We’ve already discussed the Atlanta Braves’ single-season home run leaders, so you know what comes next. That’s right — now we’re talking about the Braves all time home run leaders. The top spot will be safe for a long time… if not forever. We’ll discuss the top five in detail before listing out the remainder of the top 23.
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Can you believe that Hank Aaron, who retired as baseball’s all-time home run king and went to 25 All-Star Games, only won a single MVP Award? And it came in 1957 as a 23-year-old? That’s crazy to think about.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t get many votes, though. He just couldn’t get himself back over the hump. Including the one time he brought home the hardware, Aaron finished in the top 10 of MVP voting 13 times. His first top-10 finish came as a 21-year-old, and his final one came as a 37-year-old.
Talk about getting the job done every single year, right?
After hitting 13 home runs in 122 games played as a rookie in 1954, Aaron rattled off 20 (!!) straight seasons with at least 20 homers. That’s how you reach the 700-homer club without ever slugging more than 47 in a single year.
In total, Aaron slugged at least 40 dingers in a season eight times. He holds the single-season Braves record for most homers by a left fielder (and is tied with Dale Murphy in right field).
We’ve talked a lot about how Aaron was incredibly consistent. Eddie Mathews was his own mark of consistency, as well. It took him until his age-34 campaign to hit fewer than 20 homers in a single season. That was his 15th year in the big leagues. Heck, he didn’t hit fewer than 10 in a season until his final year when he hit just three in 57 games played for the Detroit Tigers.
In a 13-year span from 1953 to 1965, Mathews posted at least 5.0 fWAR 12 times. The one time he didn’t? It was “just” 4.2 in 1964. He surpassed 7.0 fWAR eight times, including two separate streaks of doing it in three consecutive years (1953-55 and 1959-61). As you can imagine, he also racked up a number of 100 RBI seasons.
Chipper Jones never led the league in home runs, but he knew how to rack up the long balls. From his first full season in 1995 to his final campaign in 2012, he never hit fewer than 10 in a year. He only hit that few in 2010 because he appeared in just 95 games. This was the only time he failed to play in at least 100 contests.
Jones also enjoyed 14 straight years with at least 20 homers from 1995 to 2008. He paired that with lots of RBI along the way, too. He drove in 100-plus RBI in each year from 1996 to 2003 and then did it again one final time in 2007. Although the majority of his career homers came as a left-handed hitter (361, to be exact), he was a threat on both sides of the plate. Jones slashed .303/.405/.542 against right-handed pitchers and .304/.391/.498 against left-handed pitchers.
Dale Murphy posted six campaigns with at least 30 homers for the Braves. His best power output came in 1987 when he slugged 44 dingers. His most powerful stretch in Atlanta came from 1982-85. He hit 36-plus home runs with 100-plus RBI in each campaign. In 1982 and 1983, he led the league in RBI and led the league in homers in 1984 and 1985.
Murphy’s averages during this period were as follows: .293/.383/.533 line with 36 homers, 28 doubles, 110 RBI, and 114 runs scored. He also appeared in four All-Star Games and won four Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, and two MVPs.
All the elite performance and individual accolades that Andruw Jones collected during his big-league career mostly came while with the Braves. He burst onto the scene in the 1996 World Series by enjoying a two-homer performance, and then it all took off from there. His 10 Gold Gloves show just how great he was in center field. However, let’s not have that take away from how productive he was with the bat. He is the Braves’ single-season home run record holder, ya know.
After hitting 18 home runs with 70 RBI in his first full campaign in 1997, Jones then enjoyed 10 straight years with at least 20 home runs. Seven included at least 30 bombs, with another two including at least 40. Combine that with his elite defense and it’s no surprise he produced eight seasons with at least 5.0 fWAR.
Here’s what the remainder of the Braves’ top-23 career home run leaderboard looks like:
If you’re curious to see who is currently outside the top 23, check out the details here on FanGraphs.
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