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1972 Atlanta Braves season

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1972 Atlanta Braves
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkAtlanta Stadium
CityAtlanta
Record70–84 (.455)
Divisional place4th
OwnersWilliam Bartholomay
General managersPaul Richards, Eddie Robinson
ManagersLum Harris, Eddie Mathews
TelevisionWSB-TV
RadioWSB
(Ernie Johnson, Milo Hamilton)
← 1971 Seasons 1973 →

The 1972 Atlanta Braves season was the seventh season in Atlanta along with the 102nd season as a franchise overall.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Notable transactions

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Front-office and managerial turnover

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The 1972 Braves' 70–84 season, following on the heels of a hopeful, 82–80 mark in 1971, resulted in the in-season firings of both general manager Paul Richards, on the job since January 1967, and field manager Luman Harris, who was in the midst of his fifth season as the team's skipper. Richards and Harris were a management team that had worked in tandem for 15 years with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros before coming to the Braves.

Atlanta was 18–22 on June 1 when Richards was demoted from GM to special assignment scout; his replacement was another longtime associate, Eddie Robinson, 51, the director of the club's farm system.[6] Harris was fired August 6, with the Braves standing at 47–57 (.452), in fourth place in the NL West Division and 16 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. His successor was another internal hire, Eddie Mathews, 40, the team's first-base coach and perennial All-Star third baseman from its glory days in Milwaukee during the 1950s.[7]

Season standings

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NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 95 59 .617 42‍–‍34 53‍–‍25
Houston Astros 84 69 .549 10½ 41‍–‍36 43‍–‍33
Los Angeles Dodgers 85 70 .548 10½ 41‍–‍34 44‍–‍36
Atlanta Braves 70 84 .455 25 36‍–‍41 34‍–‍43
San Francisco Giants 69 86 .445 26½ 34‍–‍43 35‍–‍43
San Diego Padres 58 95 .379 36½ 26‍–‍54 32‍–‍41

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7–1 9–9 7–7 7–8 4–8 7–5 6–6 6–6 6–11 7–11 6–6
Chicago 7–5–1 8–4 3–9 8–4 10–5 10–8 10–7 3–12 9–3 7–5 10–8
Cincinnati 9–9 4–8 11–6 9–5 8–4 8–4 10–2 8–4 8–10 10–5 10–2
Houston 7–7 9–3 6–11 7–11 8–4 6–6 9–3 3–9 12–2 13–5 4–8
Los Angeles 8–7 4–8 5–9 11–7 6–6 7–5 7–5 7–5 13–5 9–9 8–4
Montreal 8–4 5–10 4–8 4–8 6–6 6–12 10–6 6–12 6–6 6–6 9–8
New York 5–7 8–10 4–8 6–6 5–7 12–6 13–5 8–6 7–5 8–4 7–9
Philadelphia 6-6 7–10 2–10 3–9 5–7 6–10 5–13 5–13 6–6 6–6 8–7
Pittsburgh 6–6 12–3 4–8 9–3 5–7 12–6 6–8 13–5 10–2 9–3 10–8
San Diego 11–6 3–9 10–8 2–12 5–13 6–6 5–7 6–6 2–10 4–10 4–8
San Francisco 11–7 5–7 5–10 5–13 9–9 6–6 4–8 6–6 3–9 10–4 5–7
St. Louis 6–6 8–10 2–10 8–4 4–8 8–9 9–7 7–8 8–10 8–4 7–5


Roster

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1972 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Earl Williams 151 565 146 .258 28 87
1B Hank Aaron 129 449 119 .265 34 77
2B Félix Millán 125 498 128 .257 1 38
SS Marty Perez 141 479 109 .228 1 28
3B Darrell Evans 125 418 106 .254 19 71
LF Rico Carty 86 271 75 .277 6 29
CF Dusty Baker 127 446 143 .321 17 76
RF Mike Lum 123 369 84 .228 9 38

Other batters

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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
Ralph Garr 134 554 180 .325 12 53
Oscar Brown 76 164 37 .226 3 16
Paul Casanova 49 136 28 .206 2 10
Sonny Jackson 60 126 30 .238 0 8
Larvell Blanks 33 85 28 .329 1 7
Jim Breazeale 52 85 21 .247 5 17
Orlando Cepeda 28 84 25 .298 4 9
Gil Garrido 40 75 20 .267 0 7
Bob Didier 13 40 12 .300 0 5
Rod Gilbreath 18 38 9 .237 0 1
Rowland Office 2 5 2 .400 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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 38 282.1 16 12 3.06 164
Ron Reed 31 213.0 11 15 3.93 111
Jimmy Freeman 6 36.0 2 2 6.00 18

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ron Schueler 37 144.2 5 8 3.67 96
Tom Kelley 27 116.1 5 7 4.56 59
George Stone 31 111.0 6 11 5.51 63
Pat Jarvis 37 98.2 11 7 4.10 56
Jim Hardin 26 79.2 5 2 4.41 25
Mike McQueen 23 78.1 0 5 4.60 40
Denny McLain 15 54.0 3 5 6.50 21
Jim Nash 11 31.1 1 1 5.46 10
Larry Jaster 5 12.1 1 1 5.11 6

Relief pitchers

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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 42 3 5 13 3.69 23
Joe Hoerner 25 1 3 2 6.56 19
Gary Neibauer 8 0 0 0 7.27 8
Tom House 8 0 0 2 2.89 7
Steve Barber 5 0 0 0 5.74 6

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Clyde King
AA Savannah Braves Southern League Clint Courtney
A Greenwood Braves Western Carolinas League Paul Snyder
Rookie Wytheville Braves Appalachian League Eddie Haas

Notes

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References

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  • 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.
  • 1972 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference