Were the '57 Braves the Best Ever?

from seemingly the beginning of time many great clubs have taken the field to Major League Baseball many legends on these teams have received immortality and godlike statuses from the 1927 murderers row Yankees to the 1966 Orioles all the way to the 98 Yankees that played like they hacked the system completely it's easy to forget about these guys but why did they get swept under the rug they were even sold and relocated after winning it all so it seems fitting that they remain underrated they are perhaps the most underappreciated team in the history of the game the 1957 Milwaukee Braves were the most overlooked and quite possibly the best team in baseball history [Music] why were these guys so good though they didn't win 116 games like the o1 Mariners they didn't have the glam and glitz of the 50s Yankees or even the marketability of the 70s ace what they did have was the right guys on the right team at the right time sometimes that recipe has greatness baked right into it [Music] the 57 Braves were never under 500 the entire season led by manager Fred Haney these Braves seem to play hard no matter what setting you put them in most players in baseball seem to favor a good night's sleep in their own bed isn't it easier to perform better the next day when you do that not these Braves they finished the season as the National League pennant winner with a record of 95 and 59 but played better on the road the entire season that road magic translated into a fifty and twenty seven record away from Milwaukee's County Stadium and a 45 and 32 record while playing in it their longest losing streak of that season three games they finished eight games above the second-place Cardinals which set up a meeting against Goliath and pinstripes the New York Yankees equipped with four future hall-of-famers the Yankees had dominated the sport winning 13 of the last twenty World Series during that stretch they also want to record five straight World Championships from 1949 to 1953 the Braves were the undisputed underdogs going in featuring a lineup of Mickey Mantle Yogi Berra Bill Skowron Elston Howard and Rookie of the Year Tony Kubek these bombers were loaded not to mention Hall of Fame hurler whitey Ford among other great pitchers such as Don Larsen Tom Sturtevant and Bobby Turley the Braves did have this one guy though maybe you've heard of him a 23 year old outfielder who you know only is the all-time leader in RBIs and total bases in baseball history before he was rudely robbed of his homerun crown by a juicing lunatic Hank Aaron was busy doing something Barry Bonds never did winning a World Series in 1957 Hank Aaron won the National League MVP award and firmly cemented himself as one of the best players ever in 57 he led the league in runs home runs RBIs and total bases the Braves also had a young phenom by the name of Eddie Matthews who put together his own torrid season the future hall-of-famer batted 292 smashed 32 home runs and drove in 94 while being named to the all-star team the duo of Aaron and Mathews put the Braves on their back as they met up with the mighty Yankees so here we are it's October 10 1957 game 7 of the World Series in the Bronx besides Game three where the Yankees blew out the Braves 12 to 3 Beach game has been decided by two runs or less in Game six Yankees pitcher Bob Hurley pitched a gem he pitched a complete game for hitter giving up only two runs instead of giving the ball to their ace and sy Young award-winner Warren Spahn the Braves named Lou Burdette as the game 7 starter spawn pitched a 10 inning complete game in Game four as the Braves won 7-5 so why didn't spawn start Game seven well he was hit with the Asian flu and was way too sick to pitch even more incredible is that Lou Burdette also pitched a complete game in Game five and now is set to start Game seven after only two days rest Game seven begins debt goes out in front of Yankee Stadium in front of perhaps the most intimidating audience and he makes history he pitches his third complete game of the World Series and for the second time it's a shutout Braves win 5 to 0 and capture the World Series title Burdette becomes only the 8th pitcher in history to win three games in a World Series and wins the series MVP since 1957 only five more three game winners will emerge in World Series history Hank Aaron could have easily won the MVP 2 he batted 393 with three homers seven RBIs and a 1.2 o-p-s despite being the only team in the modern era to never have a losing record the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966 the 57 Braves still have a place and Wisconsinites his hearts to this day in his twilight years Hank Aaron returned to Milwaukee to play his final two seasons with the Brewers retiring where he started his career so what makes the 1957 Milwaukee Braves perhaps the best team to ever take the field Bill James the creator of sabermetrics and a stack called wind shares among as many others has been trying to put a value on players for years win shares is a way to credit a player for what they do hitting wise fielding wise and pitching wise the more contributions of player makes to the team's success the more out of the wind share pot that player gets credit for using wind shares and something called established value which mathematically puts a value on each four-year segment of a player's career based on their wind shares Bill James created a top 100 list of the best baseball players of all time note that no current players are on this list that I'm using for my argument I'm going to only focus on players within the top 40 the 1957 Braves and 1929 Philadelphia A's are the only two teams in MLB history with three players within Bill James's top 40 of all-time list even the 1927 Yankees have only two players on the top 40 Hank Aaron sits at number 12 Eddie Matthews comes in at number 34 and Warren Spahn is at number 36 the 57 Braves were also the first team ever to have an MVP and sy Young Award winner on the same team at the same time although they aren't as recognised as other champions from the past the 57 Braves ranked number 1 in my book many might disagree but that's the fun thing about baseball and all sports in general it's all subjective hey thanks for watching guys I want to hear from you now who is the most underrated overlooked team of all time doesn't have to be baseball either go ahead and put your comments down below and remember to put on one of these gloves in order to put on one of these later on stay safe [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Refried Sports

Views: 8,447

Rating: 4.8323355 out of 5

Keywords: milwaukee braves, braves, milwaukee, hank aaron, baseball, pitching, mlb, atlanta braves, new york yankees, yankees, mickey mantle, babe ruth, lou gehrig, lew burdette, warren spahn, eddie mathews

Id: D60sjNqK0Sg

Length: 10min 16sec (616 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 06 2020