The 1987 Atlanta Braves season was the 117th in franchise history and their 22nd in Atlanta. The team introduced new uniforms this season harkening back to the 1950s, which, with a slight change made in 2019, continue to be the team's uniforms to this day, replacing their pullover jersey/beltless pants combo worn since 1980.
Offseason November 17, 1986: Chuck Hensley was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves. November 17, 1986: Trench Davis was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves. February 2, 1987: Luis Leal was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with Damaso Garcia to the Atlanta Braves for Craig McMurtry.
Regular season May 1, 1987: Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan hit a home run off of Braves pitcher Charlie Puleo. August 17, 1987: Tom Glavine made his major league baseball debut. It was against the Houston Astros and Glavine was the starting pitcher. Glavine pitched 3.2 innings and allowed 10 hits and six earned runs. Glavine allowed 5 bases on balls and recorded one strikeout. September 27, 1987: 48-year old Phil Niekro is signed by the Braves for one final major league start against the San Francisco Giants. Niekro had been released by the Toronto Blue Jays almost a month earlier. He pitches three innings, giving up six hits and 5 runs in a 15-6 loss.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions April 1, 1987: Graig Nettles was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves. April 3, 1987: John Mizerock was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves. May 5, 1987: Doyle Alexander was signed as a free agent by the Braves. June 2, 1987: Mike Stanton was drafted by the Braves in the 13th round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 10, 1987. July 25, 1987: Joe Boever was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Randy O'Neal. August 12, 1987: Doyle Alexander was traded by the Braves to the Detroit Tigers for John Smoltz.
Roster 1987 Atlanta Braves Roster Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Other batters
Manager
Coaches
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 123 429 106 .247 27 72 1B 142 533 144 .270 12 74 2B 141 443 117 .264 5 38 3B 135 508 142 .280 3 48 SS 82 324 75 .231 5 39 LF 122 399 114 .286 14 64 CF 134 494 154 .312 10 61 RF 159 566 167 .295 44 105
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 Albert Hall 92 292 83 .284 3 24 Rafael Ramírez 56 179 47 .263 1 21 112 177 37 .209 5 33 Ted Simmons 73 177 49 .277 4 30 Jeff Blauser 51 165 40 .242 2 15 Gary Roenicke 67 151 33 .219 9 28 Bruce Benedict 37 95 14 .147 1 5 Ron Gant 21 83 22 .265 2 9 27 47 10 .213 3 8 Darryl Motley 6 8 0 .000 0 1 Trench Davis 6 3 0 .000 0 0 Terry Bell 1 1 0 .000 0 0 Mike Fischlin 1 0 0 ---- 0 0
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 Zane Smith 36 242.0 15 10 4.09 130 Rick Mahler 39 197.0 8 13 4.98 95 28 152.1 8 11 4.90 111 Doyle Alexander 16 117.2 5 10 4.13 64 Tom Glavine 9 50.1 2 4 5.54 20 Pete Smith 6 31.2 1 2 4.83 11 Kevin Coffman 5 25.1 2 3 4.62 14 Phil Niekro 1 3.0 0 0 15.00 0
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 Charlie Puleo 35 123.1 6 8 4.23 99 Randy O'Neal 16 61.0 4 2 5.61 33 Larry McWilliams 9 20.1 0 1 5.75 13 Marty Clary 7 14.2 0 1 6.14 7
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 Jim Acker 68 4 9 14 4.16 68 Gene Garber 49 8 10 10 4.41 48 Jeff Dedmon 53 3 4 4 3.91 40 Paul Assenmacher 52 1 1 2 5.10 39 Ed Olwine 27 0 1 1 5.01 12 Joe Boever 14 1 0 0 7.36 18 Chuck Cary 13 1 1 1 3.78 15 Steve Ziem 2 0 1 0 7.71 0
Farm system
Notes
References 1987 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference