1984 Atlanta Braves season

March 2026 November 2013 Atlanta Braves 1984 National League West Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta 80–82 (.494) 2nd Ted Turner John Mullen Joe Torre WTBSSuperstation WTBS WSB(Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, John Sterling) The 1984 Atlanta Braves season was the 19th season in Atlanta along with the 114th overall. Offseason October 4, 1983: Tommy Boggs was released by the Braves.Tommy Boggs at Baseball Reference October 21, 1983: Brett Butler, Brook Jacoby, and Rick Behenna were sent by the Braves to the Cleveland Indians to complete an earlier deal (the Braves traded players to be named later to the Indians for Len Barker) made on August 28, 1983.Brett Butler at Baseball Reference Regular season The 1984 Braves third season with Joe Torre at the helm was a disappointing one. Despite a winning record throughout most of the season they finished the campaign with an 80–82 mark, tied for second with the Houston Astros, 12 games behind the San Diego Padres. Atlanta stumbled out of the gate with a 2–7 mark on April 13 and were six games out of first place. The Braves had a 6–11 record on April 25 but won three in a row and later won eight of nine to go above the .500 mark for the first time in 1984. They were 18–15 on May 13, tied for third and two games out of first. On May 24 Atlanta lost a double-header to the Cubs 10–7, 7–5 to drop to the .500 mark at 21–21. Atlanta rebounded to win 13 of its next 15 games to surge into first place with a 34–23 mark on June 7. The Braves were 32-16 since April 14 and were in first place by 1½ games. The season was beginning to look good for Atlanta. Unfortunately for the Braves this would prove to be the high water mark for the season. Atlanta lost five in a row from June 8 to 12 to fall into second place, 3½ games out of first. They were never to be in first place again in 1984. June 16, 1984: The Braves were playing the Cincinnati Reds in Atlanta. Mario Soto threw several brushback pitches at Braves slugger Claudell Washington. Washington tossed his bat in the direction of Soto, appeared to go out to retrieve it, but instead walked toward the mound. Umpire Lanny Harris attempted to restrain Washington. Harris was thrown to the ground. Soto used the distraction to punch Washington. Several of Washington's teammates attempted to hold Washington to the ground. While they were doing that, Soto fired the baseball into the crowd of players, striking Braves coach Joe Pignatano. He was suspended three games for this incident; Washington received a five-game suspension for shoving (umpire) Lanny Harris. (Both Soto and Washington were ejected from the game.) On June 20 the Braves were 39–29 and in second place, 1½ games out of first. By the end of June they were 43–35 and three games out of first. July would prove to be tougher for the Braves however. Atlanta went 5–12 to begin the month of July. On July 19 the Braves owned a 48–47 record and were seven games out of first and still in second place. It was growing more obvious that this wouldn't be the magical season fans had wished it would be. Atlanta was 8½ games out of first on the last day of July. On August 3 the Braves were six games over the .500 mark with a 57–51 record following a 2–1 win over the Giants. The league leading San Diego Padres lost that day and the Braves closed within 7½ games of the lead. The Braves were still hopeful of a late season surge but it appeared that might not happen. After August 3 things turned rotten on the Braves. From August 4 to September 9 the Braves posted a 12–23 record that reduced them to 69–74 with an eleven-game deficit with 19 games to play. The Braves had also slipped to third place. The "pennant race" was over. Brawl with the San Diego Padres 1984 Braves–Padres bean brawl The Braves' regular season is most remembered for an August 12 game at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium against the San Diego Padres. From the start, the game was tense and erupted into a series of brawls which ended with a total of 13 ejections and 5 arrests. All fans who participated in the taunting and brawls were detained and arrested. The Braves eventually won the game by a score of 5–3. Fines and suspensions were issued four days later on August 16 to Williams ($10,000, ten days) and Summers, Brown, Torre ($1,000), Perry ($700), Bedrosian ($600) and Mahler ($700) who each received three-day suspensions. Virgil, Krol, Whitson, Booker, Lefferts, Bevacqua, Flannery, Nettles and Gossage for the Padres (all undisclosed) and Moore ($350) and Pérez ($300) for the Braves were all fined but not suspended."Williams and Torre Suspended, Fined," The Associated Press (AP), Friday, August 17, 1984. Retrieved October 18, 2022. Season standings Record vs. opponents ATL Notable transactions April 24, 1984: Biff Pocoroba was released by the Braves.Biff Pocoroba at Baseball Reference June 4, 1984: Tom Glavine was drafted by the Braves in the 2nd round of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft.Tom Glavine at Baseball Reference June 15, 1984: Ken Dayley and Mike Jorgensen were traded by the Braves to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Oberkfell.Ken Dayley at Baseball Reference Roster 1984 Atlanta Braves Roster Pitchers 39 Len Barker 32 Steve Bedrosian 48 Tony Brizzolara 37 Rick Camp 30 Ken Dayley 49 Jeff Dedmon 33 Pete Falcone 51 Terry Forster 26 Gene Garber 42 Rick Mahler 29 Craig McMurtry 31 Donnie Moore 47 Mike Payne 27 Pascual Pérez 34 Zane Smith Catchers 20 Bruce Benedict 14 Matt Sinatro 25 Alex Treviño Infielders 10 Chris Chambliss  5 Bob Horner 17 Glenn Hubbard  6 Randy Johnson 11 Mike Jorgensen 24 Ken Oberkfell 28 Gerald Perry 16 Rafael Ramírez  1 Jerry Royster 12 Paul Runge  8 Bob Watson 18 Paul ZuvellaOutfielders  2 Albert Hall 19 Terry Harper  7 Brad Komminsk 11 Rufino Linares  3 Dale Murphy 30 Milt Thompson 15 Claudell Washington Other batters  4 Biff Pocoroba Manager  9 Joe Torre Coaches 23 Tommie Aaron 55 Luke Appling 45 Bob Gibson 36 Eddie Haas 53 Dal Maxvill 52 Joe Pignatano 54 Rube Walker 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 Bruce Benedict 95 300 67 .223 4 25 1B Chris Chambliss 135 389 100 .257 9 44 2B Glenn Hubbard 120 397 93 .234 9 43 SS Rafael Ramírez 145 591 157 .266 2 48 3B Randy Johnson Randy Johnson (third baseman) 91 294 82 .279 5 30 LF Gerald Perry 122 347 92 .265 7 47 CF Dale Murphy 162 607 176 .290 36 100 RF Claudell Washington 120 416 119 .286 17 61 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 Brad Komminsk 90 301 61 .203 8 36 Alex Treviño 79 266 65 .244 3 28 Jerry Royster 81 227 47 .207 1 21 Ken Oberkfell 50 172 40 .233 1 10 Albert Hall 87 142 37 .261 1 9 Bob Horner 32 113 31 .274 3 19 Terry Harper 40 102 16 .157 0 8 Milt Thompson 25 99 30 .303 2 4 Paul Runge Paul Runge (infielder) 28 90 24 .267 0 3 Bob Watson 49 85 18 .212 2 12 Rufino Linares 34 58 12 .207 1 10 Mike Jorgensen 31 26 7 .269 0 5 Paul Zuvella 11 25 5 .200 0 1 Matt Sinatro 2 4 0 .000 0 0 Biff Pocoroba 4 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 Rick Mahler 38 222.0 13 10 3.12 106 Pascual Pérez Pascual Pérez (baseball) 30 211.2 14 8 3.74 145 Craig McMurtry 37 183.1 9 17 4.32 99 Rick Camp 31 148.2 8 6 3.27 89 Len Barker 21 126.1 7 8 3.85 95 Zane Smith 3 20.0 1 0 2.25 16 Ken Dayley 4 18.2 0 3 5.30 10 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 Pete Falcone 35 120.0 5 7 4.13 55 Tony Brizzolara 10 29.0 1 2 5.28 17 Mike Payne Mike Payne (baseball) 3 5.2 0 1 6.35 3 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 Donnie Moore 47 4 5 16 2.94 47 Gene Garber 62 3 6 11 3.06 55 Jeff Dedmon 54 4 3 4 3.78 51 Steve Bedrosian 40 9 6 11 2.37 81 Terry Forster 25 2 0 5 2.70 10 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Richmond Braves International League Eddie Haas and Bobby Dews AA Greenville Braves Southern League Bobby Dews and Leo Mazzone A Durham Bulls Carolina League Brian Snitker A Anderson Braves South Atlantic League Rick Albert Rookie Pulaski Braves Appalachian League Buddy Bailey Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Pedro González See also Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 References 2 External links 1984 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference Category:Atlanta Braves seasons Atlanta Braves Season, 1984 Atlanta