1963 Milwaukee Braves season

1963 Milwaukee Braves
Major league affiliations
National League (Since 1876)
Location
Milwaukee County Stadium (Since 1953) Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Since 1953)
1963 Information
Owner(s)	William Bartholomay
General manager(s)	John McHale
Manager(s)	Bobby Bragan
Local television	WTMJ-TV (Mike Walden, Blaine Walsh)
Local radio	WEMP (Earl Gillespie, Tom Collins)
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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.

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

National League	W	L	GB	Pct.
Los Angeles Dodgers	99	63	--	.611
St. Louis Cardinals	93	69	6	.574
San Francisco Giants	88	74	11	.543
Philadelphia Phillies	87	75	12	.537
Cincinnati Reds	86	76	13	.531
Milwaukee Braves	84	78	15	.519
Chicago Cubs	82	80	17	.506
Pittsburgh Pirates	74	88	25	.457
Houston Colt .45s	66	96	33	.407
New York Mets	51	111	48	.315

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 22 Wade Blasingame 33 Lew Burdette 40 Tony Cloninger 34 Hank Fischer 32 Frank Funk 36 Bob Hendley 23 Denny Lemaster 38 Ron Piché 35 Claude Raymond 37 Bob Sadowski 25 Dan Schneider 26 Bob Shaw 21 Warren Spahn 18 Bobby Tiefenauer		Catchers  1 Del Crandall 15 Joe Torre  8 Bob Uecker Infielders 28 Tommie Aaron  2 Frank Bolling 16 Lou Klimchock  9 Norm Larker 41 Eddie Mathews 11 Roy McMillan 19 Denis Menke 12 Gene Oliver 27 Amado Samuel 14 Woody Woodward		Outfielders 44 Hank Aaron 31 Ty Cline 42 Don Dillard 43 Len Gabrielson 30 Mack Jones 24 Lee Maye 31 Bubba Morton 29 Hawk Taylor Other batters 20 Gus Bell 77 Rico Carty		Manager 10 Bobby Bragan Coaches  3 Ken Silvestri  6 Dixie Walker  4 Jo-Jo White  5 Whit Wyatt

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	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	142	501	147	.293	14	71
3B	Mathews, EddieEddie Mathews	158	547	144	.263	23	84
LF	Maye, LeeLee Maye	124	442	120	.271	11	34
RF	Aaron, HankHank Aaron	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
Larker, NormNorm Larker	64	147	26	.177	1	14
Gabrielson, LenLen Gabrielson	46	120	26	.217	3	15
Klimchock, LouLou Klimchock	24	46	9	.196	0	1
Uecker, BobBob Uecker	13	16	4	.250	0	0
Carty, RicoRico Carty	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
Spahn, WarrenWarren Spahn	33	259.2	23	7	2.60	102
Lemaster, DennyDenny Lemaster	46	237	11	14	3.04	190
Sadowski, BobBob Sadowski	19	116.2	5	7	2.62	72
Burdette, LewLew Burdette	15	84	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
Hendley, BobBob Hendley	41	169.1	9	9	3.93	105
Shaw, BobBob Shaw	48	159	7	11	2.66	105
Cloninger, TonyTony Cloninger	41	145.1	9	11	3.78	100
Fischer, HankHank Fischer	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
Raymond, ClaudeClaude Raymond	45	4	6	5	5.40	44
Piché, RonRon Piché	37	1	1	0	3.40	40
Schneider, DanDan Schneider	30	1	0	0	3.09	19
Funk, FrankFrank Funk	25	3	3	0	2.68	19
Blasingame, WadeWade Blasingame	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

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toronto Maple Leafs	International League	Bill Adair
AAA	Denver Bears	Pacific Coast League	Jack Tighe
AA	Austin Senators	Texas League	Jimmy Brown
A	Waycross Braves	Georgia-Florida League	Bill Steinecke
A	Yakima Bears	Northwest League	Buddy Hicks
A	Boise Braves	Pioneer League	Billy Smith
A	Greenville Braves	Western Carolinas League	Jim Fanning and Paul Snyder

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Yakima, Greenville

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1963 Milwaukee Braves season at Baseball Reference