1957 Milwaukee Braves
World Champions
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkMilwaukee County Stadium
CityMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Record95–59 (.617)
League place1st
OwnersLouis R. Perini
General managersJohn J. Quinn
ManagersFred Haney
RadioWEMP
WTMJ
(Earl Gillespie, Blaine Walsh)

The 1957 Milwaukee Braves season was the fifth season in Milwaukee and the 87th season of the franchise. It was the year that the team won its first and only World Series championship while based in Milwaukee. The Braves won 95 games and lost 59 to win the National League pennant by eight games over the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. This season was the best season for the Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965) in terms of wins (95) and winning percentage (.617).

The club went on to the 1957 World Series, where they faced the New York Yankees. Pitcher Lew Burdette was the star and Most Valuable Player, winning three games, including the crucial seventh game played in New York City. The Braves became the first team not based in New York to win the World Series since the Cleveland Indians in 1948.

Offseason

Regular season

Season summary

The Braves finished the regular season with a 95–59 record, and they scored 772 runs while giving up 613. They played their home games in Milwaukee County Stadium, where they sold just over 2,220,000 tickets, tops in the National League.

Offense

The Braves were led on offense by right fielder Hank Aaron, who won the National League Most Valuable Player award in just his fourth year in the major leagues. Fielding well in 151 games in right field, Aaron also led the National League with 118 runs scored, 44 home runs, a career high of 132 runs batted in, and 369 total bases. He also struck out just 58 times. Aaron also finished high in the league standings with 198 hits, a .322 batting average, and a .600 slugging percentage.

Another offensive star was third baseman Eddie Mathews. On June 12, Mathews hit the 200th home run of his career.[5] For the season, Matthews was second on the team with 167 hits, 109 runs scored, 32 home runs, 94 runs batted in, and 148 games played.

In addition, the Braves' new second baseman, Red Schoendienst, was acquired in a trade on June 15, and he played in 93 games. Given up in this trade were Bobby Thomson (who was batting just .236) and Danny O'Connell (who was batting just .235). Wes Covington was the main replacement for Thomson in left field. Covington played in 96 games, batted .284, and batted in 65 runs, third on the team.

Del Crandall was the Braves' catcher in 118 of the 154 games. Del Rice was his primary backup, and he played in 54 games, including pinch-hitting.

Pitching

Starting pitcher Warren Spahn was the Cy Young Award winner as the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, the first left-handed pitcher to win the award.[6] Spahn finished with 35 games started with a 21–11 record. He also relieved in four games, saving three of those. Spahn led the National League with 21 wins and 18 complete games, and he had a 2.69 earned-run average in 271 innings pitched. Spahn was backed up by starters Bob Buhl (18–7) and Lew Burdette (17–9).

Manager

Fred Haney, coming off his good performance in 1956, managed the Braves for the entire season in 1957. Haney also led the Braves to the top of the regular-season standings in 1958 and 1959, including the 1958 World Series, but after 1959, he never managed another Major League team again, although he did become the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels.

Injuries

The Braves overcame two serious injuries during the 1957 season that caused some players to miss large parts of the year. First baseman Joe Adcock was injured in mid-season, and only played in 65 games, in which he batted in 38 runs. Frank Torre filled in for him and batted .272 in 129 games. Center fielder Bill Bruton injured his knee after playing in just 79 games, missing the rest of the season. He was replaced by Andy Pafko, who played in 83 games.

Opening Day lineup

Danny O'Connell2B
Hank AaronRF
Eddie Mathews3B
Joe Adcock1B
Bobby ThomsonLF
Johnny LoganSS
Bill BrutonCF
Del CrandallC
Warren SpahnP

Notable transactions

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Braves 9559 0.617 — 45–32 50–27
St. Louis Cardinals 8767 0.565 8 42–35 45–32
Brooklyn Dodgers 8470 0.545 11 43–34 41–36
Cincinnati Redlegs 8074 0.519 15 45–32 35–42
Philadelphia Phillies 7777 0.500 18 38–39 39–38
New York Giants 6985 0.448 26 37–40 32–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 6292 0.403 33 36–41 26–51
Chicago Cubs 6292 0.403 33 31–46 31–46

Record vs. opponents

1957 National League record

Sources:
Team BRO CHC CIN MIL NYG PHI PIT STL
Brooklyn —17–512–1010–1212–109–1312–1012–10
Chicago 5–17—7–159–139–138–14–112–10–112–10
Cincinnati 10–1215–7—4–1812–1016–614–89–13
Milwaukee 12–1013–918–4—13–912–10–116–611–11
New York 10–1213–910–129–13—10–129–138–14
Philadelphia 13–914–8–16–1610–12–112–10—13–99–13
Pittsburgh 10–1210–12–18–146–1613–99–13—6–16
St. Louis 10–1210–1213–911–1114–813–916–6—

Roster

1957 Milwaukee Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

[8]

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
CDel Crandall11838397.2531546
1BFrank Torre12936499.272540
2BRed Schoendienst93394122.310632
3BEddie Mathews148572167.2923294
SSJohnny Logan129494135.2731049
LFWes Covington9632893.2842165
CFBill Bruton7930685.278530
RFHank Aaron151615198.32244132

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
Andy Pafko8322061.277827
Joe Adcock6520960.2871238
Danny O'Connell4818343.23518
Félix Mantilla7118243.236421
Bobby Thomson4114835.236423
Del Rice5414433.229920
Bob Hazle4113454.403727
Carl Sawatski5810525.238217
Nippy Jones307921.26628
Chuck Tanner226917.24626
John DeMerit33345.14701
Bobby Malkmus13222.09100
Dick Cole15141.07700
Harry Hanebrink672.28600
Mel Roach761.16700
Ray Shearer221.50000
Hawk Taylor710.00000

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
Warren Spahn39271.021112.6978
Lew Burdette37256.21793.71111
Bob Buhl34216.21872.74117

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
Gene Conley35148.0993.1661
Bob Trowbridge32126.0753.6475
Juan Pizarro2499.1564.6268
Ray Crone1142.1314.4615

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
Don McMahon322381.5446
Ernie Johnson307343.8844
Taylor Phillips273225.5536
Dave Jolly231115.0227
Red Murff122224.8513
Phil Paine10000.002
Joey Jay10000.000

1957 World Series

This was the Braves' first World Championship since the "Miracle Braves" of 1914, and their only one while based in Milwaukee (out of two chances). To date, the Braves' have won two World Championships: one in the 1995 World Series, when the now-Atlanta Braves defeated the Cleveland Indians, and the second in the 2021 World Series, when Atlanta defeated the Houston Astros.

World Series MVP Lew Burdette won two games in Yankee Stadium and one game in Milwaukee County Stadium. Warren Spahn had the other Braves's victory.

Summary

NL Milwaukee Braves (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (3)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Braves – 1, Yankees – 3October 2Yankee Stadium69,476
2Braves – 4, Yankees – 2October 3Yankee Stadium65,202
3Yankees – 12, Braves – 3October 5Milwaukee County Stadium45,804
4Yankees – 5, Braves – 7 (10 innings)October 6Milwaukee County Stadium45,804
5Yankees – 0, Braves – 1October 7Milwaukee County Stadium45,811
6Braves – 2, Yankees – 3October 9Yankee Stadium61,408
7Braves – 5, Yankees – 0October 10Yankee Stadium61,207

Composite line score

1957 World Series (4–3): Milwaukee Braves (N.L.) over New York Yankees (A.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Milwaukee Braves 025 631 210 3 23473
New York Yankees 415 212 603 1 25576
Total Attendance: 394,712   Average Attendance: 56,387
Winning Player's Share: – $8,924   Losing Player's Share – $5,606

Awards and honors

World Series awards

All-Stars

1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Wichita Braves American Association Ben Geraghty
AA Atlanta Crackers Southern Association Bud Bates
AA Austin Senators Texas League Sibby Sisti
A Jacksonville Braves Sally League Mickey Owen, Grady Wilson and Joe Just
A Topeka Hawks Western League Red Smith and Bill Dossey
B Corpus Christi Clippers Big State League Joe Just and Jack Wilkinson
B Evansville Braves Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Bob Coleman
C Salinas Packers California League Leo Thomas and Bill Krueger
C Eau Claire Braves Northern League Gordon Maltzberger
C Boise Braves Pioneer League George McQuinn
D Leesburg Braves Florida State League Tommy Giordano
D Waycross Braves Georgia–Florida League Mike Fandozzi
D McCook Braves Nebraska State League Bill Steinecke
D Wellsville Braves New York–Penn League Alex Monchak
D Lawton Braves Sooner State League Travis Jackson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Atlanta, Evansville, Salinas

References

  1. ↑ Carl Sawatski at Baseball-Reference
  2. ↑ Roger McCardell at Baseball-Reference
  3. ↑ Marshall Bridges at Baseball-Reference
  4. ↑ Merritt Ranew at Baseball-Reference
  5. ↑ Eddie Mathews at The Baseball Page
  6. ↑ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 234, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  7. ↑ Red Schoendienst at Baseball-Reference
  8. ↑ "1957 Milwaukee Braves Roster". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
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