The 1972 Atlanta Braves season was the seventh season in Atlanta along with the 102nd season as a franchise overall.

Offseason December 2, 1971: Hal King was traded by the Braves to the Texas Rangers for Paul Casanova.Paul Casanova page at Baseball Reference

Regular season

Notable transactions May 11, 1972: Steve Barber was released by the Braves.Steve Barber page at Baseball Reference June 6, 1972: Preston Hanna was drafted by the Braves in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.Preston Hanna page at Baseball Reference June 15, 1972: Jim Nash and Gary Neibauer were traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Andre Thornton and Joe Hoerner.Andre Thornton page at Baseball Reference June 29, 1972: Orlando Cepeda was traded by the Braves to the Oakland Athletics for Denny McLain.Orlando Cepeda page at Baseball Reference

Front-office and managerial turnover The 1972 Braves' 70–84 season, following on the heels of a hopeful, 82–80 mark in , resulted in the in-season firings of both general manager Paul Richards, on the job since January 1967, and field manager Luman Harris, who was in the midst of his fifth season as the team's skipper. Richards and Harris were a management team that had worked in tandem for 15 years with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros before coming to the Braves.

Atlanta was 18–22 on June 1 when Richards was demoted from GM to special assignment scout; his replacement was another longtime associate, Eddie Robinson, 51, the director of the club's farm system.Caruso, Gary, The Braves Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995, page 330 Harris was fired August 6, with the Braves standing at 47–57 (.452), in fourth place in the NL West Division and 16 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. His successor was another internal hire, Eddie Mathews, 40, the team's first-base coach and perennial All-Star third baseman from its glory days in Milwaukee during the 1950s.Newspaper article, The Associated Press, August 7, 1972

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1972 Atlanta Braves Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders 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 Earl Williams 151 565 146 .258 28 87 1B Hank Aaron 129 449 119 .265 34 77 2B Félix Millán 125 498 128 .257 1 38 SS Marty Perez 141 479 109 .228 1 28 3B Darrell Evans 125 418 106 .254 19 71 LF Rico Carty 86 271 75 .277 6 29 CF Dusty Baker 127 446 143 .321 17 76 RF Mike Lum 123 369 84 .228 9 38

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 Ralph Garr 134 554 180 .325 12 53 Oscar Brown 76 164 37 .226 3 16 49 136 28 .206 2 10 Sonny Jackson 60 126 30 .238 0 8 Larvell Blanks 33 85 28 .329 1 7 Jim Breazeale 52 85 21 .247 5 17 Orlando Cepeda 28 84 25 .298 4 9 Gil Garrido 40 75 20 .267 0 7 Bob Didier 13 40 12 .300 0 5 Rod Gilbreath 18 38 9 .237 0 1 Rowland Office 2 5 2 .400 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 Phil Niekro 38 282.1 16 12 3.06 164 Ron Reed 31 213.0 11 15 3.93 111 6 36.0 2 2 6.00 18

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 Ron Schueler 37 144.2 5 8 3.67 96 Tom Kelley 27 116.1 5 7 4.56 59 George Stone 31 111.0 6 11 5.51 63 Pat Jarvis 37 98.2 11 7 4.10 56 Jim Hardin 26 79.2 5 2 4.41 25 23 78.1 0 5 4.60 40 Denny McLain 15 54.0 3 5 6.50 21 11 31.1 1 1 5.46 10 Larry Jaster 5 12.1 1 1 5.11 6

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 Cecil Upshaw 42 3 5 13 3.69 23 25 1 3 2 6.56 19 Gary Neibauer 8 0 0 0 7.27 8 Tom House 8 0 0 2 2.89 7 5 0 0 0 5.74 6

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Hank Aaron, Outfield, Starter

Farm system

Notes

References

1972 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference