The 29 Most Important Braves during the Streak: Previewing the Final Six

by gondeee on Jan 5, 2007 3:53 PM EST

So we have six remaining spots for the Braves who were the most important to the team during their 14 consecutive division titles. I already have the ranking established on my list, which will be revealed in the coming week(s), but here's your chance to debate and/or vote for the player who you thought was the most important to the team during their historic run.

Poll

Which one of these players meant the most to the Braves during their 14 consecutive division titles?

Chipper Jones

31 votes

Greg Maddux

45 votes

Terry Pendleton

4 votes

John Smoltz

107 votes

Tom Glavine

16 votes

Andruw Jones

6 votes

209 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Well

This is certainly a hard decision. I'll probably have to go with smoltz or glavine. They are the only ones that were close to being here for the duration of the streak. Chipper gets the slight edge over Andruw for best position player during the streak, although with Chiippers injuries and andruw's explosion the last couple of years it gets much closer.

Still in the end i think it has to be smoltz. He won a cy, he was the best pitcher we had in the playoffs no matter what role he was in and he was disgustingly good as a closer. His Cy season was amazing. I really remember it more than any of maddux or glavine's simply because of how overpowering he was. His era may not have been as low or any of that stuff, he was just memorable that year. And he was that way in the bullpen too. And now as he is the anchor of the staff in his last few years with the team he seems to embody what the streak and being a brave during the Bobby Cox/John Schuerholtz run was.

.....Matt

by yondaime4 on Jan 6, 2007 12:39 AM EST reply actions

Two Things

Here's the ranking by Win Shares. I don't think WS are the end-all, be-all, but they are convenient.

C Jones 303
Maddux 246
A jones 240
Smoltz 240
Glavine 229
Pendleton 84

I'm inclined to bump Smoltz up to second based on his being here through the entire streak. He loses a bit on win shares for missing 2000 and most of 2001, sucking in 1994. Pendelton is one of my favorites. he gets bonus points for leadership and being a good hitting coach. I can see bumping him up the list past McGriff (91 WS), Klesko (94), Giles (101), Blauser (116), and perhaps Furcal and Justice (119). But I don't see him matching the HOF numbers put up by the top five or passing Lopez at 158.

Why is C Jones at the top? Well, Smoltz's best season -- 1996 -- was worth 27 win shares. Maddux topped out at 30. Chipper was better than 25 win shares all but one year from 1996 to 2003 -- a Hall of Fame peak. And he has never had a year worth less than 19. The consistently great performance is what vaults him above everyone.

There is one player missing from your list, however, that you mentioend earler. Mark Lemke. Lemke put seven good years into the Braves, racking up a respectable 70 win shares -- 16th during the streak. Once he was gone, the Braves flopped aroud with Keith Lockhart, Brett Boone and Quilvio Veras before finally finding a replacement in Marcus Giles. Lemmer's defense and post-season heroics. were critical to the first seven years, including the near-miss in '91 and the championship in '95.

by mhsiegel14 on Jan 7, 2007 1:44 PM EST reply actions

Ditto on the Lemmer

I would bump Russ Ortiz or Julio Franco to make room for Lemke. Great defense was a huge component of the Braves' success in the early half of their run. The vaunted pitching staff's gaudy numbers may not have been nearly as stellar without the gloves of Lemke, Raffy, TP and Otis catching everything in site.

Not your typical Assenmacher LOOGY

by Herb Urban on Jan 8, 2007 2:45 PM EST reply actions

Defense

"Great defense was a huge component of the Braves' success in the early half of their run."

I just remember the '95 NLCS in which on the rare occasions the Reds managed to get on base, Belliard and Lemker erased them on a double play. I believe they set a playoff record in one game. Bill James picked Lemke as the best 2B gloveman for the 90's in his Historical Abstract.

by mhsiegel14 on Jan 8, 2007 6:20 PM EST reply actions