1977 Atlanta Braves season explained

Atlanta Braves
Season:	1977
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
City:	Atlanta
Record:	61–101 (.377)
Divisional Place:	6th
Owners:	Ted Turner
General Managers:	Bill Lucas
Managers:	Dave Bristol (games 1–29, 32–162) Ted Turner (game 30) Vern Benson (game 31)
Television:	WTCG (Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray)
Radio:	WSB (Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren)

The 1977 Atlanta Braves season was the 107th season for the franchise and their 12th in Atlanta. The team finished in last place in the six-team National League West with a record of 61–101, 37 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves hit a major league-leading seven grand slams.^[1]

All Braves home and away games were broadcast on WTCG-TV which during the offseason, under its owner Ted Turner, became the pioneer superstation in the United States and thus making the Braves the first MLB team to have its games telecast to millions of television viewers around the country aside from the national broadcasts on ABC and NBC which had been the case before the team's opening series of the season.^[2]

Offseason

November 17, 1976: Gary Matthews was signed by the Braves as a free agent.
December 9, 1976: Carl Morton, Adrian Devine, Ken Henderson, Dave May, Roger Moret, and $250,000 were traded by the Braves to the Texas Rangers for Jeff Burroughs.^[3]

Regular season

Turner's one-day reign as manager

Midway through the season, with the Braves mired in a 16-game losing streak, owner Ted Turner sent Dave Bristol on a 10-day "scouting trip" and took over as his own manager. This only lasted for one game (a 2–1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates) before National League president Chub Feeney ordered Turner to give up the reins, citing major league rules which forbid managers or players from owning stock in a team. After the Braves broke the skid under third-base coach Vern Benson, Bristol—who had spent the time at his offseason home in Andrews, North Carolina—was given his old job back for the remainder of the season.^[4]

Notable events

September 15, 1977 - Dale Murphy hits two home runs in an 8–7 win over the San Diego Padres, the first home runs of his major league career.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 30, 1977: Mike Marshall was purchased from the Braves by the Texas Rangers.^[6]
June 7, 1977: Larry Owen was drafted by the Braves in the 17th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.^[7]

Roster

1977 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	113	321	93	.290	8	44	3
1B	136	544	156	.287	20	68	1
2B	128	407	99	.243	8	43	3
3B	112	361	94	.260	5	34	4
SS	93	264	67	.254	1	24	1
LF	148	555	157	.283	17	64	22
CF	124	428	103	.241	5	39	2
RF	154	579	157	.271	41	114	4

^[8]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
140	445	96	.216	6	28	28
100	360	108	.300	1	45	7
74	209	42	.201	3	15	0
72	155	37	.239	3	15	1
54	144	30	.208	7	16	2
83	124	26	.210	4	17	1
56	85	23	.271	3	21	1
62	82	23	.280	3	9	1
18	76	24	.316	2	14	0
27	29	6	.207	0	1	0
4	4	1	.250	0	1	0
6	1	0	.000	0	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
44	330.1	16	20	4.03	262
25	151.0	7	13	4.23	84
16	102.1	5	4	4.40	69
18	88.2	6	6	4.57	54
5	23.0	1	2	6.26	14

^[8]

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
45	139.1	6	11	5.36	100
31	81.2	4	4	3.97	44
40	70.2	3	9	5.09	27
17	60.0	2	6	4.95	37
22	58.2	2	4	6.14	37
14	37.0	1	8	11.68	28
16	36.2	0	3	6.87	18
3	6.0	0	0	15.00	0

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
65	0	6	13	3.05	42
54	6	3	10	4.00	51
17	1	1	0	6.53	7
16	0	0	1	6.64	10
16	0	0	2	5.06	7
15	0	1	0	7.25	16
4	1	0	0	9.00	6
4	0	0	0	9.64	1
2	0	0	0	3.38	1

Farm system

Awards and honors

League leaders

Phil Niekro, National League leader, Losses^[9]

References

Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1977 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference
Atlanta Braves on Baseball Almanac

Notes and References

Web site: Team Batting Event Finder: 1977, All Teams, Home Runs, With Runners on 123. Baseball Reference. July 3, 2018.
Web site: Atlanta TV goes national via satellite. Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc.. American Radio History. 24. December 20, 1976. September 20, 2018.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mortoca01.shtml Carl Morton page at Baseball Reference
Hannon, Kent. Benched from the Bench. Sports Illustrated, 1977-05-23.
Web site: 1977 Atlanta Braves Roster by Baseball Almanac.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/marshmi01.shtml Mike Marshall page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/owenla01.shtml Larry Owen page at Baseball Reference
Web site: 1977 Atlanta Braves Statistics.
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 348, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,