Barry Bonnell Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com
Seasons with Braves: 1977-1979
Notable Stats: .324 OBP, .360 SLG
Notable Achievements: Part of trades for Dick Allen (from the Braves) and Chris Chambliss (to them).
Versus
Albert Hall Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com
Seasons with Braves: 1981-1988
Notable Stats: .337 SLG, five career homers.
Notable Achievements: Hit for the cycle once.
Barry Bonnell: Second best Mormon ever to play for the Braves.
Best Albert Hall line, after a baserunning blunder: “That’s the outest I ever was.”
At least Albert was fast.
Everybody vote for A. Hall. I voted for Bonnell and am currently on a 6 poll losing streak, having voted for the last 6 losers. Also, the Braves are on a winning streak equivalent to my losing streak. Not that that means anything, but….
(I still have no hope. Nonewhatsoever.)
This season has turned around very nicely from about mid-season. I was trying to come up with the reasons, in order, for the turnaround. Here’s what I came up with:
1., 2. & 3. Getting rid of Francouer
4. Bringing up Hanson
5. Adding LaRoche/getting rid of Kotchman
6. Benching Kelly Johnson
7. Replacing Kawakami with Hudson
Have I forgotten anything important?
Bonnell/Hall is really tough, because neither one turned out to be very good, but both had some upside. I always liked Bonnell, and around ’79 thought he would be pretty good. The Royal Albert was someone I liked also, and he looked really good on his ’88 Fleer Card. I wish these guys would have been matched up against some other cruds (say either Ken), but I’ll make a grudging vote for Hall, and totally expect whoever moves on to get buried in the next round by someone who was really lousy.
Am I the only one that thinks all these wins are just worsening our draft position? Ha!
Nah, Chief, apparently the new strategy is to just go ahead and draft the guy you would have 30th anyway.
The problem with your poll is that these guys were some of Atlanta’s better players during the late 70s and early 80s. I never could figure out why the Braves were so bad back then – looking back on it, it’s definitely easy to understand. Was it Bonnell or Assenmacher that had a collision with the wall that basically ended his career?
Well, Assenmacher was a relief pitcher (and a good one, who pitched until he was 38) so it probably wasn’t him.
LMAO
Probably the worst Braves team of all-time:
1988 Atlanta Braves Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com
Even the 1935 team was really better, just unluckier.
Uggh. I had forgotten how bad Murph had fallen off from his early 80’s years. He was running on fumes that year, wasn’t he?
@8,
You are thinking of Brian Asselstine. He ran into the fence and basically ended his career. Which brings up the question of why it took so long for the geniuses in baseball to come up with padded fences. Was this some kind of new technology that wasn’t available until the 90s?
Also, when was Dick Allen with the Braves?
Allen never actually played for the Braves; I think it was one of the periods where he was “retired”. They traded for him in December of 1974 and sent him to Philly in May 1975.
Brian Asselstine was a real beauty, a non-fielding Langerhans. Come to think of it, he was the soothsayer who predicted Frenchy far into the future! He just didn’t get to play as much.
Asselstine was the guy. I thought he was going to be decent before the collision. Then again, I used to think everyone was going to be good back in those days.
Considering the complete lack of power Asselstine showed in the minors, I doubt that he had any chance of being good.
Didn’t Asselstine get his spike caught in the chain link outfield fence, tearing up his ankle? Shortly thereafter, I think they covered the chain link with a clear hard plastic.
Seeing Frenchy whiff on a pitch 2 feet outside from Moylan Wednesday night brought back memories of Andres Thomas.
Back in 1988, Pete Smith looked more promising than Glavine, at least he occasionally got a strikeout. That was the first or second year I was able to see the Braves on cable, so I watched nearly every game of that season, and liked it. I also bought Baseball America a lot so I could monitor the minor league prospects and hope for a better future (that actually came a few years later!)
I guess Ron Gant was the best hitter that year, but he made a shocking 31 errors at first base – he had hands of buttered stone.
Even though Smoltz had bad numbers in his late season performances, I remember being hopefull, because he seemed to be the only pitcher they had who had genuine stuff, and a great drop on his curveball. Coffman had a lively fastball but was hopelessly wild.
Mac, that ’88 team was baaaad! An OPS of over .600 would get you a 5 year contract. An OPS of over .700 was unheard of. The ace of the staff was 9-16 and the top 4 starters were a combined 28-58. Remembering that team makes this year’s likely 2nd or 3rd place finish feel a ittle better.
Remember the Orioles that year?
The Braves lost their first 10 games, but the O’s dropped their first 21.
Out of the hills of Gwinett, down to the valleys of Fulton,
We hurry again to catch the plane, run the bases and hit the balls.
We split up the Rockies, together again.
1. McLouth
2. Prado, 3B
3. Diaz
4. McCann
5. Escobar
6. Anderson
7. LaRoche
8. Infante, 2B
9. Hudson
Chipper’s now apparently in the line-up. Has he been good against LHP lately?
New Line-up:
Anderson ahead of LaRoche and Diaz, who was originally slated to bat third, against a lefty. Awesome.
I dont know but he looked terrible swinging yesterday
LaRoche 8th and Anderson 6th vs. LHP. Bobby, why?
There’s a lot of rain in Alabama and more in Mississippi; I wouldn’t be too confident in getting this game in. At any event, I’ve had a busy week and am wiped out. This game will be recapped, if played, at some point, but I don’t know when.
Weather in Louisiana for the last week:
1. Pouring rain
2. Rain tapers off
3. Skies stay cloudy for a few hours
4. Break in the clouds
5. Clouds move back in
6. Drizzle begins
7. See 1
Repeat every six hours until thoroughly sick of it.
Cox loves to tinker, always has.
19, the Andres Thomas reference brings back nightmares of the trade that almost was. Barry Bonds was almost traded for Thomas way back in 1988. O what could have been…….
I’m pretty sure it was Blauser, not Thomas.
Nice work, Huddy.
I thought he was in under the tag!
Is this Snitker’s work?
@ 34 is right. Under the tag without a doubt.
I think you have to send the runner there with McLouth coming up and 2 outs. Did Bobby bench Yunel? If so, that was probably stupid.
Bobby just yanked Escobar. I can only guess it’s for not running out his hit earlier that lead to Howard putting the tag on him.
Or as Chip observes, the trainer’s aren’t sitting next to him.
Is Yunel hurt?
Or did Bobby not like his effort running to first on that Utley play?
@ 39 – I’d say the hustle. He let him go back out and play the field though in the next half, so I don’t know what the thought process was.
40,
Let Infante get loose?
What is an “oblique” exactly?
I think Prado is officially back!
MARTIN!
Prado with a homer making him the 8th Brave with 10 or more. You’d think the team had a few more overall with that.
if only Mac hadn’t written that Howard is overrated …
(I agree btw)
Anybody here want to ante up for a contract on Chip and Joe? They are cruel and unusual punishment and thus unconstitutional.
Looks like Yunel is back in Bobby’s doghouse.
Harry and Skip Carey – baseball legends.
Chip Carey – fell way too far from the tree.
How many more runners are we going to strand tonight?
Anderson’s lines that past two months:
August: .260/.288/.360
September: .180/.263/.240
Professional.
Chip Carey – fell way too far from the tree.
And he’s still rolling away.
Chipper is hurting so bad that he should not be playing.
Ron Gant tomorrow? Be ready for the golf mode.
Wow. The Phillies must have a third-base coach dumber than ours to send Francisco to 3rd with nobody out.
Can they stop f**king pitch Howard on the outside part of the plate?! Joe was so right about throwing in on Howard.
Five home runs in his last 3 2/3 games at Turner Field. Unless the bases are loaded, Ryan Howard is not to be pitched to for the remainder of this series.
And I for one agree with Our New Insect Overlords…
Keep hope dead people. Our offense has returned to its true form.
Horrendous umpiring. Something needs to be done.
How many calls can one umpiring crew blow tonight?
Shut up Chip.
until Bobby quits being retarded, we have no shot. Laroche is still hitting 7th or so and Anderson is 3rd and 4th. This whole hatred for Yunel is beyond ridiculous.
McCann needs to quit calling for offspeed stuff away to Howard also
Missed a golden opportunity to waste Norton’s court appointed at bat there (2 out bottom 7th).
I wish we could have Diaz in LF and Church in RF too, but that might cultivate some hope from the fans. And we certainly don’t want that.
So Chip, you’re telling me that Chase Utley was once thought of as a third baseman and now he’s moved all the way to second. Unbelievable. Call Mr. Ripley with that one.
So I check in on the game and see that Ryan Howard is crushing us again.
Mac, sacrifice a chicken (or a bucket of KFC perhaps) and beg forgiveness. No mas.
Boone who?
Where the hell was Cox? Utley was 4 feet on the grass right in front of him on a direct line. The first base ump was probably too deep to have an angle.
Manny Acosta. Because forfeiting the game gets you talked about, and this has the same functional effect.
Missed a golden opportunity to waste Norton’s court appointed PH in the 7th…
Oh and if Acosta gets out of this without giving up a run, then maybe there is hope.
To hell with this.
I don’t understand why Bobby benches Escobar for not hustling when ACHE hasn’t moved beyond a snail’s pace all season. Countless balls land at that bum’s feet and he brings nothing to the table offensively. Why don’t you bench that loser, Bobby?
I still fear that Bobby will be back next year and demand Yunel gone, with the club complying. It’s clear he wanted him gone last year, to the point of trying to bring back Fucal, who isn’t in Yunel’s league. Don’t believe the lies, they never intended to play Furcal at 2nd, it was all a precursor to trading Escobar which would be a horrible mistake.
Acosta is not a good pitcher and Bobby is lost as a manager
Chip, do you understand what “out by a mile” means?
“You have my permission to go walk your dog”
Skip Carey, Circa 1975-2008
This Ryan Howard bull is your fault, Mac!
But at least Bobby was smart to keep a reasonable buffer between Matt Diaz’s hits and the McCann’s hits.. wait
Please retire, you ole such an’ such.
Saying Ryan Howard is overrated with a straight face is funny. How can you overrate counting stats? LOL
Ryan Howard again? Typical. It would be nice to be able to retire Bobby’s #2 and Chipper’s #10 next year. I will even fly down for the ceremony.
Thanks, Brian. At least we now know that it’s Bobby’s fault for bringing in Acosta.
well … sh!t
I guess we now know the answer to the question: How bad must Nunez be for Acosta to have been promoted to the show instead of him?
Oh, that’s why we haven’t been pitching Nunez…
Two times…
Predictable result, the Phillies are a better team, plain and simple.
can this game seal Bobby’s managing career. This whole watching Soriano, Moylan, Gonzo pitching in huge lead games but cant pitch in close ones is ridiculous. If we got a 7 run lead we see all three, in a tight game we get Yunel pulled then Medlen, Logan, Acosta, and Nunez. Sorry Huddy, Wren I hope you can do something about this
And the Marlins won, so it’s back to third.
Presenting Vladimir Nunez, “The Towel.”
It has been thrown.
And how awful is our pen? Acosta, Nunez, Logan, Carlyle, their all terrible. Eric O has been good for us but he doesn’t inspire confidence. Gonzo and Sori will probably be gone, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Moylan never pitches well again after the abuse his arm has taken. Oh and then there’s Medlen, I just don’t think he’s a reliever. So what is are pen going to look like next year?
All together now…
A mess.
Mac, I would like to submit a write-in vote for Vladimir Nunez.
That was some kind of Fail Fest.
Someone on the Journal had hope and ruined our postseason chances. You know who you are…
Your optimism is poison.
@73 I miss Skip!!!!
I don’t think we can draw any conclusions about Nunez because of this game. I think most pitchers who have to wait 18 days after getting called up would struggle in their first game.
Nunez is 34 years old. Regardless of whether not he is effective for the rest of the season, it’s very unlikely that he has any sort of impact for the Braves. Ever.
85, the middle relief and impending free agency of Soriano, LaRoche and Gonzalez are just the tip of the ice berg.
Our Braves cannot play consistent defense, they lack a true right handed power bat, there is no running game to speak of and Cox is far past retirement. That said, Frank Wren is way in over his head and I am not at all optimistic about 2010.
Wren has giving us the best SP in the majors and has made several moves to upgrade the team while trading none of our top talent. Im optimistic that 2010 can be a bery successful season. He’s just got one huge move that has to be made regardless, if it doesnt happen there will once again be no October baseball for the Braves
93, every thread, same opinion. we get it already.
Screw 2010…. Anythings possible! However, the one positive is that if we don’t make the playoffs, the chances Cox won’t be back are much higher than if somehow, someway we make it. I’ve had about enough of his managing especially his abuse of the bullpen where he uses all of his good pitchers over consecutive games then has to use his AA relievers in huge must win games. Either way, Rockies lose, so we are still 4.5 back. The next two are a must to keep the chance alive. I think if we can get out of this phillies series down 3.5 we still have a chance. Save the BS 2010 talk for spring training
Collegiate Baseball has a ranking of this year’s recruiting classes. Four SEC teams in the top ten:
Florida – #1
LSU – #3
UK – #6
Vandy – #8
UGA’s not too far beyond that. (With all the talent and emphasis placed on youth baseball in this state, ya oughta be able to fall out of bed and recruit a top ten class to UGA.)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tailgate/090918&sportCat=ncf
Gallo is very hit or miss, but this was pretty funny:
Yo Conference Joke of the Week
Yo conference is so weak, all its games are broadcast on the Big Ten Network. (I suppose that’s more of a Big Ten joke, huh?)
I’m at Wisconsin, but I’m not really a badger (I don’t feel a strong affiliation like I do with my undergrad school, even if I’d like to see them play well). Wisc plays Wofford today. Wofford? Really?
A. West @ #19:
“hands of buttered stone” – bravo, sir. Bravo.
Yes, the individual treatment of Yunel Escobar is beyond stupid. If Cox exercised the same rules for everybody else I would have no complaint but he doesn’t. It’s embarrassing to watch Bobby Cox make a mockery of the managers job.
Short recap is up. Sorry for the delay — internet issues.