Looking back at Opening Day starters for the Atlanta Braves

We are on the cusp of Opening Day for the 2024 Atlanta Braves - the 58th Opening Day the Braves will have had since relocating from Milwaukee in 1966.

Since moving to Atlanta, the Braves have only won on Opening Day 25 times, including last year’s 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. Atlanta has opened at home only 24 times, most recently in 2022.

The longest losing streak the Braves have had in Atlanta is nine-in-a-row, a streak that started with the 1972 team’s loss to the San Diego Padres and ended when the Braves beat the Cincinatti Reds 5-3 in 1981.

On the flip side, Atlanta won five-in-a-row on Opening Day from 1992 through 1996 starting with a shutout win over the Houston Astros and concluding with a 10-8 win in a slugfest over the San Francisco Giants. Somewhat surprisingly, that is the longest Opening Day winning streak for Atlanta.

The two Braves World Series Championship seasons while in Atlanta saw them split Opening Day with the 1995 team beating the Giants 12-5 and the 2021 squad dropping the opener to the Philidelphia Phillies 3-2.

Atlanta’s 2024 projected Opening Day starting line-up should have a lot of familiar faces - but with almost six decades of history in Atlanta - let’s take a moment a look at some of the famous and forgotten players who garnered starts on Opening Day since the team moved south. By the way, the only time Opening Day starters repeated in back-to-back years in Atlanta was in 1982 and 1983.

Note that none of these numbers include the projected 2024 Opening Day starting line-up.

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Catcher

Two Braves legends of the modern era - Brian McCann and Javy Lopez - lead the team in Opening Days starts with Atlanta. The leader is McCann whose first seven of eight starts were all in-a-row. Lopez is second with seven starts over a nine-year period, with longtime player and coach Eddie Perez making the other two starts during that time.

Two of the only three players to play 10 or more seasons with the Atlanta Braves - and only suit of for the franchise - were catchers. Those two players were Bruce Benedict, who started four Opening Days in-a-row in the early 1980’s, and Biff Pocoroba whose four Opening Day starts were spaced over five seasons as Dale Murphy made the start in 1979.

The Braves began their time in Atlanta with Joe Torre behind the plate in 1966 and would start the next two seasons there as well. Ozzie Virgil also made three starts with Atlanta in the late-1980’s.

Travis d’Arnaud, Tyler Flowers, Johnny Estrada and Johnny Oates join Perez as being two-time starters.

Other players to have started for the Braves at catcher include Evan Gattis, Greg Olson, Alex Jackson, Henry Blanco, Gerald Laird, Mike Heath, Ernie Whitt, Jody Davis and Hal King.

First Base

Conversations about first base and the Atlanta Braves will probably start with Freddie Freeman for decades to come, even if Matt Olson continues to carveout his own place in franchise history. Freeman started 11 consecutive Opening Days during his time in Atlanta, by far the most of any other player. That’s not to say there haven’t been other significant players to take the field at first for the Braves on Opening Day, because there most certainly have been.

Hall of Famer Fred McGriff started four times at first while with Atlanta. That’s tied for third with fellow Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda who also started four consecutive years for Atlanta from 1969 through 1972.

Chris Chambliss is second in Atlanta history with five starts in the early 1980s. Sid Bream and Mike Lum both started three times. Among the players making a pair of starts at first base were Andres Galarraga, Adam LaRoche, Gerald Perry and Darrell Evans.

Players drawing a single starting assignment at first base for Atlanta include Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Bob Watson, Felipe Alou, Nick Esasky, Robert Fick, Rico Brogna, Scott Thorman and B.J. Surhoff.

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Second Base

The Braves have had a lot of consistency at second base since moving to Atlanta with six players making four or more starts at the position. Glenn Hubbard leads all Atlanta second sackers with eight starts on Opening Day. He’s followed by Ozzie Albies with six.

Three players made five starts: Felix Millan, Mark Lemke and Dan Uggla. Kelly Johnson is the only player to have made three starts there. Six players made two starts there as well including Jeff Blauser, Jeff Treadway, Davey Johnson and Jace Peterson.

A few of the one-and-done Opening Day starters include Martin Prado, Lee Lacy, Damaso Garcia, Bret Boone and Brandon Phillips.

Shortstop

Like its up-the-middle partner on the infield, shortstop has seen a lot of consistency over the years. Three players have made six Opening Day starts at the position with Rafael Ramirez, Jeff Blauser and Dansby Swanson all doing so. Rafael Furcal made five starts at shortstop.

Six players made three starts, and that doesn’t include Denis Menke whose second of three starts was the first season in Atlanta. The six that did are Sonny Jackson, Marty Perez, Andres Thomas, Walt Weiss, Yunel Escobar and Andrelton Simmons.

Players to start only once include Luis Gomez, Pepe Frias, Craig Robinson, Alex Gonzalez, Erick Aybar and Tyler Pastornicky.

Third Base

Hall of Famer Chipper Jones started 13 times at third base to lead all Opening Day starters at the hot corner in Atlanta. Bob Horner drew seven consecutive starts there beginning in 1979.

Clete Boyer made five straight starts with Terry Pendleton and Austin Riley both starting four times. Ken Oberkfell and Darrell Evans both made three starts during their time with Atlanta.

Some of the player to make two starts at third base may be more forgotten than players who only made one start in Atlanta. Adonis Garcia and Chris Johnson both made back-to-back start as did Vinny Castilla and Jerry Royster.

Among the players drawing a single start were Martin Prado, Rod Gilbreath, Ron Gant, Jim Presley, Mike Mordecai, Mark DeRosa, Alberto Callaspo, Ryan Flaherty and Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews whose 15th consecutive start - and his last with the Braves - was in the team’s first season in Atlanta.

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Right Field

Hall of Famer Hank Aaron leads Atlanta Braves right fielders with eight starts since 1966. David Justice made six consecutive starts in right field starting in 1991. Claudell Washington, Jason Heyward and Nick Markakis each made five starts in right field.

Jeff Francoeur took the field in right four times on Opening Day with Dale Murphy, Brian Jordan, Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Gary Matthews each making three starts.

J.D. Drew’s single season in Atlanta was one of the best ever for a player in Atlanta and he drew the start in right field in 2004. Other players to get the starting assignment one time in right field on Opening Day include Raul Mondesi, Tommy Gregg, Terry Harper, Jeff Burroughs, Dusty Baker, Ralph Garr and Tom Paciorek.

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Left Field

Marcell Ozuna being tied for the most starts in left field since the Braves moved to Atlanta may be one of the biggest surprises given his time spent at designated hitter. Joining Ozuna with four starts is Ralph Garr and Ryan Klesko. Players making three starts in left include Rico Carty, Dale Murphy and Chipper Jones.

Justin Upton, Ken Griffey, Ron Gant, Jeff Burroughs and Ryan Langerhans each made a pair of starts in left for Atlanta.

Some of the many players that made one start include Preston Tucker, Matt Kemp, Hector Olivera, Kelly Johnson, Martin Prado, Melky Cabrera, Garrett Anderson, Mike Kelly, Reggie Sanders, Deion Sanders, Tommy Gregg, Lonnie Smith, Brad Komminsk, Tito Francona, Mike Lum and Rufino Linares.

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Center Field

As one might expect, Andruw Jones made 10 consecutive starts for the Braves in centerfield on Opening Day, the most of any centerfielder. The second-most starts for a single player in center on Opening Day for Atlanta is five, which Ender Inciarte and Dale Murphy both accomplished.

Rowland Office started four times in the mid-1970’s and Felipe Alou started three times including the 1966 opener. Six players started twice, including Brett Butler, Dusty Baker and Deion Sanders.

Among the lesser-remembered players who started in left field for Atlanta are Eric Young, Jr., Mark Kotsay, Eddie Miller, Mike Lum, Tony Gonzalez and Oddibe McDowell.

Designated Hitter

There have been only three starters at DH for Atlanta, so here’s to Travis d’Arnaud, Alex Dickerson and Matt Adams.

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Starting Pitcher

Hall of Famer Phil Niekro leads all Atlanta Braves with eight starts during his Atlanta career. Fellow Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux made seven starts with the Braves, the second most behind Niekro.

Julio Teheran made six consecutive starts for Atlanta from 2014 through 2019 - the most consecutive starts in Atlanta history. Rick Mahler made five starts and Hall of Fame teammates Tom Glavine and John Smoltz both made four Opening Day starts with Atlanta.

Making three starts on Opening Day for Atlanta were Max Fried, Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe. Pat Jarvis is the only pitcher to start two openers with Atlanta.

Among the starting pitchers to make a single start on Opening Day for Atlanta are Mike Soroka, Tommy Boggs, Len Barker, Andy Messersmith, Zane Smith, John Burkett and Carl Morton - the only Morton to do so.

Multiple Positions

As seen above, a number of Braves have started at multiple positions on Opening Day.

Franchise icon Dale Murphy started at five different positions on Opening Day - catcher, first base, left field, center field and right field.

Martin Prado made each of his three Opening Day starts with Atlanta at three different positions. Mike Lum, Felipe Alou, Jerry Royster and Ron Gant also made starts at three positions as has reigning 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuna, Jr.

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Managers

Bobby Cox easily takes the prize as the Manager with the most Opening Days at the helm in Atlanta, registering 24, which he did across five different decades.

Cox drew his first Opening Day assignment in 1978 and managing through 1981 season. After being fired by Ted Turner, Cox moved on to manage the Toronto Blue Jays before returning as Atlanta as the team’s General Manager. After returning to the Braves’ bench in 1990, Cox made his Opening Day home in Atlanta’s dugout again in 1991 where he would stay until his final season in 2010.

Coming in at second base is the Braves current skipper, Brian Snitker, with seven Opening Days after taking over for the next Manager on this list, Fredi Gonzalez, who made six consecutive Opening Days after replacing the retired Cox in 2011.

Lum Harris led the team as Manager on five different Opening Day from 1968 to 1972. Chuck Tanner and Joe Torre managed in three Opening Days each with the Braves.

When the Braves take the field in Philadelphia this week, Atlanta will have a number of players adding another season to their legacy of Opening Day starts for the Braves.