1967 Atlanta Braves season

1967 Atlanta Braves
League	National League
Ballpark	Atlanta Stadium
City	Atlanta
Record	75–88 (.475)
League place	8th
Owners	William Bartholomay
General managers	Paul Richards
Managers	Billy Hitchcock
Television	WSB-TV (Larry Munson, Ernie Johnson, Milo Hamilton, Dizzy Dean)
Radio	WSB (Larry Munson, Ernie Johnson, Milo Hamilton)
← 1966 Seasons 1968 →

The 1967 Atlanta Braves season was the Braves' second season in Atlanta and the 97th overall. The team went 77–85, as they suffered their first losing season since 1952, the franchise's final season in Boston. The seventh-place Braves finished 24+1⁄2 games behind the National League and World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Offseason

• November 28, 1966: Ramón Hernández was drafted by the Braves from the California Angels in the 1966 rule 5 draft.^[1]
• November 29, 1966: Bill Robinson and Chi-Chi Olivo were traded by the Braves to the New York Yankees for Clete Boyer.^[2]
• November 29, 1966: Mike Page was drafted by the Braves from the Boston Red Sox in the 1966 minor league draft.^[3]
• December 1966: John Herrnstein and Chris Cannizzaro were traded by the Braves to the Boston Red Sox for Julio Navarro and Ed Rakow.^[4]
• December 31, 1966: Eddie Mathews, Arnold Umbach and a player to be named later were traded by the Braves to the Houston Astros for Dave Nicholson and Bob Bruce. The Braves completed the deal by sending Sandy Alomar Sr. to the Astros on February 25, 1967.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	101	60	0.627	—	49–32	52–28
San Francisco Giants	91	71	0.562	10½	51–31	40–40
Chicago Cubs	87	74	0.540	14	49–34	38–40
Cincinnati Reds	87	75	0.537	14½	49–32	38–43
Philadelphia Phillies	82	80	0.506	19½	45–35	37–45
Pittsburgh Pirates	81	81	0.500	20½	49–32	32–49
Atlanta Braves	77	85	0.475	24½	48–33	29–52
Los Angeles Dodgers	73	89	0.451	28½	42–39	31–50
Houston Astros	69	93	0.426	32½	46–35	23–58
New York Mets	61	101	0.377	40½	36–42	25–59

Record vs. opponents

1967 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	NYM	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	11–7	5–13	11–7	8–10	8–10	10–8	8–10	10–8	6–12
Chicago	7–11	—	12–6	8–10	9–9	13–5	11–7	11–7–1	10–8	6–11
Cincinnati	13–5	6–12	—	15–3	8–10	12–6	10–8	10–8	8–10	5–13
Houston	7–11	10–8	3–15	—	10–8	11–7	7–11	9–9	6–12	6–12
Los Angeles	10–8	9–9	10–8	8–10	—	12–6	6–12	7–11	5–13	6–12
New York	10–8	5–13	6–12	7–11	6–12	—	4–14	11–7	5–13	7–11
Philadelphia	8-10	7–11	8–10	11–7	12–6	14–4	—	8–10	8–10	6–12
Pittsburgh	10–8	7–11–1	8–10	9–9	11–7	7–11	10–8	—	8–10	11–7
San Francisco	8–10	8–10	10–8	12–6	13–5	13–5	10–8	10–8	—	7–11
St. Louis	12–6	11–6	13–5	12–6	12–6	11–7	12–6	7–11	11–7	—

Managerial turnover

The Braves' worst season since 1952—their last year in their original home of Boston—cost manager Billy Hitchcock his job on September 28, 1967; the team stood at 77–82 (.484) and 211⁄2 games in arrears of the eventual 1967 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals at the time. Bullpen coach Ken Silvestri took over the club for the final three games of the season (all losses) on an interim basis.

Hitchcock's firing enabled general manager Paul Richards, on the job in Atlanta for only 13 months, to name his own man as skipper for 1968, and he chose a veteran associate, Luman Harris, 52, as Hitchcock's permanent successor.^[6] Harris had played with Richards with the minor league Atlanta Crackers in the 1930s, and coached for Richards with three MLB clubs; he had also managed under GM Richards with the 1965 Houston Astros. Harris had been the 1967 skipper of the Triple-A Richmond Braves, and had led them to the best record in the International League.

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1967: Gene Oliver was traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bob Uecker.^[7]
• June 15, 1967: Wade Blasingame was traded by the Braves to the Houston Astros for Claude Raymond.^[8]

Roster

1967 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 36 Wade Blasingame 39 Jim Britton 42 Bob Bruce 20 Clay Carroll 40 Tony Cloninger 24 Ramón Hernández 33 Pat Jarvis 30 Ken Johnson 22 Dick Kelley 23 Denny Lemaster 35 Phil Niekro 27 Ed Rakow 36 Claude Raymond 38 Ron Reed 26 Jay Ritchie 37 Don Schwall 32 George Stone 34 Cecil Upshaw		Catchers 12 Gene Oliver 15 Joe Torre 12 Bob Uecker Infielders 29 Felipe Alou  6 Clete Boyer  7 Mike de la Hoz 11 Tito Francona 49 Remy Hermoso  2 Marty Martínez 19 Denis Menke 11 Félix Millán 14 Woody Woodward		Outfielders 44 Hank Aaron 43 Rico Carty 27 Ty Cline 25 Cito Gaston 31 Gary Geiger 48 Mack Jones 42 Mike Lum 47 Dave Nicholson Other batters 28 Jim Beauchamp 32 Glen Clark 10 Charley Lau		Manager  8 Billy Hitchcock Coaches  9 Bill Adair  4 Bob Kennedy  3 Ken Silvestri  5 Whit Wyatt

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
C	Joe Torre	135	477	132	.277	20	68
1B	Felipe Alou	140	574	157	.274	15	43
2B	Woody Woodward	136	429	97	.226	0	25
SS	Denis Menke	129	418	95	.227	7	39
3B	Clete Boyer	154	572	140	.245	26	96
LF	Rico Carty	134	444	113	.255	15	64
CF	Mack Jones	140	454	115	.253	17	50
RF	Hank Aaron	155	600	184	.307	39	109

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
Tito Francona	82	254	63	.248	6	25
Bob Uecker	62	158	23	.146	3	13
Mike de la Hoz	74	143	29	.203	3	14
Félix Millán	41	136	32	.235	2	6
Gary Geiger	69	117	19	.162	1	5
Marty Martínez	44	73	21	.288	0	5
Gene Oliver	17	51	10	.196	3	6
Charley Lau	52	45	9	.200	1	5
Remy Hermoso	11	26	8	.308	0	0
Mike Lum	9	26	6	.231	0	1
Dave Nicholson	10	25	5	.200	0	1
Cito Gaston	9	25	3	.120	0	1
Ty Cline	10	8	0	.000	0	0
Glen Clark	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Jim Beauchamp	4	3	0	.000	0	1

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
Denny Lemaster	31	215.1	9	9	3.34	148
Ken Johnson	29	210.1	13	9	2.74	85
Pat Jarvis	32	194.0	15	10	3.66	118
Tony Cloninger	16	76.2	4	7	5.17	55
Ron Reed	3	21.1	1	1	2.45	11
Jim Britton	2	13.1	0	2	6.08	4

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
Phil Niekro	46	207.0	11	9	1.87	129
Dick Kelley	39	98.0	2	9	3.77	75
Clay Carroll	42	93.0	6	12	5.52	35
Ed Rakow	17	39.1	3	2	5.26	25
Bob Bruce	12	38.2	2	3	4.89	22
Wade Blasingame	10	25.1	1	0	4.62	20
George Stone	2	7.1	0	0	4.91	5

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
Cecil Upshaw	30	2	3	9	2.58	31
Jay Ritchie	52	4	6	2	3.17	57
Ramón Hernández	46	0	2	5	4.18	28
Claude Raymond	28	4	1	4	2.62	14
Don Schwall	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Lum Harris
AA	Austin Braves	Texas League	Hub Kittle
A	Kinston Eagles	Carolina League	Andy Pafko
A	West Palm Beach Braves	Florida State League	Eddie Haas
A	Lexington Braves	Western Carolinas League	Buddy Hicks
A-Short Season	Jamestown Braves	New York–Penn League	Harry Dorish
Rookie	GCL Braves	Gulf Coast League	Tom Saffell

Notes

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.
• 1967 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference