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.

Time for an extra helping of the "Top Braves during the Streak," and with it we see some of the biggest offensive stars the Braves have had in the last decade and half.

7. Fred McGriff - The day he got here in 1993 was the day the Atlanta Braves caught fire, both literally and figuratively. Before McGriff's first game as a Brave on July 20th, the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium press box caught on fire. And during the game McGriff's sixth inning homerun tied it up before the team went ahead in the eighth. The Braves marched on to a 51-17 record after his arrival en route to the most wins in franchise history (to that point) and another division title. The Crime Dog was about as steady as one could be in solidifying the middle of the Atlanta lineup for the next four years, producing at least 20 homeruns and 90 RBI in each year. He was also an All-Star in each of his first three years in Atlanta.
8. David Justice - The oft-injured outfield slugger will always be remembered in Atlanta for that sweet sweeping swing he had that at times seemed more like a golf swing than a baseball swing. Justice burst onto the scene a year before the streak started and won the Rookie of the Year award in a nearly unanimous vote. As a slugger, Justice possessed great plate discipline which got better as he gained more experience, and he routinely posted more walks than strikeouts. He was a very streaky player, prone to long dry spells followed by bursts of power and production. His best year was in '93 when he benefited from the presence of Fred McGriff in the lineup by posting a whopping 40 homeruns and 120 RBI.
9. Rafael Furcal - Fookey is another player who burst onto the scene in Atlanta. After only getting as high as A+ ball the year before, Furcal won a spot on the Atlanta roster splitting time with Walt Weiss, and took over the lead-off duties half way through the season. With his 40 stolen bases and almost .400 on-base percentage Furcal won the Rookie of the Year award. As the years went on he grew into more power, but he seemed to lose much of his plate discipline and never again came within 40 points of the .394 OBP he put up his rookie year. Furcal also added value in the field with perhaps the best shortstop arm in either league. He was at times error-prone, but he also took away a lot of hits with his range and ability to get the ball to first base a half-step faster than most everyone else. The way in which Furcal solidified the lead-off position in Atlanta was not completely felt until after he left - very few can match him as a 40-steal threat with power.
10. Javy Lopez - Three times an all star and twice in the MVP voting, Javy enjoyed almost ten full seasons with the Braves. Often criticized for his sluggishness behind the plate, and lack of fully realized potential, Lopez was nonetheless the best catcher by far that the Braves had during the streak. Let's also face the fact that anytime a team can get 20 homeruns and 65+ RBI a year from their catcher they should be happy, and Javy did that in five of those ten seasons. With MVP-worthy years in '98 and '03 he built up an average of 28 homeruns and 93 RBI per 162 games played for his career - not bad at all for a catcher.
    

14. Mark Wohlers - I still remember watching his Major League debut against San Diego in '91. Wohlers came into the game in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the tying run on third and struck out Tim Teufel for the final out. We had heard so many good things about Mark, and here he was in his first game in the Majors and he looked every bit as good as he was made out to be. Wohlers continued to set-up for several more years before assuming the closers' role in '95. He of course got the final out in the World Series that year, and was one of our better postseason pitchers during the streak with 2.35 career postseason ERA and nine saves. Who knows what happened to him in '98. Some call it Steve Blass disease, but whatever it was it pretty much ended his career.
15. Ryan Klesko - He had one of the best but not so often used nicknames of Thumper. Ryno never seemed to reach his full potential, always just sitting on the cusp of doing great things. Perhaps his growth as a Major Leaguer was a bit retarded by his lack of a natural position to play. The Braves never seemed to give him the first base job outright (sound familiar), and in the outfield he was a juggernaut of a fielder. Klesko was an above average postseason performer, clubbing three of his ten career postseason homers in the '95 World Series. My fondest memory of Thumper was during the '98 NLDS against the Cubs when he hit a grand slam in the seventh inning of game one. I was sitting towards the back of the first level of seats, 30 rows up or so from the field and about 20 seats from the foul pole along the first base line. I swear to this day that the homerun Klesko hit did not get above my head - that thing was a serious line-drive homerun that probably never made it 40 feet off the ground.
16. Otis Nixon - The first spark plug of the Atlanta lineup, he probably did more in the department of distracting pitchers than he did in the department of scoring runs. If he would have played a full slate of games in '91 he probably would have stolen 100 bases, and if he had not tested positive for cocaine towards the end of that year and missed the World Series our fortunes in that postseason might have been different. (Cocaine is a hell of a drug.) Nevertheless, Nixon was the prototypical 80's/early 90's lead-off guy (Vince Coleman, Ricky Henderson), and proved to be an important force when in the lineup. He helped establish the tempo of the team in the worst-to-first year, and contributed to the rebuilt defense.
    

17. Brian Jordan - Take Jordan for what he did during his first stint with the Braves, not the hobbled shell of a baseball player who returned the last two years. Jordan anchored the center of the Braves order for parts of three years and when batting fourth in '99 was instrumental in helping Chipper win the MVP. His addition to the team that year - and his contribution on the field - was especially important after the loss of Galarraga for the season. He is another guy who was considered a great clubhouse personality, which is probably the reason he was brought back the last two seasons. He came up big in several postseason series for the Braves, and that is most likely why I rank him higher on this list than Galaragga or Sheffield.
18. Andres Galarraga - He may have been the best pure cleanup hitter we had during the streak. McGriff was solid, but Galarraga was the fear in the middle of the order. His first season with the Braves was as good as the ones he had been having in Colorado, and he showed no outward signs of slowing down, but a diagnosis of cancer made him miss the '99 season. He miraculously came back in 2000, and had a season that many players would envy, batting over .300 and driving in 100 runs. He is another player, like Sheffield, who unfortunately fizzled in the postseason. He gets a lot of points for his smile alone - a full register of teeth, top and bottom, with a little touch of shyness. The only things that could put a damper on that smile were the times he was hit by a pitch (25 times in '98). It got so bad at one point in '98 that the Big Cat finally snapped and charged the mound, putting Darren Dreifort in an unforgiving headlock - he might get some extra points for that brawl too (if only I could have put Charlie O'Brien on this list somewhere).
19. Kevin Millwood - He has one of the sleepiest deliveries I can think of, but he nonetheless puts some heat behind it. Mill was twice an 18-game winner and once a 17-game winner for the Braves, but even with a great record he never seemed to rise to that ace level that many thought he was bound for after his breakthrough year in '99. Even after he left Atlanta his good years have been surrounded by several bad or mediocre years - he has never put together solid back to back seasons. He had an above average postseason record, with just two really bad outings spoiling what would otherwise have been a spectacular postseason record.
    

20. Gary Sheffield - Injuries cut his first year as a Brave short by a couple dozen games, but he still managed to get some MVP votes reflecting just how important he was when he was in the lineup. His real success came in 2003 when he finished third in the MVP voting and anchored one of the most potent offensive years in Braves history. His tenure as a Brave may have been short - and he wasn't considered a clubhouse guy - but he solidified the middle of the batting order as good as anyone else during the streak. If he had been with the Braves for several more years he would have probably been much higher on this list. The only real knock against him was that after being a hero for Florida in the `97 Series, he fizzled both years in the postseason, driving in only two RBIs in 30 postseason at-bats for the Braves.
21. Charlie Liebrandt - I rank him higher than Neagle and Ortiz because of what he did as the fourth starter during a time when you had to win more regular season games to make the postseason (before three divisions and the wild card). As opposed to most pitchers who spent their time in Atlanta during their peak years or came up through the Braves system, Leibrandt spent the tail end of his career with the Braves. He was a 15 game winner in both `91 and `92 with ERAs of less than 3.50. Charlie was the blue-collar type pitcher who regularly threw 200+ innings and had a lot to do with teaching the Glavines and the Smoltzes how to be Major League pitchers - he was also with the Braves in 1990 and helped them turn their raw talent into Major League success. He was 6-2 for the Braves in the postseason, but will probably be remembered more for giving up the Game 6 homerun to Kirby Puckett in the `91 World Series.
22. Marcus Giles - He was by far the best second baseman of the streak. Mark Lemke's not on this list, though he would have probably made the top 35. Whereas Lemmer was all defense and no hit, Giles was solid on defense and a solid hitter as well. Forget for a moment the declining stats for each of the last three years, until this year he was above the league average for second baseman in most all offensive categories. Giles also gets a lot of points for having such a bubbly personality. He was one of those guys who seemed to bounce right back up after getting knocked down (and he got knocked down a lot); and an attitude like that on a baseball team is often greatly undervalued. A team is going to lose a lot of games over the course of the season, and what attitude a player takes with him to the field after those losses will affect those around him and can play a big part in a team bouncing back with a win. Was there less of a positive attitude from Giles this year because of his dislike of the lead-off role? Who knows.
    

Here are the next three (actually four) on the list. This solves the mystery of the "29 most important Braves" only having 28 places - I forced a tie between Neagle and Ortiz. For an introduction to the list, go here.

23. Mike Remlinger - One of the best left-handed relievers in the game at the turn of the century. From his 10-and-1 season in `99 to his 1.99 ERA in `02 when he was an All-Star, Remlinger was the mark of consistency from the left side of the pen which we haven't seen since. Forget what he did (or didn't do) in 2006 - after his poor showing in Spring Training he should have never made the club. I have a lot of bullpen guys on this list, and I don't know if that is a symptom of last season's bullpen woes or if last season showed us just how valuable even the second or third guy out of the pen can be.
24. Julio Franco - The ageless one. This is the first guy on here who gets a lot of points for being one of those "leaders in the clubhouse." That may be a cliché, but it was an all-important part of the run of success that the Braves enjoyed for a decade and a half. Franco was the selfless pinch-hitter who's unconventional stance and beautiful opposite field stroke got the fans excited when he came up to pinch hit in the late innings. He is still applauded when he comes back to Atlanta as a member of the Mets for what he accomplished as a Brave. When we look at pinch hitters throughout the streak, his name stands out as the best of the bunch by far. And when we look at the end of the streak, he should be someone we admit that we may have missed last year.
25. Denny Neagle & Russ Ortiz (tie) - These are two guys who spent a very brief time with the team, and amazingly had the same exact record during their two "full" years with the Braves, 36-16, though Neagle started a handful of games after being acquired at the end of `96. So the same record thing is one of the big reasons I made them tie, though Neagle was actually a little better during his stint in a Braves uniform. They both won 20 games (21 for Ortiz), placed in the top four in Cy Young voting, and were named to the All-Star team in their first year as Braves. Ortiz was a walk machine who eventually crumbled under the weight of his free passes (and perhaps his own weight), and Neagle made the mistake of thinking he could be successful in Coors Field. But while they were Braves they were considered part of the core of starters that was "supposed" to define the Braves organization.
    

For me, the Atlanta Braves should be defined as two separate franchises: the post 1990 Braves who won 14 straight division titles and enjoyed very little meddling from owner Ted Turner, and the pre 1990 Braves who reached the postseason just twice in 24 years and were constantly being harassed by an overbearing and meddlesome owner. These are also Braves teams from two different eras in baseball: the 1990's and beyond steroids era, and the non-steroids pre-1990 era. To try and make sense between the two epochs of the Braves seemed uneven, so I decided to just take the last two decades (the 90's and the 00's) and list the top 29 players whose overall contributions as Braves were most important to the team's success.

I considered stats, postseason performance, award hardware, perceived presence in the clubhouse, and probably just my general recollection of each player (which is obviously biased). Feel free to disagree, wildly if necessary. I will be presenting the list three players at a time throughout the next few weeks and over the holidays as it is bound to be a slow news time, and this will give us something to discuss. I'm not going to go into wild detail about each player, but I will try to give you the reasoning behind why I ranked a player where I ranked them. Take this opportunity to post any nostalgic thoughts about these players, or relate any stories about certain players.

Here are the first (or bottom) three.

26. Kent Merker - Merk is a tough one to measure. He always seemed to have more talent than the box score showed. Maybe it was because he was our most valuable swing man during the early years of the streak; able to fill in as closer when needed in the bullpen, or pitch a no-hitter when needed in the rotation. Okay, he wasn't that amazing, but as we saw for all those years, pennants are won as much by the quality of the players who simply fill out the roster (Cabrera, Devereaux, Franco) as much as the stars who headline the starting lineup. By having a pitcher with the talent of Merker at the end of your rotation or in the pen, the Braves were able to win a lot more games during the season that other teams could not.
27. Greg McMichael - He may be the prototypical early 90s reliever that Bobby Cox loved. A guy who was equally comfortable saving games as he was setting up for another closer. He was as valuable a member of the bullpen as any for the four years he was in Atlanta, including a solid performance in the '95 National League Championship Series. A guy like McMichael would probably get a four-year $24 million contract if he were in his prime as a free agent this off-season. As it was though, he never made more than $2 million in any single season.
28. John Rocker - Seriously, don't laugh. He stepped up in 1999 when Kerry Ligtenberg went down and Mark Wohlers was still unable to get it together, only a year after being one of the most dominant left-handed relievers in the game. He continued to be a very valuable closer for the next two years until his mouth got him into trouble.