Los Bravos

Watching Henry Aaron hit his record breaking homer in 1974 on Monday Night Baseball off of Al Downing was the franchise highlight for the decade of the 1970's.  The Braves spent all but 2 years during the 70's under .500 and woefully out of contention.  After winning the NL West in 1969 with a 93-69 record the Braves fell immediately on hard times.  Their highest win total was 88 in 1974, which was barely good enough for 3rd place, 16 games behind the Dodgers.  By the end of 1974 Brave management mercifully sent Aaron back to Milwaukee, so he could bond again with former Brave fans who now rooted on the Brew crew.  Throughout the decade the Braves brought up young stars, who the eventually traded to other teams, where they made a name for themselves.  Slick fielding second baseman Felix Millan wound up in New York winning a pennant with the Mets.  Darrell Evans eventually became a star in Detroit.  Dusty Baker became a fixture in the Dodgers outfield, as did Ralph Garr in Chicago and Gary Matthews in Chicago and Philadelphia.  Pitching woes also hurt the Brave franchise.  Playing in hitter friendly Fulton County Stadium could challenge most pitchers.  Phil Niekro was the mainstay on the mound with his tantalizing Knuckler.  Carl Morton, who came over from Montreal, gave Atlanta fans over 200 innings for a handful of years in the middle of the decade.  The bullpen was even more shoddy than the rotation.  Tom House, who's claim to fame is catching Aaron's #715 in the Brave pen, was probably their most consistent reliever.  On an upbeat note, the Braves have themselves a future 2 time MVP named Dale Murphy in the midst.  They just need to figure out that he's not a catcher, and that he's really a centerfielder.  The 1973 Braves might not have won a lot of games, but they were the first team in baseball history to sport 3 guys with 40 or more homers:  Hank Aaron, Davey Johnson and Darrell Evans.