1975 Atlanta Braves season

1975  Atlanta Braves
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Atlanta Stadium
City	Atlanta
Record	67–94 (.416)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	William Bartholomay
General managers	Eddie Robinson
Managers	Clyde King, Connie Ryan
Television	WTCG
Radio	WSB (Ernie Johnson, Milo Hamilton)
←  1974 Seasons 1976  →

The 1975 Atlanta Braves season was the tenth season in Atlanta along with the 105th season as a franchise overall and the 100th in the National League.

Offseason

• November 2, 1974: Hank Aaron was traded by the Braves to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dave May and a player to be named later. The Brewers completed the deal by sending Roger Alexander (minors) to the Braves on December 2. ^[1]
• November 8, 1974: Danny Frisella was traded by the Braves to the San Diego Padres for Cito Gaston. ^[2]
• December 3, 1974: The Braves traded a player to be named later and cash to the Chicago White Sox for Dick Allen. The Braves completed the deal by sending Jim Essian to the White Sox on May 15, 1975. ^[3]
• March 28, 1975: Paul Casanova was released by the Braves. ^[4]
• March 29, 1975: Jack Pierce was traded by the Braves to the Detroit Tigers for Reggie Sanders. ^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	108	54	0.667	—	64–17	44–37
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	74	0.543	20	49–32	39–42
San Francisco Giants	80	81	0.497	27½	46–35	34–46
San Diego Padres	71	91	0.438	37	38–43	33–48
Atlanta Braves	67	94	0.416	40½	37–43	30–51
Houston Astros	64	97	0.398	43½	37–44	27–53

Record vs. opponents

1975 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	3–15	12–6	8–10	8–4	4–8	5–7	4–8	7–11	8–9	3–9
Chicago	7–5	—	1–11	7–5	5–7	9–9	7–11	12–6	6–12	5–7	5–7	11–7
Cincinnati	15–3	11–1	—	13–5	8–10	8–4	8–4	7–5	6–6	11–7	13–5	8–4
Houston	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	6–12	8–4	4–8	6–6	6–5	9–9	5–13	4–8–1
Los Angeles	10–8	7–5	10–8	12–6	—	5–7	6–6	7–5	5–7	11–7	10–8	5–7
Montreal	4–8	9–9	4–8	4–8	7–5	—	10–8	7–11	7–11	7–5	5–7	11–7
New York	8–4	11–7	4–8	8–4	6–6	8–10	—	7–11	5–13	8–4	8–4	9–9
Philadelphia	7-5	6–12	5–7	6–6	5–7	11–7	11–7	—	11–7	7–5	7–5	10–8
Pittsburgh	8–4	12–6	6–6	5–6	7–5	11–7	13–5	7–11	—	8–4	5–7	10–8
San Diego	11–7	7–5	7–11	9–9	7–11	5–7	4–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	4–8
San Francisco	9–8	7–5	5–13	13–5	8–10	7–5	4–8	5–7	7–5	10–8	—	5–7
St. Louis	9–3	7–11	4–8	8–4–1	7–5	7–11	9–9	8–10	8–10	8–4	7–5	—

Notable transactions

• April 4, 1975: Leo Foster was traded by the Braves to the New York Mets for Joe Nolan. ^[6]
• May 7, 1975: Dick Allen and Johnny Oates were traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jim Essian, Barry Bonnell, and $150,000. ^[3]
• May 28, 1975: Ron Reed and a player to be named later were traded by the Braves to the St. Louis Cardinals for Elías Sosa and Ray Sadecki. The Braves completed the deal by sending Wayne Nordhagen to the Cardinals on June 2. ^[7]
• June 3, 1975: 1975 Major League Baseball draft
  • Gary Cooper was drafted by the Braves in the 3rd round. ^[8]
  • Glenn Hubbard was drafted by the Braves in the 20th round. ^[9]
• June 7, 1975: Roric Harrison was traded by the Braves to the Cleveland Indians for Blue Moon Odom and a player to be named later. The Indians completed the deal by sending Rob Belloir to the Braves at June 16. ^[10]
• June 16, 1975: Rick Mahler was signed by the Braves as an amateur free agent. ^[11]

Managerial turnover

The 1974 Braves had thrived under manager Clyde King upon his appointment July 24, going 38–25 to finish the year 14 games above .500. But the 1975 club fell under the break-even mark May 23 and never recovered. They were 58–76 (.433) and 311⁄2 games behind the Cincinnati Reds when King was fired on August 29, 1975. With only a handful of games left in the season, special scout Connie Ryan, a veteran former Braves' infielder and coach, was named to finish out the string, and the club performed even more poorly under Ryan, at 9–18.

For 1976, GM Eddie Robinson promised to hire a "firebrand" to replace the scholarly King, ^[12] and in October he selected Dave Bristol as the team's new skipper. Bristol, 42, had been the third-base coach of the Montreal Expos from 1973 to 1975 and had previously compiled a poor record (144–209, .408) with the 1970–1972 Milwaukee Brewers. But he was hailed as an unsung contributor to "the Big Red Machine" Cincinnati dynasty, when, as Sparky Anderson's predecessor, he inserted into the lineup many of the players—like Johnny Bench, Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Gary Nolan—who proved to be key contributors to the Cincinnati championship clubs of the early 1970s. Bristol also had led the Reds to first division finishes in each of his three full seasons (1967–1969) as manager.

Said Helms upon Bristol's hiring by the Braves: "[Bristol] has a way of letting the players know how to win and what it's like to win. He's fiery and he's tough, but he's a ballplayer's man." ^[13]

Roster

1975 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 27 Mike Beard 47 Buzz Capra 30 Bruce Dal Canton 36 Adrian Devine 45 Jamie Easterly 25 Gary Gentry 24 Preston Hanna 24 Roric Harrison 26 Tom House 25 Frank LaCorte 31 Max León 49 Carl Morton 35 Phil Niekro 13 Blue Moon Odom 38 Ron Reed 34 Ray Sadecki 38 Elías Sosa 33 Mike Thompson 39 Pablo Torrealba		Catchers 29 Vic Correll 20 Joe Nolan 15 Johnny Oates 42 Biff Pocoroba Infielders 16 Bob Beall 10 Rob Belloir  4 Larvell Blanks 11 Darrell Evans 19 Rod Gilbreath 15 Ed Goodson 28 Mike Lum  9 Marty Perez 10 Craig Robinson 32 Earl Williams		Outfielders 12 Dusty Baker 48 Ralph Garr 43 Cito Gaston 27 Dave May 22 Rowland Office Other batters  6 Davey Johnson  7 Frank Tepedino		Manager 14 Clyde King  6 Connie Ryan Coaches  8 Jim Busby  1 Eddie Haas  3 Ken Silvestri 23 Herm Starrette

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	Vic Correll	103	325	70	.215	11	39
1B	Earl Williams	111	383	92	.240	11	50
2B	Marty Perez	120	461	127	.275	2	34
SS	Larvell Blanks	141	471	110	.234	3	38
3B	Darrell Evans	156	567	138	.243	22	73
LF	Ralph Garr	151	625	174	.278	6	31
CF	Rowland Office	126	355	103	.290	3	30
RF	Dusty Baker	142	494	129	.261	19	72

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
Mike Lum	124	364	83	.228	8	36
Dave May	82	203	56	.276	12	40
Rod Gilbreath	90	202	49	.243	2	16
Biff Pocoroba	67	188	48	.255	1	22
Cito Gaston	64	141	34	.241	6	15
Rob Belloir	43	105	23	.219	0	9
Ed Goodson	47	76	16	.211	1	8
Bob Beall	20	31	7	.226	0	1
Johnny Oates	8	18	4	.222	0	0
Craig Robinson	10	17	1	.059	0	0
Frank Tepedino	8	7	0	.000	0	0
Joe Nolan	4	4	1	.250	0	0
Davey Johnson	1	1	1	1.000	0	1

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
Carl Morton	39	277.2	17	16	3.50	78
Phil Niekro	39	275.2	15	15	3.20	144
Buzz Capra	12	78.1	4	7	4.25	35
Ron Reed	10	74.2	4	5	4.22	40

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
Jamie Easterly	21	68.2	2	9	4.98	34
Bruce Dal Canton	26	67.0	2	7	3.36	38
Ray Sadecki	25	66.1	2	3	4.21	24
Blue Moon Odom	15	56.0	1	7	7.07	30
Roric Harrison	15	54.2	3	4	4.77	22
Mike Thompson	16	51.2	0	6	4.70	42
Gary Gentry	7	20.0	1	1	4.95	10
Adrian Devine	5	16.1	1	0	4.41	8
Frank LaCorte	3	13.2	0	3	5.27	10

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
Tom House	58	7	7	11	3.18	36
Max León	50	2	1	6	4.13	53
Elías Sosa	43	2	2	2	4.48	31
Mike Beard	34	4	0	0	3.20	27
Pablo Torrealba	6	0	1	0	1.35	5
Preston Hanna	4	0	0	0	1.59	2

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Clint Courtney and Bob Lemon
AA	Savannah Braves	Southern League	Tommie Aaron
A	Greenwood Braves	Western Carolinas League	Bobby Dews
Rookie	Kingsport Braves	Appalachian League	Gene Hassell

Notes

1. Hank Aaron at Baseball Reference
2. Cito Gaston at Baseball Reference
3. Dick Allen at Baseball Reference
4. Paul Casanova at Baseball Reference
5. Jack Pierce at Baseball Reference
6. Leo Foster at Baseball Reference
7. Wayne Nordhagen at Baseball Reference
8. Gary Cooper at Baseball Reference
9. Glenn Hubbard at Baseball Reference
10. Blue Moon Odom at Baseball Reference
11. Rick Mahler at Baseball Reference
12. "Braves fire Clyde king as manager" United Press International, Rome News-Tribune, Aug. 31, 1975
13. Florence Times/Tri-Cities Daily, Oct. 15, 1975

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.
• 1975 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference
• Atlanta Braves at Baseball Almanac