1963 Milwaukee Braves season

1963 Milwaukee Braves
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record 84–78 (.519)
League place 6th
Other information
Owner(s) William Bartholomay
(chairman)
General manager(s) John McHale
Manager(s) Bobby Bragan
Local television WTMJ-TV
(Mike Walden, Blaine Walsh)
Local radio WEMP
(Earl Gillespie, Tom Collins)
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The 1963 Milwaukee Braves season was the 11th in Milwaukee and the 93st overall season of the franchise.

The sixth-place Braves finished the season with a 84–78 (.519) record, fifteen games behind the National League and World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.[1] The season's home attendance was 773,018,[2] ninth in the ten-team National League.

Offseason

Ownership change and managerial turnover

On November 16, 1962, the 17-year tenure of Louis Perini as owner of the Braves ended when the Boston construction magnate sold the team to a Chicago-based group of investors led by William Bartholomay.[9][10][11] The Braves' home attendance had been declining since its 1957 high-water mark of over 2.2 million fans to 767,000 in five short years, due to a drop-off in on-field success since its last postseason appearance (1959 NL playoff) and a ban on "bringing your own" food and beer to County Stadium. Within two years of buying the Braves, the Bartholomay group would be negotiating with Atlanta, in a successful bid to move the club to the Southeast as early as 1965.

The change in owners overshadowed the Braves' continued turbulence in the managerial chair. On October 5, 1962, Birdie Tebbetts, in office for only 13 months, resigned to join the Cleveland Indians in the American League.[12][13] His successor, Bobby Bragan, 45, was the team's fourth manager in five seasons.[14][15][16] He had been a coach with the expansion Houston Colt .45s in 1962 and had previously been fired from managing posts with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956–1957) and the Indians (1958). Bragan was last Braves' manager in Milwaukee (1965)—and the first in Atlanta in 1966, although he was fired on August 9 of that year,[17][18] after guiding the team to an overall record of 310–287 (.519) in over 3½ seasons.

Regular season

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 9963 0.611 — 50–31 49–32
St. Louis Cardinals 9369 0.574 6 53–28 40–41
San Francisco Giants 8874 0.543 11 50–31 38–43
Philadelphia Phillies 8775 0.537 12 45–36 42–39
Cincinnati Reds 8676 0.531 13 46–35 40–41
Milwaukee Braves 8478 0.519 15 45–36 39–42
Chicago Cubs 8280 0.506 17 43–38 39–42
Pittsburgh Pirates 7488 0.457 25 42–39 32–49
Houston Colt .45s 6696 0.407 33 44–37 22–59
New York Mets 51111 0.315 48 34–47 17–64

Record vs. opponents

1963 National League Records

Sources:
Team CHC CIN HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago —9–99–97–1112–611–79–98–1010–87–11
Cincinnati 9–9—11–78–1010–810–88–1011–78–1011–7
Houston 9–97–11—5–135–1313–58–106–128–105–13
Los Angeles 11–710–813–5—8–10–116–27–1113–59–912–6
Milwaukee 6–128–1013–510–8–1—12–610–87–1110–88–10
New York 7–118–105–132–166–12—8–104–146–125–13
Philadelphia 9–910–810–811–78–1010–8—13–58–108–10
Pittsburgh 10–87–1112–65–1311–714–45–13—5–135–13
San Francisco 8–1010–810–89–98–1012–610–813–5—8–10
St. Louis 11–77–1113–56–1210–813–510–813–510–8—

Notable transactions

Roster

1963 Milwaukee Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CJoe Torre142501147.2931471
3BEddie Mathews158547144.2632384
LFLee Maye124442120.2711134
RFHank Aaron161631201.31944130

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
Norm Larker6414726.177114
Len Gabrielson4612026.217315
Lou Klimchock24469.19601
Bob Uecker13164.25000
Rico Carty220.00000

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
Warren Spahn33259.22372.60102
Denny Lemaster4623711143.04190
Bob Sadowski19116.2572.6272
Lew Burdette1584653.6428

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
Bob Hendley41169.1993.93105
Bob Shaw481597112.66105
Tony Cloninger41145.19113.78100
Hank Fischer3174.1434.9672

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
Claude Raymond454655.4044
Ron Piché371103.4040
Dan Schneider301003.0919
Frank Funk253302.6819
Wade Blasingame200012.006

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Toronto Maple Leafs International League Bill Adair
AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Jack Tighe
AA Austin Senators Texas League Jimmy Brown
A Waycross Braves Georgia–Florida League Bill Steinecke
A Yakima Bears Northwest League Buddy Hicks
A Boise Braves Pioneer League Billy Smith
A Greenville Braves Western Carolinas League Jim Fanning and Paul Snyder

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Yakima, Greenville

Notes

  1. ↑ "Baseball in a nutshell". Milwaukee Sentinel. (final standings). September 30, 1963. p. 4, part 2.
  2. ↑ Thisted, Red (September 30, 1963). "Spahn spices finale, 2-0". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 2, part 2.
  3. ↑ Ron Hunt page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Ellis Burton page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Hal Haydel page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Don Taussig page at Baseball Reference
  7. 1 2 Norm Larker page at Baseball Reference
  8. 1 2 Lou Klimchock page at Baseball Reference
  9. ↑ Thisted, Red (November 17, 1962). "McHale, six others buy Braves for $5.5 million". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 1.
  10. ↑ Wolf, Bob (November 17, 1962). "Midwestern group purchases Braves". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, part 1.
  11. ↑ "Perini sells Braves to Milwaukee group". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. November 17, 1962. p. 11.
  12. ↑ Larson, Lloyd (October 6, 1962). "Tebbetts quits Braves!". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 1.
  13. ↑ Wolf, Bob (October 6, 1962). "Braves suddenly have some room at the top in wake of Tebbetts' abrupt disappearing act". Milwaukee Journal. p. 14.
  14. ↑ Thisted, Red (October 18, 1963). "Bragan new Braves' manager". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 2, part 2.
  15. ↑ Walfoort, Cleon (October 18, 1963). "Bragan learned along way in baseball". Milwaukee Journal. p. 17, part 2.
  16. ↑ "Bragan will pilot Braves". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 18, 1962. p. 16.
  17. ↑ "Hitchcock plans changes". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. August 10, 1966. p. 2, part 2.
  18. ↑ Wolf, Bob (August 10, 1966). "'Impulsive' best describes brash Bobby; orange drink costs him $100 and job". Milwaukee Journal. p. 2, part 21.
  19. ↑ http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/matheed01.php
  20. ↑ http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/snidedu01.php%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  21. 1 2 Chico Fernández page at Baseball Reference
  22. ↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1963as.shtml

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.
  • 1963 Milwaukee Braves season at Baseball Reference
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