# 1964 Milwaukee Braves season

The 1964 Milwaukee Braves season was the team's 12th season in Milwaukee while also the 94th season overall. The fifth-place Braves finished the season with an 88–74 (.543) record, five games behind the National League and World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
Milwaukee finished the season with ten wins in the final eleven games; the season's home attendance was 910,911, their highest since 1961, and the highest of the last four seasons in Milwaukee (1962–65).
It was the franchise's penultimate season in Milwaukee. The franchise had attempted to move to Atlanta shortly after this season; it was delayed a year, and the team relocated for the 1966 season.

## Offseason

* October 10, 1963: Claude Raymond was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s in a 1963 special draft.
* December 2, 1963: Lou Jackson was drafted from the Braves by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1963 Rule 5 draft.
* March 22, 1964: Cito Gaston was signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves.
* Prior to 1964 season: Skip Guinn was signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 93 | 69 | .574 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 45‍–‍36 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 92 | 70 | .568 | 1 | 46‍–‍35 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 92 | 70 | .568 | 1 | 47‍–‍34 | 45‍–‍36 |
| San Francisco Giants | 90 | 72 | .556 | 3 | 44‍–‍37 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 88 | 74 | .543 | 5 | 45‍–‍36 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 80 | 82 | .494 | 13 | 42‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 80 | 82 | .494 | 13 | 41‍–‍40 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Chicago Cubs | 76 | 86 | .469 | 17 | 40‍–‍41 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Houston Colt .45s | 66 | 96 | .407 | 27 | 41‍–‍40 | 25‍–‍56 |
| New York Mets | 53 | 109 | .327 | 40 | 33‍–‍48 | 20‍–‍61 |

### Record vs. opponents

1964 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MIL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 6–12 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 6–12 |
| Cincinnati | 12–6 | — | 12–6 | 14–4–1 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 10–8 |
| Houston | 7–11 | 6–12 | — | 7–11 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 8–10 |
| Los Angeles | 8–10 | 4–14–1 | 11–7 | — | 8–10 | 15–3–1 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 10–8 |
| Milwaukee | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 | — | 14–4 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 8–10 |
| New York | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 3–15–1 | 4–14 | — | 3–15 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 7–11 |
| Philadelphia | 12-6 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 15–3 | — | 10–8 | 10–8 | 5–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–9 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 12–6 | 8–10 | — | 8–10 | 6–12 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 9–9 |
| St. Louis | 12–6 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 9–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 9, 1964: Bob Uecker was traded by the Braves to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jimmie Coker and Gary Kolb.
* May 12, 1964: Gus Bell was released by the Braves.
* June 3, 1964: Len Gabrielson was traded by the Braves to the Chicago Cubs for $40,000. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Merritt Ranew to the Braves on June 8.
* August 8, 1964: Dennis Ribant and cash were traded by the Braves to the New York Mets for Frank Lary.
* August 14, 1964: Carl Morton was signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves.
* August 23, 1964: Jimmie Coker was purchased from the Braves by the Cincinnati Reds for $35,000.

### Roster
## 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 | Joe Torre | 154 | 601 | 193 | .321 | 20 | 109 |
| 1B | Gene Oliver | 93 | 279 | 77 | .276 | 13 | 49 |
| 2B | Frank Bolling | 120 | 352 | 70 | .199 | 5 | 34 |
| 3B | Eddie Mathews | 141 | 502 | 117 | .233 | 23 | 74 |
| SS | Denis Menke | 151 | 505 | 143 | .283 | 20 | 65 |
| LF | Rico Carty | 133 | 455 | 150 | .330 | 22 | 88 |
| CF | Lee Maye | 153 | 588 | 179 | .304 | 10 | 74 |
| RF | Hank Aaron | 145 | 570 | 187 | .328 | 24 | 95 |

#### 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 |
| Felipe Alou | 121 | 415 | 105 | .253 | 9 | 51 |
| Ed Bailey | 95 | 271 | 71 | .262 | 5 | 34 |
| Mike de la Hoz | 78 | 189 | 55 | .291 | 4 | 12 |
| Ty Cline | 101 | 116 | 35 | .302 | 1 | 13 |
| Woody Woodward | 77 | 115 | 24 | .209 | 0 | 11 |
| Gary Kolb | 36 | 64 | 12 | .188 | 0 | 2 |
| Sandy Alomar Sr. | 19 | 53 | 13 | .245 | 0 | 6 |
| Len Gabrielson | 24 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 1 |
| Lou Klimchock | 10 | 21 | 7 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Merritt Ranew | 9 | 17 | 2 | .118 | 0 | 0 |
| Roy McMillan | 8 | 13 | 4 | .308 | 0 | 2 |
| Ethan Blackaby | 9 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 1 |
| Bill Southworth | 3 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 1 | 2 |
| Gus Bell | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Roof | 1 | 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 |
| Tony Cloninger | 38 | 242.2 | 19 | 14 | 3.56 | 163 |
| Denny Lemaster | 39 | 221.0 | 17 | 11 | 4.15 | 185 |
| Hank Fischer | 37 | 168.1 | 11 | 10 | 4.01 | 99 |
| Arnold Umbach | 1 | 8.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.24 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Warren Spahn | 38 | 173.2 | 6 | 13 | 5.29 | 78 |
| Bob Sadowski | 51 | 166.2 | 9 | 10 | 4.10 | 96 |
| Wade Blasingame | 28 | 116.2 | 9 | 5 | 4.24 | 70 |
| Dan Schneider | 13 | 36.1 | 1 | 2 | 5.45 | 14 |
| Frank Lary | 5 | 12.1 | 1 | 0 | 4.38 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 46 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 3.21 | 48 |
| Billy Hoeft | 42 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3.80 | 47 |
| Chi-Chi Olivo | 38 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3.75 | 45 |
| Jack Smith | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.77 | 19 |
| Clay Carroll | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1.77 | 17 |
| Phil Niekro | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.80 | 8 |
| Dave Eilers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.70 | 1 |
| Cecil Butler | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.31 | 2 |
| Dick Kelley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 2 |
| John Braun | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toronto Maple Leafs | International League | Sparky Anderson |
| AAA | Denver Bears | Pacific Coast League | Bill Adair |
| AA | Austin Senators | Texas League | Buddy Hicks |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | New York–Penn League | Andy Pafko |
| A | Yakima Bears | Northwest League | Hub Kittle |
| A | Greenville Braves | Western Carolinas League | Bill Steinecke and Jimmy Brown |
| Rookie | SRL Braves | Sarasota Rookie League | Paul Snyder |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Yakima, SRL Braves Toronto affiliation shared with Washington Senators