the Braves got off to a slow start in the '50s

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Posted By: G. Maines

Heck, Mathews started while they were still in Boston, in '52.
And Adcock came the following year. With Aaron a year later.
But they had Buhl to go along with Burdette and Spahn.
I kept waiting for them to win. But it took until '57 - why?

Clearly their two big guys were better than Hodges and Snider, and Adcock was a clutch hitter in Berra's league. And there were plenty of others.
And the staff was not lacking. Nobody was a Spahn.

Gee, to my thinking: Aaron was better than Mantle, Adcock and Berra a push, which leaves what? Eddie Mathews unanswered.
Spahn better than Ford, Burdette and Buhl better than the others; which leaves what? the Yankees win almost every year, why?

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

I think the Dodgers had something to do with it....

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Posted By: pas

The 63-66 Giants had Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Marichal and G. Perry and didn't even win the NL pennant.

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Posted By: Tim

I think this is a great question and certainly fun to compare. However we all know that simply comparing player to player stats doesn't make for a championship.

Who's currently 4 games up in first place in the AL East?

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Posted By: Jason L

I would think that you need to throw in Campy when discussing the catcher to catcher match-up.

but looking back at his stats, I just noticed something that I had never seen before - he was a tremendously on and off-again performer for several years.
Very weird. According to Baseball-Reference.com:
He would hit .325 and win the MVP award in 1951
Then in 1952, he hit .269
Then in 1953, he was back on, hitting .312 and win the MVP award
Then he hit .207 in 1954
and then in 1955 he would win the MVP again and hit .318

That kind of performance would really draw media attention these days...

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Posted By: John H.

I love the Milwaukee Braves even though they moved to Atlanta when I was seven and I have never lived in Milwaukee. There is something mythical about the Braves 13 year stay in the city.

Despite all of the starpower they had, the Braves were almost always missing an important piece of the puzzle. Whether it was a secondbaseman, relief pitching, a leftfielder, a competent manager or too many injuries, it was always something. Even in 1957, Adcock missed a large part of the season and Bruton missed most of it, meaning that Aaron had to play centerfield. The Braves should have won two or three more pennants to go along with the two they did win but at least they never had a losing season in Milwaukee.