little explanation. Yes, Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Yes, he started his career with the Red Sox before famously being sold to the Yankees where he became baseball royalty. However, what some may not know is that the final season of Ruth's career was with the Boston Braves in 1935. It was only 28 games, but it still counts for our purposes here, although Mark Teixeira is an option if you are looking for a slightly longer tenure.
Massachusetts: Tom Glavine
Clearly growing up in the northeast explains Hall of Famer Tom Glavine being quite the good hockey player early on in life as well as a baseball player. Glavine is an easy choice for the Braves' from Massachusetts, as he has the highest WAR period (80.7) of any player from 1900 to today, narrowly edging out Astros legend and fellow Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell.
Michigan: John Smoltz
It is fitting that Glavine and Smoltz are back-to-back on this list, given how long the two Braves legends played together. Smoltz is one of six Hall of Famers from the state of Michigan, and he was famously drafted by his home state Tigers in the 22nd round of the 1985 MLB Draft. After he was sent to the Braves in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history, Smoltz would go on to play 21 seasons before eventually retiring and getting a call from Cooperstown.
Minnesota: Brad Hand
The state of Minnesota has been surprisingly productive in terms of baseball talent, with names like Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, and Dave Winfield being the highlights. However, little of that talent has filtered its way to the Braves over the years, although reliever Brad Hand had a fine 13-year career. Just ignore how his final season, which came with the Braves, went...because it wasn't pretty.
Mississippi: Austin Riley
This is another state we are fudging a little bit, as Austin Riley was actually born in Memphis, TN. However, Riley grew up in Mississippi the Braves drafted him right out of his Mississippi high school. Despite his recent struggles, Riley has been the best Braves player from the state by a significant margin, although Sam Jethroe was another notable name as well.
Missouri: Clete Boyer
The land that birthed Max Scherzer and Yogi Berra has a long history in the game of baseball, with six Hall of Famers calling the state home, though Scherzer is a mortal lock to make it seven. The Braves never had the absolute best players that Missouri produced, but infielder Clete Boyer spent the last five seasons of his career from 1967 to 1971 with Atlanta and even won a Gold Glove here.
Montana: None
Unsurprisingly, there isn't a lot of baseball being played in Montana, with the weather being particularly problematic in the sparsely populated state. There are exactly three MLB players ever who accumulated more than 2 rWAR from Montana, and none of them played for the Braves. In fact, none of the 10 MLB players from Montana with a positive rWAR for their careers made their way to the Braves.
Nebraska: Gregg Olson
In a welcome change of pace, Nebraska has produced a ton of MLB players, including all-time greats Grover Alexander, Wade Boggs, and Bob Gibson. Curiously, the best Braves player from the land of the cornhuskers is actually Gregg Olson, who only appeared in 16 games out of the bullpen for Atlanta in 1994. Olson was a classic journeyman reliever, but one that would go on to put together a respectable 14-year career worth 12.8 rWAR.
Nevada: Greg Maddux
Yes, Greg Maddux was born in Texas and moved around a good bit as a child due to his dad being in the Air Force, but he settled in the Las Vegas area and got his real start in baseball there. Maddux is a pretty easy choice for Nevada, as the state hasn't produced much in the way of elite talent outside of Bryce Harper, Barry Zito, and Kris Bryant. In short, putting Maddux in Nevada adds some variety to the list (he was going to win almost any state) and has the added benefit of being true.
New Hampshire: Ian Hamilton
There have been 58 players from New Hampshire that have made it to the majors, with Chris Carpenter being the best of the bunch, especially among modern players. Ian Hamilton may have only accumulated 1.99 rWAR in his career so far, but that is still good for 16th amongst those from the Granite State.
New Jersey: Jason Heyward
Now, the popular narrative around Jason Heyward's origin story is that the Braves found him in their own backyard outside of Atlanta, kept their interest in him under wraps, and then were thrilled when they were able to draft the future Gold Glove mainstay at No. 14 overall. However, he was actually born in Ridgewood, NJ, and only five players from the state (Mike Trout, Derek Jeter, Goose Goslin, Billy Hamilton, and Joe Medwick) have a higher WAR than Heyward's 41.48.
New Mexico: Duane Ward
New Mexico has had some notable baseball players, including Alex Bregman as well as Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, but the list of 35 players total drops off quite a bit after that. However, reliever Duane Ward spent half a season with the Braves before becoming a mainstay in the Blue Jays' bullpen, and his career is comfortably in the top 10 among players from New Mexico.
New York: Warren Spahn
Given the history of baseball in the state, particularly with the Yankees, New York has been a critical source of top-end baseball talent over the years, including Lou Gehrig, Carl Yastrzemski, and the steroid-assisted Alex Rodriguez. Warren Spahn is one of the best pitchers to ever come out of the state, and possibly THE best depending on how you evaluate Sandy Koufax's abbreviated career. However, amongst Braves players, this one isn't close.
North Carolina: Gaylord Perry
Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry is widely known for his lengthy career as well as his "questionable" practice of throwing spitballs and doctoring baseballs on occasion. However, few probably remember that one of the stops that the North Carolina native made in his 22-year career was with Atlanta in 1981 when he was 42 years old. The results were mediocre, but the total body of work from Perry's career makes him the most productive player to ever come from North Carolina (and it honestly isn't that close).
North Dakota: N/A
North Dakota is pretty much the same story as Montana. Due to a relatively low population and a very chilly climate, the baseball scene in North Dakota is lacking to the point where only 20 players from the state have ever made it to the majors. There are some intriguing names on the list like Darin Erstad and Travis Hafner, but none of them of note every played for Atlanta.
Ohio: Phil Niekro
Unlike North Dakota, Ohio is loaded with Hall of Famers including Cy Young, Mike Schmidt, and Barry Larkin, as well as both Roger Clemens and Pete Rose, who would be in Cooperstown if not for steroid suspicions and gambling respectively. Another choice for the Braves here, as Phil Niekro and his 95.9 WAR gets the nod. Not only was Niekro responsible for a few of the best seasons in Braves franchise history, but he also played for a whopping 24 seasons.
Oklahoma: Matt Kemp
Okay, it is objectively funny that Matt Kemp is the best Braves player from Oklahoma, given that his tenure in Atlanta isn't remembered particularly fondly by most. However, while the state was called home by some of the best players in baseball history, including Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, and Willie Stargell, the pickings for the Braves are slim, and Kemp put together a strong run with the Dodgers before he fell apart.
Oregon: Dale Murphy
Funnily enough, the two best MLB players from Oregon also happen to be two of the more hotly-debated Hall of Fame candidates ever. One is Mickey Lolich, who was instrumental in the rotations of some great Tigers teams in the 1960s and 1970s. The other is Dale Murphy, who is probably the one player most Braves fans want to see get into Cooperstown, especially after Andruw Jones finally got in this past year.
Pennsylvania: Ken Griffey
While Ken Griffey Jr. famously did not play for the Braves after word leaked too quickly about a potential deal, his dad DID make it to Atlanta during the 1986 and 1987 seasons. While Junior is unquestionably a Mount Rushmore candidate amongst modern baseball legends, the elder Griffey was a good player in his own right, with a career 34.5 rWAR across a 19-year career mostly with the Reds.
Rhode Island: Dinty Gearin
The baseball scene in Rhode Island isn't the greatest, as the weather is tough along with the state being quite small, although three Hall of Famers from the early days of baseball (Nap Lajoie, Gabby Hartnett, and Hugh Duffy) did call the state home. Unfortunately, the top Braves player isn't all that exciting, as LHP Dinty Gearin only played a pair of seasons in MLB, and the final one came with the Boston Braves in 1924 where he appeared in one game and failed to record an out.
South Carolina: Reggie Sanders
You would think that South Carolina would be a popular source of Braves players, given the proximity to Atlanta as well as the historic lack of competing MLB teams in the southeast US market, but that isn't really the case. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Larry Doby, and Jim Rice all came from the state, but the best former Braves player is Reggie Sanders, whose career was probably much better than most remember it being. His best years were with the Reds, but his 2000 season with the Braves was incredibly mediocre with a .705 OPS. Sanders' career would rebound, and he found gainful employment for another seven seasons before he called it quits.
South Dakota: Terry Forster
Sadly, having "South" in its name has done little to make South Dakota more hospitable to a thriving baseball scene, as the state has only had 39 big leaguers, including future managing legends Sparky Anderson and Terry Francona. Reliever Terry Forster gets the nod for the Braves here thanks to his three-year run with Atlanta from 1983 to 1985, although another reliever, Kerry Ligtenberg, is not far behind at all.
Tennessee: Bob Smith
Tennessee cranks out baseball players these days, thanks in no small part to the University of Tennessee being one of the top college programs in the country. However, the state's track record goes further back than that, with stars like Mookie Betts and Todd Helton being born in Nashville and Knoxville respectively. Bob Smith probably isn't a name that is going to ring a lot of bells among Braves fans, as he pitched five seasons with the Boston Braves in the 1930s, although RA Dickey and Mike Minor are not far behind him.
Texas: Ron Gant
In terms of baseball players, Texas is loaded with them, including over a dozen who are already enshrined in Cooperstown, and at least one (Clayton Kershaw) who will be once he is eligible. Greg Maddux was technically born in Texas, but we already placed him with Nevada, so Ron Gant gets the nod here. Gant was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was a focal point of those Braves offenses early in their 90s dynasty days.
Utah: N/A
Just over 50 baseball players from Utah have played in the major leagues, and only three of them accumulated 10 or more WAR in their careers. In the entire bunch, none of note have found their way onto any incarnation of the Braves' roster.
Vermont: Ernie Johnson Sr.
This is a fun one, because most Atlanta fans are very familiar with the Johnson family dynasty when it comes to sports broadcasting. Carlton Fisk is the best player ever from Vermont, but Johnson Sr. played nine years in the bigs, and most of them were with the Braves. The elder Johnson would go on to call Braves games who almost 40 years until 1999. His son, Ernie Johnson Jr., is one of the most venerated basketball broadcasters in the game right now as host of Inside the NBA among other assignments.
Virginia: Justin Upton
While Melvin "BJ" Upton's name is considered a curse in some parts of Georgia, his brother, Justin, was quite the player for Atlanta after being acquired in a trade with the Diamondbacks. The sum of Upton's career has him as one of the best players from the state of Virginia period, although Justin Verlander and David Wright rank ahead of him in WAR, among a few others.
Washington: Earl Averill
Washington doesn't really jump off the page when it comes to baseball, but it has had some pretty great players over the years, including Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, and John Olerud. However, it is Hall of Famer Earl Averill who takes the Braves spot here, thanks to playing the final season of his career with the Boston Braves in 1941 after spending the vast majority of his career in Cleveland.
West Virginia: Lew Burdette
West Virginia gave the game of baseball George Brett and Bill Mazerowski, but it was Milwaukee Braves great Lew Burdette and his 28.6 career WAR that gets the title of the best Braves player from the state. Burdette helped the Braves win a World Series in 1957 and was named the World Series MVP after throwing three complete games, which seems pretty good.
Wisconsin: Kid Nichols
Because of the era he played in, Kid Nichols is one of the true legends of Braves baseball that few fans know much about. Generally, the players from the late 1800s don't get their due respect, as baseball was a very different game. However, Nichols was one of the first "best" pitchers in the game of baseball, with a staggering seven seasons where he posted 9 WAR or better. Over Nichols' 15 year career, he accumulated 532 complete games. Yes, you read that right. 5-3-2. Nichols originally called Wisconsin home, and he is the WAR leader from the state by a mile over Hall of Famer Al Simmons.
Wyoming: Mike Devereaux
Finally, we arrive at Wyoming, which is in the same boat as Montana and the Dakotas, as there have only been 17 players in the big leagues from the state. However, the fourth-best player from Wisconsin by rWAR, Mike Devereaux, appeared in 29 games with the Braves during their 1995 World Series run, including winning NLCS MVP. For those that are curious, former Mets menace Brandon Nimmo currently leads the Wyomingites with 27.22 rWAR.
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