West Villages Improvement District: Braves History: One Great Season from Rogers Hornsby

https://tomahawktake.com/2020/04/02/braves-history-one-great-season-rogers-hornsby/

April 2, 2020

We look back at the history of the Braves franchise and focus in on one of the best offensive seasons in the team's history.

How many of you knew Rogers Hornsby played for the Braves? If you raised your hand, put it down, no one cares.

But if you did know, then you knew more about Braves baseball in the 20s than me. I had no clue until this morning when I started researching a historical article to write that the famous Rogers Hornsby spent time in the Braves organization.

Not only that, but in his one season with the Braves he put up the best offensive season in team historys, if you go by OWAR on Baseball Reference.

In that 1928 season with the Boston Braves, he put up an OWAR of 10.2, which again, does rank as the highest of all-time for any Braves player according to BR.

If you look at the counting numbers, they don't exactly pop out at you. He scored 99 runs, had 188 hits, 42 doubles, 7 triples, 21 home runs, 94 RBI, and stole five bags.

But then again, he also played in just 140 games that season.

However, his slashline was ridiculous at .387/.498/.632 with a 1.130 OPS.

This will be hard to believe considering the game we watch today, but he walked 107 times that season and struck out just 41 times.

Man would I love to see those days again -- not the walks, but the low number of strikeouts.

Despite having the greatest OWAR season in the history of the franchise, he finished just 13th in the MVP voting.

That probably had more to do with the fact that the Braves were 50-103 that season and he played in fewer games.

After the 1928 season he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Bruce Cunningham, Percy Jones, Lou Legett, Freddie Maguire, Socks Seibold, and $200,000.

Remember any of those players? Probably not.

And of course, the next season Hornsby wins his second MVP award slashing .380/.459/.679 with 156 runs (156!), 47 doubles, 39 home runs, and 149 RBI.

His Cubs team that year finished first in the National League, but lost to the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series.

I hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane. We'll probably be doing this a lot more often as we wait for baseball to resume.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate