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John Smoltz: Cooperstown’s Newest Braves Addition

By John Buhler

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Regardless of how the finale ends up between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon, July 26th, 2015 will always stand as a special day for Braves Country.  That is because one of our own will forever be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York today.  I’m talking about the most versatile pitcher and feistiest competitor I’ve ever seen: RHP John Smoltz.

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Smoltz enters the Hall with three other legends to make up one of the best HOF Classes ever assembled.  Joining John Smoltz are LHP Randy Johnson, 2B Craig Biggio, and RHP Pedro Martinez.  While many in Braves Country would have liked to have seen Smoltzie enter the Hall Of Fame with his two battery mates and his skipper last season (Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Bobby Cox), what a class John Smoltz is a part of!

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    • John Smoltz enters the Hall Of Fame in his first year of being eligible, wrapping up a historic career in 2009.  Smoltz won 212 games, struck out 3,084 batters and saved over 150 games, almost entirely with the Atlanta Braves organization.  While Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux have over 300 wins as Major League pitchers, perhaps John Smoltz best personified what it meant to play for the Atlanta Braves during that 14-year stretch of consecutive division titles.

    When the game was on the line, I wanted John Smoltz on the mound every time. Though he came up short in Game 7 of the 1991 Fall Classic against his idol Jack Morris in Minneapolis, people often say that Game 7 was one of the three best baseball games ever played.  Nine shutout innings in a World Series Game 7!  Simply outstanding.

    In 1996 John Smoltz won the NL Cy Young winning 24 regular season games.  He nearly had 30 victories for the Braves on the season had Atlanta been able to clip the New York Yankees in the 1996 World Series.  Smoltzie’s 1996 campaign was one of the best years in recent memory from a starting pitcher.

    When arm troubles would have normally derailed a player’s career, Smoltz rehabilitated in 2000 and came back as arguably the best closer in baseball from 2002 to 2004.  He then returned to the top of the Atlanta Braves rotation in 2005 as the team’s ace for the next four seasons.  John gave everything to the Atlanta Braves organization for 20 seasons.  His 15-4 postseason record is one of the best all-time.

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    Nobody sacrificed more for his team than John Smoltz did. Who would give up on a chance to accumulate 300 victories and attempt to reinvent himself as an All-Star closer?  Only a man who desired to win multiple World Series titles.  To John Smoltz, it was all about winning and thriving in the moments where the game is on the line.  For anybody that aspires to become a big-game pitcher, there is not a better role model than former Atlanta Brave right-hander John Smoltz.

    Congratulations on getting into the Baseball Hall Of Fame on your first try!  It was an absolute blast watching pitch growing up in Atlanta.  You inspired me to give it my all when I was on the mound, even with a low-80’s fastball.  I’m especially proud that the Atlanta A will prominently be displayed on your ball cap for all eternity in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Go Braves!

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