The best player to wear #41 is the only player to play for the Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves, and Atlanta Braves. It’s the hard-drinking life of the Milwaukee Braves, HOF 3B Eddie Mathews.
We’re going to do what we did with Hank, and just link to his B-R page, right here. Reacquaint yourself with his career. Find things you forgot. I, for example, forgot that he nearly walked as much as he struck out, leading the league in free passes 4 times. The guy slashed .302/.406/.627 as a 21-year old, which is insane. There’s plenty to marvel at. Jump in and have fun.
He was also a key figure in a World Championship for your Braves, hitting a walk-off HR to even the 1957 Series at 2-2.
If you want some extra biographical reading on Mathews, I recommend his SABR bio (which are all great, by the way).
Some vids:
Who is the best ever to wear #41?
Sadly, I’d only place Eddie 2nd on this list. One of the greatest pitchers in MLB history wore #41. It’s a pitcher, in my opinion, that is incredibly underrated and underappreciated by fans today. It’s also a pitcher that very nearly was a Brave.
Tom Seaver was drafted by the Braves in January 1966, but due to a rule stipulating that no team could sign a player during his college season – Atlanta thought it was clear, as Seaver hadn’t pitched yet, but the team’s season had begun – his contract was voided. Seaver, a longtime Braves fan, went in a lottery to the worst organization in baseball, the New York Mets.
He would go on to be a 12-time All-Star, a 3 time Cy Young Award winner (he’s the 7th most voted for pitcher in CYA history), and a frequent league leader. He led the league 3 times in ERA, 3 times in Wins, and 5 times in strikeouts. His 311 wins rank 18th in MLB history. His 3640 K’s rank 6th. He logged 4783 innings, 19th in history. In 8 postseason starts he went 3-3 with a 2.77 ERA, leading the Mets to the 1969 World Championship.
There’s a very good argument that Seaver is one of the 10 best starters in MLB history, which puts him slightly higher than Mathews.
Seaver’s SABR bio, if you want.
Until David Justice homered in Game 6 in 1995, Eddie Mathews’ Game 4 blast was the greatest home run in Braves history. Ironically Eddie’s homer is sometimes overshadowed in the telling of that 10th inning by the Nippy Jones shoe-polish HBP that opened the home 10th. Third most important franchise homer was probably Henry Aaron’s 11th inning walk off to clinch the 1957 pennant. Could we ever use that kind of power now!