The 1963 Milwaukee Braves season was the 11th in Milwaukee and the 93rd overall season of the franchise.
The sixth-place Braves finished the season with an record, fifteen games behind the National League and World Series champion The season's home attendance was ninth in the ten-team National League. This was the first season that the players last names appeared on the jerseys.
Offseason October 11, 1962: Ron Hunt was purchased from the Braves by the New York Mets. November 26, 1962: Ellis Burton was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1962 rule 5 draft. November 26, 1962: 1962 first-year draft Hal Haydel was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s. Don Taussig was drafted by the Braves from the Houston Colt .45s. November 30, 1962: Jim Bolger, Don Nottebart, and Connie Grob were traded by the Braves to the Houston Colt .45s for Norm Larker. Prior to 1963 season: Lou Klimchock was acquired from the Braves by the Washington Senators.
Ownership change and managerial turnover On November 16, 1962, the 17-year tenure of Louis Perini as owner of the Braves ended when the Boston construction magnate sold the team to a Chicago-based group of investors led by The Braves' home attendance had been declining since its 1957 high-water mark of over 2.2 million fans to 767,000 in five short years, due to a drop-off in on-field success since its last postseason appearance (the 1959 NL playoff) and a ban on "bringing your own" food and beer to County Stadium. Within two years of buying the Braves, the Bartholomay group would be negotiating with Atlanta, in a successful bid to move the club to the Southeast as early as 1965.
The change in owners overshadowed the Braves' continued turbulence in the managerial chair. On October 5, 1962, Birdie Tebbetts, in office for only 13 months, resigned to join the in the His successor, Bobby Bragan, 45, was the team's fourth manager in He had been a coach with the expansion in 1962 and had previously been fired from managing posts with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956–1957) and the Indians (1958).
In a 1976 memoir, longtime Dodger executive Harold Parrott would claim that the Braves' hiring of Bragan after the 1962 season was orchestrated by Branch Rickey to thwart a plan by Dodger owner Walter O'Malley to replace his manager, eventual Hall of Famer Walter Alston, with Leo Durocher. O'Malley was strongly considering firing Alston, but only if he could find a suitable "soft landing spot" for him. He chose the Braves, looking to replace Tebbetts, as Alston's ideal destination. But, according to Parrott, Rickey—in semi-retirement but still O'Malley's bitter enemy—discovered the scheme and brokered the marriage between Bragan and the Braves' ownership before O'Malley's plan could materialize. Bragan served as the Braves' last manager in Milwaukee in 1965, and their first in Atlanta in 1966, although he was fired on August 9 of after guiding the team to an overall record of in over seasons.
Regular season April 16, 1963: Eddie Mathews hit the 400th home run of his career. Along with Duke Snider, Mathews became part of the first duo to reach the 400 plateau in the same season.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions May 6, 1963: Lou Klimchock was returned to the Braves by the Washington Senators. May 8, 1963: Lou Johnson and cash were traded by the Braves to the Detroit Tigers for Chico Fernández. May 8, 1963: Chico Fernández was traded by the Braves to the New York Mets for Larry Foss. August 8, 1963: Norm Larker was purchased from the Braves by the San Francisco Giants.
Roster 1963 Milwaukee Braves Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches
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 142 501 147 .293 14 71 1B 95 296 74 .250 11 47 2B 142 542 132 .244 5 43 SS 100 320 80 .250 4 29 3B 158 547 144 .263 23 84 LF 67 119 28 .235 1 12 CF 124 442 120 .271 11 34 RF 161 631 201 .319 44 130
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 146 518 121 .234 11 50 86 259 52 .201 3 28 93 228 50 .219 3 22 72 174 41 .236 0 10 64 147 26 .177 1 14 72 135 27 .200 1 15 46 120 26 .217 3 15 24 46 9 .196 0 1 16 29 2 .069 0 0 15 28 5 .179 0 4 15 17 3 .176 0 0 13 16 4 .250 0 0 3 3 1 .333 0 0 10 2 0 .000 0 0 2 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 33 259.2 23 7 2.60 102 46 237.0 11 14 3.04 190 19 116.2 5 7 2.62 72 15 84.0 6 5 3.64 28
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 41 169.1 9 9 3.93 105 48 159.0 7 11 2.66 105 41 145.1 9 11 3.78 100 31 74.1 4 3 4.96 72
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 45 4 6 5 5.40 44 37 1 1 0 3.40 40 30 1 0 0 3.09 19 25 3 3 0 2.68 19 12 1 1 2 1.21 22 2 0 0 0 12.00 6
Awards and honors All-Star Game Hank Aaron, outfield, starter Warren Spahn, reserve Joe Torre, reserve
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Yakima, Greenville
Notes
References
1963 Milwaukee Braves season at Baseball Reference