1989 Atlanta Braves season

The 1989 Atlanta Braves season was the 119th in franchise history and their 24th in Atlanta.

1989 Atlanta Braves
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium (since 1966) Atlanta (since 1966)
Results
Record	63–97 (.394)
Divisional place	6th
Other information
Owners	Ted Turner
General managers	Bobby Cox
Managers	Russ Nixon
Local television	WTBS Superstation WTBS
Local radio	WSB (Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton)
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Offseason

• December 23, 1988: Darrell Evans was signed as a free agent by the Braves.^[1]
• March 29, 1989: Mark Eichhorn was purchased by the Atlanta Braves from the Toronto Blue Jays. ^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	92	70	0.568	—	53–28	39–42
San Diego Padres	89	73	0.549	3	46–35	43–38
Houston Astros	86	76	0.531	6	47–35	39–41
Los Angeles Dodgers	77	83	0.481	14	44–37	33–46
Cincinnati Reds	75	87	0.463	17	38–43	37–44
Atlanta Braves	63	97	0.394	28	33–46	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1989 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	8–10	8–10	6–10	6–6	2–10	8–4	4–8	7–11	6–12	3–9
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	5–7	7–5	10–8	10–8	10–8	12–6	8–4	6–6	11–7
Cincinnati	10–8	5–7	—	8–10	8–10	4–8	4–8	4–8	7–5	9–9	8–10	8–4
Houston	10–8	7–5	10–8	—	10–8	4–8	6–6	9–3	7–5	8–10	8–10	7–5
Los Angeles	10–6	5–7	10–8	8–10	—	7–5	5–7	6–6	7–5	6–12	10–8	3–9
Montreal	6–6	8–10	8–4	8–4	5–7	—	9–9	9–9	11–7	5–7	7–5	5–13
New York	10–2	8–10	8–4	6–6	7–5	9–9	—	12–6	9–9	5–7	3–9	10–8
Philadelphia	4–8	8–10	8–4	3–9	6–6	9–9	6–12	—	10–8	2–10	4–8	7–11
Pittsburgh	8–4	6–12	5–7	5–7	5–7	7–11	9–9	8–10	—	3–9	5–7	13–5
San Diego	11–7	4–8	9–9	10–8	12–6	7–5	7–5	10–2	9–3	—	8–10	2–10
San Francisco	12–6	6–6	10–8	10–8	8–10	5–7	9–3	8–4	7–5	10–8	—	7–5
St. Louis	9–3	7–11	4–8	5–7	9–3	13–5	8–10	11–7	5–13	10–2	5–7	—

Opening Day starters

• Gerónimo Berroa
• Jeff Blauser
• Jody Davis
• Ron Gant
• Tom Glavine
• Dale Murphy
• Gerald Perry
• Lonnie Smith
• Andrés Thomas^[3]

Notable transactions

• July 2, 1989: Zane Smith was traded by the Braves to the Montreal Expos for Sergio Valdez, Nate Minchey, and Kevin Dean (minors).^[4]
• August 12, 1989: Ed Romero was signed as a free agent by the Braves.^[5]
• August 23, 1989: Ed Romero was traded by the Braves to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later. The Brewers completed the deal by sending Jay Aldrich to the Braves on September 1.^[5]
• August 24, 1989: Jim Acker was traded by the Braves to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tony Castillo and Francisco Cabrera.^[6]
• August 24, 1989: Paul Assenmacher was traded by the Braves to the Chicago Cubs for players to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Kelly Mann and Pat Gomez to the Braves on September 1.^[7]

Roster

1989 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 38 Jim Acker 43 Jay Aldrich 40 Jose Alvarez 30 Paul Assenmacher 37 Joe Boever 36 Tony Castillo 48 Marty Clary 32 Gary Eave 49 Mark Eichhorn 47 Tom Glavine 33 Tommy Greene 46 Dwayne Henry 24 Derek Lilliquist 50 Kent Mercker 45 Charlie Puleo 52 Rusty Richards 25 Pete Smith 34 Zane Smith 29 John Smoltz 30 Mike Stanton 34 Sergio Valdez		Catchers 20 Bruce Benedict  7 Jody Davis 38 Kelly Mann  8 John Mizerock  6 John Russell Infielders 4,32 Jeff Blauser 10 Francisco Cabrera 31 Drew Denson 11 Darrell Evans  5 Ron Gant 17 Mark Lemke 28 Gerald Perry 19 Ed Romero 14 Andrés Thomas 15 Jeff Treadway 10 Ed Whited		Outfielders 22 Gerónimo Berroa 19 Terry Blocker 16 Tommy Gregg 10 Dion James 23 David Justice  1 Oddibe McDowell  3 Dale Murphy 27 Lonnie Smith 12 Jeff Wetherby		Manager  2 Russ Nixon Coaches 39 Bruce Dal Canton 54 Clarence Jones 11 Roy Majtyka 55 Brian Snitker  7 Bobby Wine

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	Jody Davis	78	231	39	.169	4	19
1B	Gerald Perry	72	266	67	.252	4	21
2B	Jeff Treadway	134	473	131	.277	8	40
3B	Jeff Blauser	142	456	123	.270	12	46
SS	Andrés Thomas	141	554	118	.213	13	57
LF	Lonnie Smith	134	482	152	.315	21	79
CF	Dale Murphy	154	574	131	.228	20	84
RF	Tommy Gregg	102	276	67	.243	6	23

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
Oddibe McDowell	76	280	85	.304	7	24
Darrell Evans	107	276	57	.207	11	39
Ron Gant	75	260	46	.177	9	25
Dion James	63	170	44	.259	1	11
Bruce Benedict	66	160	31	.194	1	6
John Russell	74	159	29	.182	2	9
Gerónimo Berroa	81	136	36	.265	2	9
Ed Whited	36	74	12	.162	1	4
Mark Lemke	14	55	10	.182	2	10
David Justice	16	51	12	.235	1	3
Jeff Wetherby	52	48	10	.208	1	7
Drew Denson	12	36	9	.250	0	5
Terry Blocker	26	31	7	.226	0	1
John Mizerock	11	27	6	.222	0	2
Kelly Mann	7	24	5	.208	0	1
Ed Romero	7	19	5	.263	1	1
Francisco Cabrera	4	14	3	.214	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
John Smoltz	29	208.0	12	11	2.94	168
Tom Glavine	29	186.0	14	8	3.68	90
Derek Lilliquist	32	165.2	8	10	3.97	79
Pete Smith	28	142.0	5	14	4.75	115
Marty Clary	18	108.2	4	3	3.15	30
Zane Smith	17	99.0	1	12	4.45	58
Tommy Greene	4	26.1	1	2	4.10	17
Gary Eave	3	20.2	2	0	1.31	9
Rusty Richards	2	9.1	0	0	4.82	4

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
Kent Mercker	2	4.1	0	0	12.46	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
Joe Boever	66	4	11	21	3.94	68
Jim Acker	59	0	6	2	2.67	68
Paul Assenmacher	49	1	3	0	3.59	64
Mark Eichhorn	45	5	5	0	4.35	49
Jose Alvarez	30	3	3	2	2.86	45
Mike Stanton	20	0	1	7	1.50	27
Sergio Valdez	19	1	2	0	6.06	26
Charlie Puleo	15	1	1	0	4.66	17
Dwayne Henry	12	0	2	1	4.26	16
Tony Castillo	12	0	1	0	4.82	5
Jay Aldrich	8	1	2	0	2.19	7
Terry Blocker	1	0	0	0	0.00	0
John Russell	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Award winners

1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• John Smoltz, pitcher, reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Jim Beauchamp
AA	Greenville Braves	Southern League	Buddy Bailey
A	Durham Bulls	Carolina League	Grady Little
A	Burlington Braves	Midwest League	Jim Saul
A	Sumter Braves	South Atlantic League	Ned Yost
Rookie	Pulaski Braves	Appalachian League	Fred Koenig
Rookie	GCL Braves	Gulf Coast League	Jim Procopio
Rookie	Idaho Falls Braves	Pioneer League	Cloyd Boyer

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Richmond^[8]

References

1. Darrell Evans page at Baseball Reference
2. "Mark Eichhorn: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
3. "1989 Atlanta Braves Roster by Baseball Almanac".
4. Zane Smith page at Baseball Reference
5. Ed Romero page at Baseball Reference
6. Francisco Cabrera page at Baseball Reference
7. Paul Assenmacher page at Baseball Reference
8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

• 1989 Atlanta Braves team page at Baseball Reference
• Atlanta Braves on Baseball Almanac