1984 Atlanta Braves season

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1984  Atlanta Braves
League National League
Division West
Ballpark Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
City Atlanta
Record80–82 (.494)
Divisional place2nd
Owners Ted Turner
General managers John Mullen
Managers Joe Torre
Television WTBS
Superstation WTBS
Radio WSB
(Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, John Sterling)
  1983 Seasons 1985  

The 1984 Atlanta Braves season was the 19th season in Atlanta along with the 114th overall.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

The 1984 Braves third season with Joe Torre at the helm was a disappointing one. Despite a winning record throughout most of the season they finished the campaign with an 80–82 mark, tied for second with the Houston Astros, 12 games behind the San Diego Padres.

Atlanta stumbled out of the gate with a 2–7 mark on April 13, and were six games out of first place. The Braves had a 6–11 record on April 25 but won three in a row and later won eight of nine to go above the .500 mark for the first time in 1984. They were 18–15 on May 13, tied for third and two games out of first.

On May 24 Atlanta lost a double-header to the Cubs 10–7, 7–5 to drop to the .500 mark at 21-21. Atlanta rebounded to win 13 of its next 15 games to surge into first place with a 34–23 mark on June 7. The Braves were 32-16 since April 14 and were in first place by 1½ games. The season was beginning to look good for Atlanta.

Unfortunately for the Braves this would prove to be the high water mark for the season. Atlanta lost five in a row from June 8 to 12 to fall into second place, 3½ games out of first. They were never to be in first place again in 1984.

June 16, 1984: The Braves were playing the Cincinnati Reds in Atlanta. Mario Soto threw several brushback pitches at Braves slugger Claudell Washington. Washington tossed his bat in the direction of Soto, appeared to go out to retrieve it, but instead walked toward the mound. Umpire Lanny Harris attempted to restrain Washington. Harris was thrown to the ground. Soto used the distraction to punch Washington. Several of Washington's teammates attempted to hold Washington to the ground. While they were doing that, Soto fired the baseball into the crowd of players, striking Braves coach Joe Pignatano. He was suspended three games for this incident; Washington received a five-game suspension for shoving (umpire) Lanny Harris. (Both Soto and Washington were ejected from the game.)

On June 20 the Braves were 39-29 and in second place, 1½ games out of first. By the end of June they were 43-35 and three games out of first. July would prove to be tougher for the Braves however. Atlanta went 5–12 to begin the month of July. On July 19 the Braves owned a 48–47 record and were seven games out of first and still in second place. It was growing more obvious that this wouldn't be the magical season fans had wished it would be. Atlanta was 8½ games out of first on the last day of July.

On August 3 the Braves were six games over the .500 mark with a 57–51 record following a 2–1 win over the Giants. The league leading San Diego Padres lost that day and the Braves closed within 7½ games of the lead. The Braves were still hopeful of a late season surge but it appeared that might not happen.

After August 3 things turned rotten on the Braves. From August 4 to September 9 the Braves posted a 12–23 record that reduced them to 69–74 with an eleven-game deficit with 19 games to play. The Braves had also slipped to third place. The "pennant race" was over.

Brawl with the San Diego Padres

The Braves' regular season is most remembered for an August 12 game at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium against the San Diego Padres. From the start, the game was tense and erupted into a series of brawls which ended with a total of 13 ejections and 5 arrests. All fans who participated in the taunting and brawls were detained and arrested. The Braves eventually won the game by a score of 5–3. Fines and suspensions were issued four days later on August 16 to Williams ($10,000, ten days) and Summers, Brown, Torre ($1,000), Perry ($700), Bedrosian ($600) and Mahler ($700) who each received three-day suspensions. Virgil, Krol, Whitson, Booker, Lefferts, Bevacqua, Flannery, Nettles and Gossage for the Padres (all undisclosed) and Moore ($350) and Pérez ($300) for the Braves were all fined but not suspended. [3]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Diego Padres 9270.56848334437
Atlanta Braves 8082.4941238434239
Houston Astros 8082.4941243383744
Los Angeles Dodgers 7983.4881340413942
Cincinnati Reds 7092.4322239423150
San Francisco Giants 6696.4072635463150

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamATLCHCCINHOULADMTLNYMPHIPITSDSFSTL
Atlanta 3–913–512–66–125–74–87–58–47–1110–85–7
Chicago 9–37–56–67–510–712–69–98–106–69–313–5
Cincinnati 5–135–78–107–117–53–95–77–57–1112–64–8
Houston 6–126–610–89–97–54–86–66–66–1212–68–4
Los Angeles 12–65–77–119–96–63–93–94–810–810–86–6
Montreal 7–57–105–75–76–67–1111–77–117–57–59–9
New York 8–46–129–38–49–311–710–812–66–64–87–11
Philadelphia 5-79–97–56–69–37–118–107–117–58–48–10
Pittsburgh 4–810–85–76–68–411–76–1211–74–86–64–14
San Diego 11–76–611–712–68–105–76–65–78–413–57–5
San Francisco 8–103–96–126–128–105–78–44–86–65–137–5
St. Louis 7–55–138–44–86–69–911–710–814–45–75–7

Notable transactions

Roster

1984 Atlanta Braves
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Bruce Benedict 9530067.223425
1B Chris Chambliss 135389100.257944
2B Glenn Hubbard 12039793.234943
SS Rafael Ramírez 145591157.266248
3B Randy Johnson 9129482.279530
LF Gerald Perry 12234792.265747
CF Dale Murphy 162607176.29036100
RF Claudell Washington 120416119.2861761

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Brad Komminsk 9030161.203836
Alex Treviño 7926665.244328
Jerry Royster 8122747.207121
Ken Oberkfell 5017240.233110
Albert Hall 8714237.26119
Bob Horner 3211331.274319
Terry Harper 4010216.15708
Milt Thompson 259930.30324
Paul Runge 289024.26703
Bob Watson 498518.212212
Rufino Linares 345812.207110
Mike Jorgensen 31267.26905
Paul Zuvella 11255.20001
Matt Sinatro 240.00000
Biff Pocoroba 420.00000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Rick Mahler 38222.013103.12106
Pascual Pérez 30211.21483.74145
Craig McMurtry 37183.19174.3299
Rick Camp 31148.2863.2789
Len Barker 21126.1783.8595
Zane Smith 320.0102.2516
Ken Dayley 418.2035.3010

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Pete Falcone 35120.0574.1355
Tony Brizzolara 1029.0125.2817
Mike Payne 35.2016.353

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Donnie Moore 4745162.9447
Gene Garber 6236113.0655
Jeff Dedmon 544343.7851
Steve Bedrosian 4096112.3781
Terry Forster 252052.7010

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Eddie Haas and Bobby Dews
AA Greenville Braves Southern League Bobby Dews and Leo Mazzone
A Durham Bulls Carolina League Brian Snitker
A Anderson Braves South Atlantic League Rick Albert
Rookie Pulaski Braves Appalachian League Buddy Bailey
Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Pedro González

See also

References

  1. Tommy Boggs at Baseball Reference
  2. Brett Butler at Baseball Reference
  3. "Williams and Torre Suspended, Fined," The Associated Press (AP), Friday, August 17, 1984. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  4. Biff Pocoroba at Baseball Reference
  5. Tom Glavine at Baseball Reference
  6. Ken Dayley at Baseball Reference