Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Behind the Plate A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty by Javy Lopez Javy López. Javy Lopez played 15 years in the big leagues, hitting 260 home runs. Primarily a catcher, his best year was 2003 when he hit 43 home runs and was fifth in the MVP voting, but he slumped in 2006 and his career was over. As of January 2009, there were two Hall of Famers on the list of the ten most similar players to Lopez, according to the similarity scores method: Joe Gordon and Roy Campanella. However, on his only year of eligibility for Cooperstown in 2012, he received only one vote and was dropped from the ballot. Lopez slugged over .500 in the minors in 1992 and 1993, getting cups of coffee each year in the majors. In 1994 he became a regular and spent most of his career with the , who were frequently in post-season play during the years he was with them. He slugged over .500 in both Division Series and League Championship Series. With the Braves, he was three years younger than teammate Deion Sanders (they were teammates from 1992 to 1994). He was briefly the brother-in-law of Juan González when his sister Elaine married the slugger in 1994; the marriage was over by 1996. In the , he usually batted fifth in the lineup, behind Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff and ahead of Andruw Jones. He was a year older than Chipper Jones. As a free agent, he signed with the and had a good year with them in 2004 but dropped off somewhat in 2005 and more so in 2006, getting traded to the Red Sox in August to finish out his major league career. On the Red Sox, he was one year older than Manny Ramirez. He was cut by the Colorado Rockies during spring training in 2007 and cut by the Braves during spring training in 2008, after which he decided to retire. Top 5 catchers in Braves history: Bowman's take. No one loves a good debate quite like fans, and with that in mind, we asked each of our beat reporters to rank the top five players by position in the history of their franchise, based on their career while playing for that club. These rankings are for fun and debate purposes only -- here's what fans had to say: We want you to help construct the All-Time teams for each MLB club. Up first is the catching position. Who do you believe is the best catcher in #Braves history? — Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) March 20, 2020. Here is Mark Bowman’s ranking of the top five catchers in Braves history. Next week: First basemen. 1. Brian McCann, 2005-13 and ’19 Key fact: 43.6 fWAR leads all Braves catchers and stands sixth among all players in franchise history. How great was Brian McCann during his first tour with the Braves? Well, from 2005-13, his 42.5 WAR (per FanGraphs) ranked second among all MLB catchers. That trailed only Joe Mauer, who produced a 44.9 fWAR while logging more than one thousand fewer innings than McCann as a catcher in this span. Looking at Weighted Runs Created Plus, which accounts for external factors like ballparks and eras, Joe Torre ranks first among all Braves catchers with a 131 wRC+. McCann ranks second (115) and Javy Lopez third (114). But it should be noted Torre logged approximately 2,500 fewer innings behind the plate than both Lopez and McCann while playing for the Braves. Yeah, that means Torre’s bat was so valuable there was reason to get him at-bats as a first baseman during those pre-load-management days. But when determining the best catcher, it seems best to focus on the production generated while playing this position, which gains significant value from defensive contributions. Lopez ranks first among Braves catchers with 214 homers, and McCann ranks second with 188. But before Lopez had his monstrous 43-homer season in 2003, his at-bats-per-HR ratio was 20.7, which is pretty similar to McCann’s 21.5 AB/HR ratio from 2005-13. But although Torre was slightly more productive from an overall offensive perspective and Lopez might have had a little more power, McCann gets the nod because he was clearly superior defensively to both. Per FanGraphs’ Defensive WAR model, McCann ranks fourth all-time among catchers with a 232.1 mark, trailing only Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina and Bob Boone. Yeah, recent catchers have benefited from PITCHf/x allowing this metric to account for framing. But with that being said, Lopez (55.9) and Torre (40.6) weren’t even close in this defensive category. 2. Javy Lopez, 1992-2003 Key fact: Owns the MLB single-season record for most homers (42) while in the lineup as a catcher. The Twitter poll showed fans consider Javy Lopez to be the best catcher in Braves history. He received 52% of the votes, while McCann ranked second with 42%. Lopez established himself as a fan favorite. He was behind the plate when Tom Glavine’s gem helped clinch the , and Lopez’s tremendous performance in the 1996 Championship Series sent the Braves to a second straight World Series. And of course, there's his 43-homer campaign in 2003 before bidding adieu to Atlanta. Many recall Greg Maddux did not use Lopez as his catcher, but it should also be remembered that Lopez was behind the plate for approximately 64% of the innings tallied while Braves pitchers were producing an MLB-best 3.55 ERA from 1995-2003. Lopez might not have been the best defensive catcher, but the 116 wRC+ he produced in nine seasons as Atlanta’s primary catcher was just a tick behind the 117 wRC+ McCann produced during his first nine seasons with the Braves. 3. Joe Torre, 1960-68 Key fact: Led all MLB catchers in fWAR (34.9) and wRC+ (131) from 1961-68. When Del Crandall injured his throwing arm a few weeks into the 1961 season, the Milwaukee Braves had to promote a 20-year-old Joe Torre to serve as their primary catcher with just a little more than a year’s worth of professional experience. He finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting that year and finished fifth in NL MVP voting after producing a 145 wRC+ in 1964. Torre produced a similar 144 wRC+ in 1965 and then drilled a career-best 36 homers while constructing a 157 wRC+ when the Braves moved to Atlanta in ’66. His production dropped over the next two seasons and he was traded to the Cardinals after the 1968 season. Younger fans identify him as the Hall of Fame manager who led the Yankees to World Series wins over Atlanta in 1996 and ’99. But many longtime Braves fans understand why he was widely considered the best catcher of the 1960s. 4. Del Crandall, 1949-63 Key fact: Won four of the first five Gold Gloves given after Rawlings began designating a winner in each league. Quite possibly, the best defensive catcher in NL history, Del Crandall’s metrics were not influenced by the advancements made via today’s analytics. But he was certainly respected by his peers, named an All-Star in eight seasons with the Braves. Crandall was 19 when he debuted for the 1949 Boston Braves. He finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting, then played one more year before missing two seasons while performing military service. The 151 homers he hit from 1953-60 ranked second among MLB catchers, trailing only Hall of Famer Yogi Berra (186). In addition to being behind the plate for Lew Burdette’s gem that sealed the , Crandall also homered in the eighth inning of that Game 7 win over the Yankees. 5. Eddie Pérez, 1995-2001 and 2004-05 Key fact: Owns a franchise-best 1.250 OPS (minimum 25 at-bats) in NLCS games. It might initially seem ridiculous to give this spot to a guy who was a backup throughout his career. But beyond McCann, Lopez, Torre and Crandall, no other Braves catcher has ever produced more than a 12.5 fWAR. To put that in context, Tyler Flowers ranks eighth in franchise history with an 11.6 fWAR, despite having totaled just 349 games with the Braves. So we’ll give this final spot to Eddie Pérez, who primarily played because of his eternal link to Greg Maddux. The Hall of Fame hurler produced a 2.52 ERA while working with Pérez, who logged at least 248 more Maddux innings than any other catcher who worked with the four-time Award winner. The beloved catcher will also remind you he won the 1999 NLCS MVP while filling in for Lopez, who underwent season- ending left knee surgery in June that year. Honorable mentions Bruce Benedict was a strong defensive asset who logged the fourth-most innings as a catcher in franchise history . Greg Olson was the primary catcher when the Braves made their surprising run to the . And no list of Braves catchers would be complete without at least mentioning Biff Pocoroba. Behind the Plate: A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty. Disclaimer: The price shown above includes all applicable taxes and fees. The information provided above is for reference purposes only. Products may go out of stock and delivery estimates may change at any time. Desertcart does not validate any claims made in the product descriptions above. For additional information, please contact the manufacturer or desertcart customer service. While desertcart makes reasonable efforts to only show products available in your country, some items may be cancelled if they are prohibited for import in El Salvador. For more details, please visit our Support Page. Atlanta Braves. Ballparks: Live Oaks Base Ball Grounds (Sept. 29-Oct. 27, 1866); Lincoln Park Grounds (aka Union Grounds: May 4, 1867-Aug. 4, 1870); South End Grounds I (May 16, 1871-Sept. 10, 1887); Hampden Park, Springfield, MA (July 16, 1873; May 14, 1875); Adelaide , Providence, RI (June 22, 1875); South End Grounds II (May 25, 1888-May 15, 1894); (May 16-June 20, 1894); South End Grounds III (July 20, 1894-Aug. 11, 1914); Rocky Point Grounds (Sept. 6, 1903), (Apr. 19 & May 30, 1913; Aug. 1 & 8, Sept. 7, 1914-July 27, 1915, Apr. 28, 1946); (Aug. 18, 1915-Sept 21, 1952), County (Apr. 14, 1953-Sept. 22, 1965); Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (Apr. 12, 1966-Oct. 24, 1996); (Apr. 4, 1997-Oct. 2, 2016); Fort Bragg Field (July 3, 2016); (Mar. 31, 2017-Present) Contents. Franchise History [ edit ] The Atlanta Braves are a baseball team in the National League. Formerly the Milwaukee Braves, they started playing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1966, but they trace their lineage back to the Boston Red Stockings of the 19th century National Association and before that, to the , the first professional baseball team. Early Incarnations [ edit ] The National League's Braves franchise started in 1866 as the Cincinnati Baseball Club. By the time the team had turned professional in 1869, the team was known as the Cincinnati Red Stockings. On November 21, 1870, following what was considered to be the team's worst season, club owners decided to fold for the upcoming season. During the winter months, manager Harry Wright met with Ivers W. Adams, and various Boston, MA businessmen to form a baseball team there. Taking with him his brother George Wright, Charlie Gould and Cal McVey as well as the Red Stockings name, he traveled to Boston where on January 20, 1871 the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association were organized. When it was learned that the "new" Cincinnati Red Stockings would join the newly-constituted National League in 1876, Wright changed the team name to Boston Red Caps, in order that the Cincinnati team would have the honor of the Red Stockings name as was only fitting. Over the following years, the Boston team was known by a variety of nicknames, including the Boston Beaneaters from 1883 to 1906, then the Boston Doves from 1907 to 1910, and for one season, the Boston Rustlers in 1911, before taking on the name Boston Braves in 1912. Suprisingly, the name Braves had nothing to do with the Boston Tea Party, but was a reference to then owner James Gaffney's connection with New York City's Tamany Hall (which had an Indian as its symbol). The team took a break from the Braves nickname from 1936 to 1940, when they called themselves the Boston Bees, before returning to the Braves name in 1941, which they then kept through moves to two successive cities. The team had great success in the National Association in the 1870s under the leadership of baseball pioneers George and Harry Wright, and as the Beaneaters under manager Frank Selee in the 1890s. Throughout the five-year existence of the Red Stockings, the team was managed by Harry Wright. They won four National Association pennants in those five years, and the franchise had a record of 225-60 as the Red Stockings. The franchise entered the National League using the nickname "Red Caps" in 1876, and won the National League pennant in 1877 and 1878. As the Boston Beaneaters, the franchise won 6 NL pennants, and appeared in two of the pre-modern postseason series, winning one. The franchise's best record as the Doves came in 1908 when the came in sixth place with a record of 63-91. The Braves broke out of mediocrity for one glorious season in 1914, when they captured a World Championship so unlikely that they would forever be known as the Miracle Braves . Even the presence of future managerial genius Casey Stengel was not enough to wake them from their torpor over the next two decades, but they emerged after World War II as a solid franchise, and behind the pitching of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain (and the overlooked Bill Voiselle), they captured the NL pennant in 1948. In 1953, owner Lou Perini moved the Braves franchise to Milwaukee, starting a decade of success that saw them capture a second World Championship in 1957 and repeat as pennant winners in 1958. The team's stars were sluggers and Eddie Mathews, and pitchers Spahn and Lew Burdette, but after the 1965 season, they moved again, this time to Atlanta. The move was a problematic one, as Milwaukee city officials sued the Braves' owners to prevent the team's relocation. They were thus forced to play the 1965 season in Milwaukee against their will, but after a lower court ruling in favor of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the decision on appeal. Bowie Kuhn's involvement with began on that occasion, as he pleaded the owners' case. When the United States Supreme Court refused to review the decision, the move was irreversible. The Atlanta Braves [ edit ] Atlanta fans took quickly to the Braves when they moved to town from Milwaukee in 1966, thus becoming the first major league team located in the deep south, and in each of their first six seasons in the city, they drew over a million fans. In 1969, the Braves reached the National League's first League Championship Series but lost to the New York Mets. In 1973, they were the first team to have three 40-home run hitters in its line-up, as Hank Aaron, Davey Johnson and Darrell Evans all reached the mark. On April 8, 1974, the team made history again. That night at 9:07 p.m., Aaron crushed an Al Downing pitch into the left field bullpen of the Braves' home park for his 715th career homer, breaking Babe Ruth's lifetime record. Media mogul purchased the Braves in 1976. His media empire had been built around the Braves, as he turned a fledgling low- powered UHF station into the centerpiece of an empire by first purchasing the rights to broadcast Braves games in 1974, then made his station one of the first ones to be broadcast nationally through cable television. Over the remainder of the decade, though, the team's showing went downhill, and they finished last for four straight years, from 1976 to 1979, even though Turner pursued free agents such as Andy Messersmith and Gary Matthews, traded for marquee players Jeff Burroughs and Gene Garber, and even tried to install himself as the team's manager before being dissuaded by the league's president. In spite of the losing, the team was building a home-grown foundation of young talent, with Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Rick Mahler, Glenn Hubbard, Steve Bedrosian and Bruce Benedict emerging as solid contributors. In 1982 the Braves won their first 13 games of the season and went on to win the National League West title. Slugging outfielder Murphy captured the National League Most Valuable Player Award as well. However, the club got swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in the League Championship Series. Murphy repeated as MVP in 1983, but by the mid-1980s, the Braves had once again sunk into the West Division cellar. However, under the leadership of manager Bobby Cox and with the help of a strong, young pitching staff, the Braves vaulted from last place in the NL West in 1990 to the World Series in 1991, and third baseman Terry Pendleton captured the National League MVP Award that year. The Braves then started a streak during which they did not miss the postseason until 2006. They reached the World Series again in 1992, 1995, and 1996, winning it in 1995 over the and giving the city of Atlanta its first major sports championship. Their pitching staff also dominated the Cy Young Award for the decade. Tom Glavine won the award in 1991 and 1998, Greg Maddux captured it in 1993, 1994, and 1995, and John Smoltz earned the honor in 1996. The Braves abandoned Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium after the 1996 season and in 1997 moved next door into Turner Field, built for the 1996 Olympics. The Braves reached the World Series again in 1999, losing again to the . The Braves reached the postseason for 11 consecutive seasons - 14 excluding the strike-shortened season of 1994. The streak ended in 2006, with the Mets winning the NL East and the getting the wild card. After playing around .500 for a few years in the late 2000s, the Braves returned to the postseason in Bobby Cox's final season in 2010, as the National league wild card. They lost to the eventual world champion in the NLDS, but the emergence of great rookie OF Jason Heyward and the return to form of ace P Tim Hudson promised a return to regular contention under new manager Fredi Gonzalez. The Braves seemed headed back to the postseason as the Wild Card in 2011, but collapsed in September and were passed by the St. Louis Cardinals on the last day of the season, when Rookie of the Year closer Craig Kimbrel was charged with a rare blown save; the Cards then went on to confound all the experts by winning a World Series title. Another young reliever, Jonny Venters, had an outstanding season that year, while rookie 1B Freddie Freeman showed a lot of promise as well, but the most remarkable feat belonged to 2B Dan Uggla, who managed a 33-game hitting streak in the middle of a season during which he batted only .233. The Braves returned to the postseason in 2012, when they lost the Wild C ard Game at home to the St. Louis Cardinals on a controversial call of the infield fly rule, then won a division title in 2013, although, once again, they were unable to get past the first round of the playoffs. After the season, the team announced it would start construction on a new ballpark located in suburban Cobb County. Sun Trust Park opened in 2017 and in 2018 the Braves won a division title with a very young team built around OF Ronald Acuna, 2B Ozzie Albies and SS Dansby Swanson among others, with veterans Freeman and Nick Markakis still around and contributing. While they made an early postseason exit that year, the flow of solid young players continued in 2019, with P Mike Soroka and Touki Toussaint and OF Austin Riley making important contributions. Holding On To The Memories: A Review Of The New Javy Lopez Autobiography. Popular Atlanta Braves catcher Javier "Javy" Lopez opens up in this autobiography to tell his amazing story, from learning to play baseball on a neighborhood basketball court to his record of 42 home runs in a season by a catcher. There’s little doubt that every season since the 2005 season has been a bit of a struggle for Braves fans. With every passing year, the feats of the team that won 14 straight division championships fade a little from our memories. Where has the time gone? It was 20 seasons ago that Sid Bream slid across home plate to send the Braves to their second straight World Series. It’s been 17 seasons since Tom Glavine shut down the Cleveland Indians to lead the Atlanta Braves to their only world championship. It has been 10 seasons since the Braves roster included Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz. It has even been seven seasons since Brian McCann hit that home run off Roger Clemens in the last post-season of the division championship run. Sometimes, it seems as though the championship run was an illusion. Check the sports shelf at any bookstore, and you will find numerous books about the Yankees and the Red Sox. Seemingly every player on both of the teams has their own book. Numerous serious sports journalists have written about the teams. World famous authors like Stephen King have even contributed to the mix. Every accomplishment of every player from the Yankees and the Red Sox, whether meager or substantial, is deemed worthy of a book. An unprecedented run of 14 division championships by a team with national television is not, however, worthy. I’m not suggesting that there’s a conspiracy. The publishing industry releases books about the Red Sox and the Yankees because they sell and because the players are willing to do them. For the most part, it just doesn’t seem to be the Braves way. Throughout the run, the Braves carried themselves in a quiet and unassuming manner. The team was confident, but never cocky. Compared to most championship franchises, there was very little in the way of drama. Still, you would think the magnitude of their accomplishment would have led to at least one book examining the historical nature of the run (and, of course, why the team failed to win more than a single World Series). The good news is, now that the players have settled into their retirements, we are starting to see a few willing to step up and tell their stories. First out of the gate is Behind the Plate, A Catcher’s View of the Braves Dynasty by Javy Lopez. Behind the Plate was coauthored with Gary Caruso and it reads in a very conversational tone. It is little more than Javy Lopez telling his story and offering his opinion wherever he feels its needed. There’s little to nothing in the book to spark controversy, but at the same time, Lopez isn’t afraid to offer criticisms of both his teammates, his manager, and of himself. (It should be noted that at no point in the book are steroids or other PEDs mentioned. This will pretty much confirm that the book will be ignored by the mainstream press.) He manages the trick of being a little prickly without compromising the affable good nature we saw on display week in and week out throughout his career. The book opens with Lopez discussing his remarkable 2003 season, his last season with the Braves and his best season, where he set the single season record for home runs by a catcher. He is clearly proud of the accomplishment, and amazed that he’s put his name in the record books. It is clear that he considers that year as the highlight of his career. From there, he moves into stories of his youth and how he ended up falling in love with baseball. He covers his signing with the Braves, his time in the minor leagues and each of his big league seasons. This isn’t a long book, but he hits all of the highlights of his career without shortchanging any particular period. It won’t surprise people to learn that Lopez is a pretty emotional guy. One of the turning points of his career was an emotional breakdown he had while struggling in the minors. He writes about the stress his Dad would put on him by constantly asking him why he keeps swinging at bad pitches. (Actually, from time to time, that was a question we all asked.) He also talks about the hurt of having the Braves fail to make an offer of any kind after his 2003 season. He even lays out the problems with his first marriage in frank and uncompromising terms. When looking at his own talents, he is his own harshest critic, offering especially negative judgements on his rookie year in 1994 and his 2002 season. In addition to dealing head on with his personal failings on the field, he also talks at length about the Braves failure to capture more than one World Championship. He offers his own theories that include criticisms of some of the Braves moves in the post-season. He does not, however, believe that the failure reduces the magnitude of the accomplishment. As a former catcher, I loved the parts of the book where he discusses the craft of catching. He discusses why he calls a game a certain way and the importance of being able to stop balls in the dirt so that a pitcher can throw any pitch with confidence. He believes that a catcher can see things about a hitter that there’s no way a pitcher can pick up on their own. He even goes into how he reads an umpire and how that affects his pitch calling. As much as I enjoyed these portions of the book, I wish he had delved even deeper into the topic. As a fan, I love to know what goes through a player’s mind as they play. I love to know the “why” behind their actions on the field. One surprise to me was that Lopez had little to offer in the way of stories of about the trio of future Hall of Fame pitchers that he caught. While it is clear that he admires Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz for their talents, it is also clear that he was not close with any of them. Early in the book, he promises to offer his opinion of why he stopped catching Maddux regularly after the 1994 season. Unfortunately, rather than offering an opinion of his own, he relates the theories that others have shared with him. It is clear that it bothered him, but he seems to accept it as being beyond his control, even as he worries that it affects people’s perception of his quality as a backstop. (Everyone will want to read his story about the size of the catcher’s box.) While he doesn’t offer many stories about the “Big 3,” he offers a few laugh out loud stories about his good friend Ryan Klesko. He covers what it was like to be a teammate of everyone from John Rocker to Andres Galaraga. He tries to break down what it was that he loved about playing for Bobby Cox. Perhaps the best part of the book are two stories he relates about on the field occurrences. I had to laugh as I read his story of Francisco Cabrera’s hit in 1992 and his reaction as he ran from the bullpen to home plate to celebrate with his teammates. Even better is how he breaks down his pickoff of Manny Ramirez off first base in game 2 of the 1995 World Series. While many love to write this play off as one of those quintessential “Manny being Manny” moments, I think that really short changes the skill and preparation of Javy Lopez. It was certainly one of the most memorable moments of his career. Ultimately, as Braves fans, we should all hope that Javy finds success with his book, and likewise, we should hope that the John Smoltz book coming this spring also finds success. If so, perhaps it will inspire others to tell their stories. I want Greg Maddux to write about his preparation. I’d love to read Mark Lemke or Steve Avery’s thoughts on those early post-seasons. It’s hard to picture a book by a gregarious guy like David Justice not being entertaining. I don’t just want to know the stories of the Braves best players, like Chipper Jones. I also want to hear the stories of the minor players who left their mark, like a Mike Mordecai or a Francisco Cabrera. More than anything, I would love for Bobby Cox to tell his story of the Braves run. I want a bookshelf full of books I can pull out when I want to remember the “good old days” of Atlanta Braves baseball. Still, even if the Lopez and Smoltz books don’t lead to a rush of Braves books, I’m glad that Javy decided to tell his story. His book is both pleasant and entertaining, and thanks to the conversational tone, it is also a quick read. More than anything though, I’m glad that he’s helping to preserve all of our memories of the Atlanta Braves historical division championship run.