| 1957 Milwaukee Braves | |
|---|---|
| World champions National League champions | |
| League | National League |
| Ballpark | Milwaukee County Stadium |
| City | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Record | 95–59 (.617) |
| League place | 1st |
| Owners | Louis R. Perini |
| General managers | John J. Quinn |
| Managers | Fred Haney |
| Radio | WEMP WTMJ (Earl Gillespie,Blaine Walsh) |
The1957Milwaukee Braves season was the fifth season inMilwaukee and the 87th season of the franchise. It was the year that the team won its first and onlyWorld Series championship while based inMilwaukee. The Braves won 95 games and lost 59 to win theNational Leaguepennant by eight games over the second-placeSt. 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 the1957 World Series, where they faced theNew York Yankees.PitcherLew Burdette was the star andMost 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 theCleveland Indians in1948.
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 inMilwaukee County Stadium, where they sold just over 2,220,000 tickets, tops in the National League.
The Braves were led on offense byright fielderHank Aaron, who won theNational 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 118runs scored, 44home runs, a career high of 132runs batted in, and 369total bases. He alsostruck out just 58 times. Aaron also finished high in the league standings with 198hits, a .322batting average, and a .600slugging percentage.
Another offensive star wasthird basemanEddie Mathews. On June 12, Mathews hit the 200thhome 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' newsecond baseman,Red Schoendienst, was acquired in a trade on June 15, and he played in 93 games. Given up in this trade wereBobby Thomson (who was batting just .236) andDanny 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.
Starting pitcherWarren Spahn was theCy Young Award winner as the best pitcher inMajor League Baseball, the first left-handed pitcher to win the award.[6] Spahn finished with 35games started with a 21–11record. 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 startersBob Buhl (18–7) andLew Burdette (17–9).
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 the1958 World Series, but after 1959, he never managed another Major League team again, although he did become thegeneral manager of theLos Angeles Angels.
The Braves overcame two serious injuries during the 1957 season that caused some players to miss large parts of the year.First basemanJoe 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 fielderBill Bruton injured his knee after playing in just 79 games, missing the rest of the season. He was replaced byAndy Pafko, who played in 83 games.
| Danny O'Connell | 2B |
| Hank Aaron | RF |
| Eddie Mathews | 3B |
| Joe Adcock | 1B |
| Bobby Thomson | LF |
| Johnny Logan | SS |
| Bill Bruton | CF |
| Del Crandall | C |
| Warren Spahn | P |
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Braves | 95 | 59 | .617 | — | 45–32 | 50–27 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 87 | 67 | .565 | 8 | 42–35 | 45–32 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 11 | 43–34 | 41–36 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 80 | 74 | .519 | 15 | 45–32 | 35–42 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 77 | .500 | 18 | 38–39 | 39–38 |
| New York Giants | 69 | 85 | .448 | 26 | 37–40 | 32–45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 62 | 92 | .403 | 33 | 36–41 | 26–51 |
| Chicago Cubs | 62 | 92 | .403 | 33 | 31–46 | 31–46 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BRO | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL | |||||
| Brooklyn | — | 17–5 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 12–10 | |||||
| Chicago | 5–17 | — | 7–15 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 12–10–1 | 12–10 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 4–18 | 12–10 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 9–13 | |||||
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 13–9 | 18–4 | — | 13–9 | 12–10–1 | 16–6 | 11–11 | |||||
| New York | 10–12 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 | 9–13 | 8–14 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 13–9 | 14–8–1 | 6–16 | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | — | 13–9 | 9–13 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 | — | 6–16 | |||||
| St. Louis | 10–12 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 16–6 | — | |||||
| 1957 Milwaukee Braves | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | Manager Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
| = Indicates league leader |
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 | Del Crandall | 118 | 383 | 97 | .253 | 15 | 46 |
| 1B | Frank Torre | 129 | 364 | 99 | .272 | 5 | 40 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 93 | 394 | 122 | .310 | 6 | 32 |
| 3B | Eddie Mathews | 148 | 572 | 167 | .292 | 32 | 94 |
| SS | Johnny Logan | 129 | 494 | 135 | .273 | 10 | 49 |
| LF | Wes Covington | 96 | 328 | 93 | .284 | 21 | 65 |
| CF | Bill Bruton | 79 | 306 | 85 | .278 | 5 | 30 |
| RF | Hank Aaron | 151 | 615 | 198 | .322 | 44 | 132 |
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 Pafko | 83 | 220 | 61 | .277 | 8 | 27 |
| Joe Adcock | 65 | 209 | 60 | .287 | 12 | 38 |
| Danny O'Connell | 48 | 183 | 43 | .235 | 1 | 8 |
| Félix Mantilla | 71 | 182 | 43 | .236 | 4 | 21 |
| Bobby Thomson | 41 | 148 | 35 | .236 | 4 | 23 |
| Del Rice | 54 | 144 | 33 | .229 | 9 | 20 |
| Bob Hazle | 41 | 134 | 54 | .403 | 7 | 27 |
| Carl Sawatski | 58 | 105 | 25 | .238 | 2 | 17 |
| Nippy Jones | 30 | 79 | 21 | .266 | 2 | 8 |
| Chuck Tanner | 22 | 69 | 17 | .246 | 2 | 6 |
| John DeMerit | 33 | 34 | 5 | .147 | 0 | 1 |
| Bobby Malkmus | 13 | 22 | 2 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Dick Cole | 15 | 14 | 1 | .077 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Hanebrink | 6 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Mel Roach | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Ray Shearer | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawk Taylor | 7 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 Spahn | 39 | 271.0 | 21 | 11 | 2.69 | 78 |
| Lew Burdette | 37 | 256.2 | 17 | 9 | 3.71 | 111 |
| Bob Buhl | 34 | 216.2 | 18 | 7 | 2.74 | 117 |
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 Conley | 35 | 148.0 | 9 | 9 | 3.16 | 61 |
| Bob Trowbridge | 32 | 126.0 | 7 | 5 | 3.64 | 75 |
| Juan Pizarro | 24 | 99.1 | 5 | 6 | 4.62 | 68 |
| Ray Crone | 11 | 42.1 | 3 | 1 | 4.46 | 15 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don McMahon | 32 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1.54 | 46 |
| Ernie Johnson | 30 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3.88 | 44 |
| Taylor Phillips | 27 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5.55 | 36 |
| Dave Jolly | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.02 | 27 |
| Red Murff | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.85 | 13 |
| Phil Paine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Joey Jay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
This was the Braves' first World Championship since the "Miracle Braves" of1914, and their only one while based in Milwaukee (out of two chances). To date, the Braves' have won two World Championships: one in the1995 World Series, when the now-Atlanta Braves defeated theCleveland Indians, and the second in the 2021 World Series, when Atlanta defeated the Houston Astros.
World Series MVP Lew Burdette won two games inYankee Stadium and one game inMilwaukee County Stadium. Warren Spahn had the other Braves's victory.
NL Milwaukee Braves (4) vs. ALNew York Yankees (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braves – 1,Yankees – 3 | October 2 | Yankee Stadium | 69,476 |
| 2 | Braves – 4, Yankees – 2 | October 3 | Yankee Stadium | 65,202 |
| 3 | Yankees – 12, Braves – 3 | October 5 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 45,804 |
| 4 | Yankees – 5,Braves – 7 (10 innings) | October 6 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 45,804 |
| 5 | Yankees – 0,Braves – 1 | October 7 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 45,811 |
| 6 | Braves – 2,Yankees – 3 | October 9 | Yankee Stadium | 61,408 |
| 7 | Braves – 5, Yankees – 0 | October 10 | Yankee Stadium | 61,207 |
1957 World Series(4–3): Milwaukee Braves (N.L.) overNew York Yankees (A.L.)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Braves | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 47 | 3 | |
| New York Yankees | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 57 | 6 | |
| Total Attendance: 394,712 Average Attendance: 56,387 | ||||||||||||||
| Winning Player's Share: – $8,924 Losing Player's Share – $5,606 | ||||||||||||||
1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Atlanta, Evansville, Salinas
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