# 1963 Milwaukee Braves season

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 84–78 (.519) record, fifteen games behind the National League and World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The season's home attendance was 773,018, ninth in the ten-team National League.

## 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 William Bartholomay. 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 Cleveland Indians in the American League. His successor, Bobby Bragan, 45, was the team's fourth manager in five seasons. He had been a coach with the expansion Houston Colt .45s 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 that year, after guiding the team to an overall record of 310–287 (.519) in over 3+1⁄2 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

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 | 53‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍41 |
| San Francisco Giants | 88 | 74 | .543 | 11 | 50‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 75 | .537 | 12 | 45‍–‍36 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 86 | 76 | .531 | 13 | 46‍–‍35 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 84 | 78 | .519 | 15 | 45‍–‍36 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 80 | .506 | 17 | 43‍–‍38 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 74 | 88 | .457 | 25 | 42‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Houston Colt .45s | 66 | 96 | .407 | 33 | 44‍–‍37 | 22‍–‍59 |
| New York Mets | 51 | 111 | .315 | 48 | 34‍–‍47 | 17‍–‍64 |

### Record vs. opponents

1963 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MIL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 7–11 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | — | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Houston | 9–9 | 7–11 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 5–13 |
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–8 | 13–5 | — | 8–10–1 | 16–2 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 12–6 |
| Milwaukee | 6–12 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 10–8–1 | — | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–10 |
| New York | 7–11 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 2–16 | 6–12 | — | 8–10 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 5–13 |
| Philadelphia | 9–9 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 13–5 | 8–10 | 8–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–8 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 5–13 | 11–7 | 14–4 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 |
| San Francisco | 8–10 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 |
| St. Louis | 11–7 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | — |

### 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
## 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 | 142 | 501 | 147 | .293 | 14 | 71 |
| 1B | Gene Oliver | 95 | 296 | 74 | .250 | 11 | 47 |
| 2B | Frank Bolling | 142 | 542 | 132 | .244 | 5 | 43 |
| SS | Roy McMillan | 100 | 320 | 80 | .250 | 4 | 29 |
| 3B | Eddie Mathews | 158 | 547 | 144 | .263 | 23 | 84 |
| LF | Don Dillard | 67 | 119 | 28 | .235 | 1 | 12 |
| CF | Lee Maye | 124 | 442 | 120 | .271 | 11 | 34 |
| RF | Hank 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 |
| Denis Menke | 146 | 518 | 121 | .234 | 11 | 50 |
| Del Crandall | 86 | 259 | 52 | .201 | 3 | 28 |
| Mack Jones | 93 | 228 | 50 | .219 | 3 | 22 |
| Ty Cline | 72 | 174 | 41 | .236 | 0 | 10 |
| Norm Larker | 64 | 147 | 26 | .177 | 1 | 14 |
| Tommie Aaron | 72 | 135 | 27 | .200 | 1 | 15 |
| Len Gabrielson | 46 | 120 | 26 | .217 | 3 | 15 |
| Lou Klimchock | 24 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 0 | 1 |
| Hawk Taylor | 16 | 29 | 2 | .069 | 0 | 0 |
| Bubba Morton | 15 | 28 | 5 | .179 | 0 | 4 |
| Amado Samuel | 15 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Uecker | 13 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Gus Bell | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Woody Woodward | 10 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Rico 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 |
| Warren Spahn | 33 | 259.2 | 23 | 7 | 2.60 | 102 |
| Denny Lemaster | 46 | 237.0 | 11 | 14 | 3.04 | 190 |
| Bob Sadowski | 19 | 116.2 | 5 | 7 | 2.62 | 72 |
| Lew Burdette | 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 |
| Bob Hendley | 41 | 169.1 | 9 | 9 | 3.93 | 105 |
| Bob Shaw | 48 | 159.0 | 7 | 11 | 2.66 | 105 |
| Tony Cloninger | 41 | 145.1 | 9 | 11 | 3.78 | 100 |
| Hank 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 |
| Claude Raymond | 45 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5.40 | 44 |
| Ron Piché | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.40 | 40 |
| Dan Schneider | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.09 | 19 |
| Frank Funk | 25 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.68 | 19 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.21 | 22 |
| Wade 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

| 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