All-Time Braves Lineup

Other positions there are no obvious choices at all. One position fills out nicely - shortstop. Or, maybe not.

Rafael Furcal may have been the most talented shortstop the Braves have ever had, but he's not in the Hall of Fame with 2600 hits and a runner up for the MVP for a team that scored one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. That distinction belongs to Rabbit Maranville, who was one of the key components of the Miracle Braves of 1914, who shocked the A's and swept the 1914 World Series. His career offensive stats don't compare to modern numbers, but at the time a .258 lifetime average for a shortstop was considered pretty good. Also, the RBI didn't become a statistic until his 9th season in the majors.

Despite Maranville's accomplishments, we're going to need a position change. There's no way I can put Rabbit Maranville in the all-time Braves lineup and leave out either Chipper Jones or Eddie Mathews. Since Chipper Jones was drafted as a shortstop and has major league experience (about 80 games I believe) at the position despite being a third basemen for 14 seasons and playing parts of three seasons in left field, we're putting him and his bat at shortstop over Maranville.

This makes the choice for third base much easier. Eddie Mathews played in all three cities for the Braves, the only player to do so. He retired after 17 seasons in the majors in 1968, hitting .271 with 1503 runs scored, 512 homeruns and 1453 RBI. Although he was a bench player his final season with the Tigers, he did earn a 2nd World Series ring in 1968 to add the one he earned in Milwaukee in 1957.

The Braves have had a number of memorable second basemen over the past 50 seasons. Red Schoendienst is in the Hall of Fame and was a huge part of the '57 and '58 teams that went to the Worls Series, but played most of his career in St. Louis. Mark Lemke was a mainstay at 2nd in the 90s, as was Glenn Hubbard in the 80s. However, neither of these two were great offensive players. Davey Johnson had 3 good years with the Braves, hitting 43 homeruns and setting the record for second basemen.

However, the most likely player to be the 2nd baseman on the all-time Braves team is Felix Millan. He was a career .279 hitter, only struck out 242 times in over 5700 career at-bats, won two Gold Gloves and made two All-Star teams during his 8 seasons with the Braves from 1966 to 1973.

Looking to the outfield - three names jump out at you. One is in the Hall of Fame and arguably the greatest player in Major League History. One has back-to-back MVPs, and the third won ten straight Gold Gloves all by the time he was 30.

Andruw Jones would start in center field. He's the best defensive player of the bunch (looking at his time with the Braves - not this season obviously). Dale Murphy's arm would put him in right field. Henry Aaron would be playing left as he did in All-Star Games because Willie Mays was in center and Roberto Clemente was in right. He won three straight Gold Gloves in right field from 1958 to 1960. This outfield has about 1400 homeruns in a Braves uniform along with 18 Gold Gloves and over 4,000 career RBI. I'll take this group anyday.

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