1963 Milwaukee Braves season

1963 Milwaukee Braves
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Location
Milwaukee County Stadium (since 1953)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (since 1953)
Results
Record	84–78 (.519)
League place	6th
Other information
Owner(s)	William Bartholomay
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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Offseason

• October 11, 1962: Ron Hunt was purchased from the Braves by the New York Mets.^[1]
• November 26, 1962: Ellis Burton was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1962 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• November 26, 1962: 1962 first-year draft
  • Hal Haydel was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s.^[3]
  • Don Taussig was drafted by the Braves from the Houston Colt .45s.^[4]
• November 30, 1962: Jim Bolger, Don Nottebart, and Connie Grob were traded by the Braves to the Houston Colt .45s for Norm Larker.^[5]
• Prior to 1963 season: Lou Klimchock was acquired from the Braves by the Washington Senators.^[6]

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. 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 (1959) postseason appearance and a ban on "bringing your own" food and beer to Milwaukee 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 Southeastern United States territory 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 American League Cleveland Indians. His successor, Bobby Bragan, 45, was the team's fourth manager in five seasons. He had been a Houston Colt .45s coach in 1962 and had previously been fired from managing posts with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956–1957) and the Indians (1958). Bragan would be the last manager in Milwaukee Braves' annals—and the first of its Atlanta history in 1966, although he himself would be fired on August 8 of that year after guiding the Braves to a 310–287 (.519) mark over 3 ¹⁄₂ seasons.

Regular season

• April 16, 1963: Eddie Mathews hit the 400th home run of his career.^[7] Along with Duke Snider, Mathews became part of the first duo to reach the 400 plateau in the same season.^[8]

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	99	63	0.611	—	50–31	49–32
St. Louis Cardinals	93	69	0.574	6	53–28	40–41
San Francisco Giants	88	74	0.543	11	50–31	38–43
Philadelphia Phillies	87	75	0.537	12	45–36	42–39
Cincinnati Reds	86	76	0.531	13	46–35	40–41
Milwaukee Braves	84	78	0.519	15	45–36	39–42
Chicago Cubs	82	80	0.506	17	43–38	39–42
Pittsburgh Pirates	74	88	0.457	25	42–39	32–49
Houston Colt .45s	66	96	0.407	33	44–37	22–59
New York Mets	51	111	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	—	9–9	9–9	7–11	12–6	11–7	9–9	8–10	10–8	7–11
Cincinnati	9–9	—	11–7	8–10	10–8	10–8	8–10	11–7	8–10	11–7
Houston	9–9	7–11	—	5–13	5–13	13–5	8–10	6–12	8–10	5–13
Los Angeles	11–7	10–8	13–5	—	8–10–1	16–2	7–11	13–5	9–9	12–6
Milwaukee	6–12	8–10	13–5	10–8–1	—	12–6	10–8	7–11	10–8	8–10
New York	7–11	8–10	5–13	2–16	6–12	—	8–10	4–14	6–12	5–13
Philadelphia	9–9	10–8	10–8	11–7	8–10	10–8	—	13–5	8–10	8–10
Pittsburgh	10–8	7–11	12–6	5–13	11–7	14–4	5–13	—	5–13	5–13
San Francisco	8–10	10–8	10–8	9–9	8–10	12–6	10–8	13–5	—	8–10
St. Louis	11–7	7–11	13–5	6–12	10–8	13–5	10–8	13–5	10–8	—

Notable transactions

• May 6, 1963: Lou Klimchock was returned to the Braves by the Washington Senators.^[6]
• May 8, 1963: Lou Johnson and cash were traded by the Braves to the Detroit Tigers for Chico Fernández.^[9]
• May 8, 1963: Chico Fernández was traded by the Braves to the New York Mets for Larry Foss.^[9]
• August 8, 1963: Norm Larker was purchased from the Braves by the San Francisco Giants.^[5]

Roster

1963 Milwaukee Braves
Roster
Pitchers 22 Wade Blasingame 33 Lew Burdette 40 Tony Cloninger 34 Hank Fischer 32 Frank Funk 36 Bob Hendley 23 Denny Lemaster 38 Ron Piché 35 Claude Raymond 37 Bob Sadowski 25 Dan Schneider 26 Bob Shaw 21 Warren Spahn 18 Bobby Tiefenauer		Catchers  1 Del Crandall 15 Joe Torre  8 Bob Uecker Infielders 28 Tommie Aaron  2 Frank Bolling 16 Lou Klimchock  9 Norm Larker 41 Eddie Mathews 11 Roy McMillan 19 Denis Menke 12 Gene Oliver 27 Amado Samuel 14 Woody Woodward		Outfielders 44 Hank Aaron 31 Ty Cline 42 Don Dillard 43 Len Gabrielson 30 Mack Jones 24 Lee Maye 31 Bubba Morton 29 Hawk Taylor Other batters 20 Gus Bell  7 Rico Carty		Manager 10 Bobby Bragan Coaches  3 Ken Silvestri  6 Dixie Walker  4 Jo-Jo White  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	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	142	501	147	.293	14	71
3B	Mathews, EddieEddie Mathews	158	547	144	.263	23	84
LF	Maye, LeeLee Maye	124	442	120	.271	11	34
RF	Aaron, HankHank Aaron	161	631	201	.319	44	130

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
Larker, NormNorm Larker	64	147	26	.177	1	14
Gabrielson, LenLen Gabrielson	46	120	26	.217	3	15
Klimchock, LouLou Klimchock	24	46	9	.196	0	1
Uecker, BobBob Uecker	13	16	4	.250	0	0
Carty, RicoRico Carty	2	2	0	.000	0	0

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
Spahn, WarrenWarren Spahn	33	259.2	23	7	2.60	102
Lemaster, DennyDenny Lemaster	46	237	11	14	3.04	190
Sadowski, BobBob Sadowski	19	116.2	5	7	2.62	72
Burdette, LewLew Burdette	15	84	6	5	3.64	28

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
Hendley, BobBob Hendley	41	169.1	9	9	3.93	105
Shaw, BobBob Shaw	48	159	7	11	2.66	105
Cloninger, TonyTony Cloninger	41	145.1	9	11	3.78	100
Fischer, HankHank Fischer	31	74.1	4	3	4.96	72

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
Raymond, ClaudeClaude Raymond	45	4	6	5	5.40	44
Piché, RonRon Piché	37	1	1	0	3.40	40
Schneider, DanDan Schneider	30	1	0	0	3.09	19
Funk, FrankFrank Funk	25	3	3	0	2.68	19
Blasingame, WadeWade Blasingame	2	0	0	0	12.00	6

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Hank Aaron, outfield, starter
• Warren Spahn, reserve
• Joe Torre, reserve^[10]

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. Ron Hunt page at Baseball Reference
2. Ellis Burton page at Baseball Reference
3. Hal Haydel page at Baseball Reference
4. Don Taussig page at Baseball Reference
5. Norm Larker page at Baseball Reference
6. Lou Klimchock page at Baseball Reference
7. http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/matheed01.php
8. http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/snidedu01.php[]
9. Chico Fernández page at Baseball Reference
10. 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