1972 Atlanta Braves season

1972  Atlanta Braves
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Atlanta Stadium
City	Atlanta
Record	70–84 (.455)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	William Bartholomay
General managers	Paul Richards, Eddie Robinson
Managers	Lum Harris, Eddie Mathews
Television	WSB-TV
Radio	WSB (Ernie Johnson, Milo Hamilton)
←  1971 Seasons 1973  →

The 1972 Atlanta Braves season was the seventh season in Atlanta along with the 102nd season as a franchise overall.

Offseason

• December 2, 1971: Hal King was traded by the Braves to the Texas Rangers for Paul Casanova. ^[1]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• May 11, 1972: Steve Barber was released by the Braves. ^[2]
• June 6, 1972: Preston Hanna was drafted by the Braves in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft. ^[3]
• June 15, 1972: Jim Nash and Gary Neibauer were traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Andre Thornton and Joe Hoerner. ^[4]
• June 29, 1972: Orlando Cepeda was traded by the Braves to the Oakland Athletics for Denny McLain. ^[5]

Front-office and managerial turnover

The 1972 Braves' 70–84 season, following on the heels of a hopeful, 82–80 mark in 1971, resulted in the in-season firings of both general manager Paul Richards, on the job since January 1967, and field manager Luman Harris, who was in the midst of his fifth season as the team's skipper. Richards and Harris were a management team that had worked in tandem for 15 years with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros before coming to the Braves.

Atlanta was 18–22 on June 1 when Richards was demoted from GM to special assignment scout; his replacement was another longtime associate, Eddie Robinson, 51, the director of the club's farm system. ^[6] Harris was fired August 6, with the Braves standing at 47–57 (.452), in fourth place in the NL West Division and 16 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. His successor was another internal hire, Eddie Mathews, 40, the team's first-base coach and perennial All-Star third baseman from its glory days in Milwaukee during the 1950s. ^[7]

Season standings

v t e NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	95	59	0.617	—	42–34	53–25
Houston Astros	84	69	0.549	10½	41–36	43–33
Los Angeles Dodgers	85	70	0.548	10½	41–34	44–36
Atlanta Braves	70	84	0.455	25	36–41	34–43
San Francisco Giants	69	86	0.445	26½	34–43	35–43
San Diego Padres	58	95	0.379	36½	26–54	32–41

Record vs. opponents

1972 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7–1	9–9	7–7	7–8	4–8	7–5	6–6	6–6	6–11	7–11	6–6
Chicago	7–5–1	—	8–4	3–9	8–4	10–5	10–8	10–7	3–12	9–3	7–5	10–8
Cincinnati	9–9	4–8	—	11–6	9–5	8–4	8–4	10–2	8–4	8–10	10–5	10–2
Houston	7–7	9–3	6–11	—	7–11	8–4	6–6	9–3	3–9	12–2	13–5	4–8
Los Angeles	8–7	4–8	5–9	11–7	—	6–6	7–5	7–5	7–5	13–5	9–9	8–4
Montreal	8–4	5–10	4–8	4–8	6–6	—	6–12	10–6	6–12	6–6	6–6	9–8
New York	5–7	8–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	12–6	—	13–5	8–6	7–5	8–4	7–9
Philadelphia	6-6	7–10	2–10	3–9	5–7	6–10	5–13	—	5–13	6–6	6–6	8–7
Pittsburgh	6–6	12–3	4–8	9–3	5–7	12–6	6–8	13–5	—	10–2	9–3	10–8
San Diego	11–6	3–9	10–8	2–12	5–13	6–6	5–7	6–6	2–10	—	4–10	4–8
San Francisco	11–7	5–7	5–10	5–13	9–9	6–6	4–8	6–6	3–9	10–4	—	5–7
St. Louis	6–6	8–10	2–10	8–4	4–8	8–9	9–7	7–8	8–10	8–4	7–5	—

Roster

1972 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 24 Steve Barber 24 Jimmy Freeman 27 Jim Hardin 43 Joe Hoerner 39 Tom House 33 Pat Jarvis 23 Larry Jaster 36 Tom Kelley 30 Denny McLain 22 Mike McQueen 23 Jim Nash 31 Gary Neibauer 35 Phil Niekro 38 Ron Reed 37 Ron Schueler 40 George Stone 34 Cecil Upshaw		Catchers 15 Paul Casanova  4 Bob Didier 32 Earl Williams Infielders 44 Hank Aaron  4 Larvell Blanks  2 Jim Breazeale 30 Orlando Cepeda 11 Darrell Evans  7 Gil Garrido 19 Rod Gilbreath 16 Sonny Jackson 17 Félix Millán  9 Marty Perez		Outfielders 12 Dusty Baker 45 Oscar Brown 25 Rico Carty 48 Ralph Garr 28 Mike Lum 18 Rowland Office		Manager 26 Lum Harris 41 Eddie Mathews Coaches  5 Lew Burdette  8 Jim Busby 41 Eddie Mathews  3 Ken Silvestri

Player stats

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Earl Williams	151	565	146	.258	28	87
1B	Hank Aaron	129	449	119	.265	34	77
2B	Félix Millán	125	498	128	.257	1	38
SS	Marty Perez	141	479	109	.228	1	28
3B	Darrell Evans	125	418	106	.254	19	71
LF	Rico Carty	86	271	75	.277	6	29
CF	Dusty Baker	127	446	143	.321	17	76
RF	Mike Lum	123	369	84	.228	9	38

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Ralph Garr	134	554	180	.325	12	53
Oscar Brown	76	164	37	.226	3	16
Paul Casanova	49	136	28	.206	2	10
Sonny Jackson	60	126	30	.238	0	8
Larvell Blanks	33	85	28	.329	1	7
Jim Breazeale	52	85	21	.247	5	17
Orlando Cepeda	28	84	25	.298	4	9
Gil Garrido	40	75	20	.267	0	7
Bob Didier	13	40	12	.300	0	5
Rod Gilbreath	18	38	9	.237	0	1
Rowland Office	2	5	2	.400	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Phil Niekro	38	282.1	16	12	3.06	164
Ron Reed	31	213.0	11	15	3.93	111
Jimmy Freeman	6	36.0	2	2	6.00	18

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ron Schueler	37	144.2	5	8	3.67	96
Tom Kelley	27	116.1	5	7	4.56	59
George Stone	31	111.0	6	11	5.51	63
Pat Jarvis	37	98.2	11	7	4.10	56
Jim Hardin	26	79.2	5	2	4.41	25
Mike McQueen	23	78.1	0	5	4.60	40
Denny McLain	15	54.0	3	5	6.50	21
Jim Nash	11	31.1	1	1	5.46	10
Larry Jaster	5	12.1	1	1	5.11	6

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Cecil Upshaw	42	3	5	13	3.69	23
Joe Hoerner	25	1	3	2	6.56	19
Gary Neibauer	8	0	0	0	7.27	8
Tom House	8	0	0	2	2.89	7
Steve Barber	5	0	0	0	5.74	6

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Clyde King
AA	Savannah Braves	Southern League	Clint Courtney
A	Greenwood Braves	Western Carolinas League	Paul Snyder
Rookie	Wytheville Braves	Appalachian League	Eddie Haas

Notes

1. Paul Casanova page at Baseball Reference
2. Steve Barber page at Baseball Reference
3. Preston Hanna page at Baseball Reference
4. Andre Thornton page at Baseball Reference
5. Orlando Cepeda page at Baseball Reference
6. Caruso, Gary, The Braves Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995, page 330
7. Newspaper article, The Associated Press, August 7, 1972

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN   978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1972 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference