Profiles In Bravery - Tom Glavine

Subject:
Tom Glavine
Years With Team:
1987-2002/2008
Position:
Starting Pitcher
Notables:
2 NL Cy Young Awards, World Series MVP, 300 Wins (242 with Braves)
Post Season With Team:
11 appearances, One World Championship

Welcome home, Tommy.

5-10 years from now, Baseball Hall of Fame ballots will be practically awash with players who spent the majority of their careers in Atlanta.

We can easily predict:

Greg Maddux (1st ballot no-brainer) C’mon, the guy was on the cover of Sports Illustrated with “Greatest Pitcher Ever?” under his photo.
Chipper Jones (he can make it)
John Smoltz
Bobby Cox (1st ballot no-brainer) 
…………………..and of course Tommy Glavine.

This edition of Profiles in Bravery focuses on that Thomas Michael Glavine. Recently cementing his place in Cooperstown, Glavine became the latest 300 game winner and one of only 5 southpaws to do so. Another Brave, Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn is also in that top 5.

Without argument, over the last 15+ years, when conversations took place asking for the list of best active pitchers, his name would always come up. A member of what could be the most successful starting rotation in MLB history, Glavine is a fierce competitor, recognized by his fans as well as his critics for his intensity and dedication to excellence.

Born the first year the Braves played in Atlanta, Glavine was drafted by the Braves in 1984, right out of high school. He quickly came to “the Bigs” and debuted on August 17th, 1987. Interestingly, in his first win, he hit Barry Bonds (a skinny Pirate, then) in the back. Taking a year or two to get his feet under him, his W/L stats for the next years went from good to dominant. In fact, for the National League, he is the winningest pitcher of the 1990’s.

A cerebral pitcher, he has had, at one time or another, a fastball, slider, change-up, curveball, and a tailing two-seam fastball on the menu that he intensely shoves down batters’ throats.

Perhaps his shining moment was in the 1995 Fall Classic winning two games and allowing only one hit in the championship-clinching 6th game, helping provide Atlanta its first professional championship while earning himself a World Series MVP designation.

Not without controversy, Glavine was the outspoken team representative for the Baseball Players Union. In many fans’ eyes, this colored him as just a bit greedy. It’s one thing to be a rank-and-file “union guy,” it’s another to be interviewed at your multi-million dollar home at the Country Club of the South and say that you could “get by” on a couple million dollars a year.

However, my counter-point to that comes from another Brave team representative who was very close to the situation. His take was that Tom Glavine is the kind of guy who tries to excel at everything he does. And if he was so elected to serve as the union player’s rep then he was going to slam the door on that just as he tries to do at the end of every inning.

Did I like that the World Series was canceled that year? No, of course not. Especially in a year that the Braves had a strong chance for contention? No, of course not.  I would rather have set my hair on fire and put it out with a hammer. I think it only highlights the complete financial dysfunction that threatens to further isolate small or medium market teams and their fans.

But I digress…..back to Tommy.

Tommy was with Atlanta for 16 extraordinary years before a controversial move to the Mets. Yes, they were/are division rivals. It looked like a play for more money, but there are two sides to every story. And Glavine did try to return to Atlanta for the 2007 season. I place at least 50% of the blame for Glavine going to the Mets and 90% of the blame for his non-return in 2007 squarely on the shoulders of, then GM, John Schuerholz.

Sorry if I spoke the name of the Pope with anything less than total awe and reverence, but……

Yes, I know Schuerholz is the architect of the incredible 14-year post-season run, and if you read his book Built to Win, he reminds you of that every other page, but let’s just say I’m glad to see Frank Wren in the driver’s seat now. He’s shown a bit more flexibility on certain things.

With the Mets, Glavine posted:
2003: 9-14
2004: 11-14
2005: 13-13
2006: 15-7
2007: 13-8

Keep in mind, the losing season numbers are a bit deceptive, not taking into account that Glavine seldom got the offensive support he needed. Look, however, at his inning counts:
2003: 183.3
2004: 212.3
2005: 211.3
2006: 198.0
2007: 200.3

…and given that all those Mets years were after the age of 36, that’s extraordinary!

Besides that (here’s Smitty griping), I get so aggravated when I hear folks refer to him as “Turncoat Tommy.” Keep in mind that by and large, once you hit 35+, your career in baseball is either over, or you are headed downhill. Compared to other professions, professional baseball players have a very short time to amass a life’s financial security.

Plus, he turned down an additional $5 million to come back and play for the Brave in 2008.—That ain’t chump-change, tough-guy.

Glavine is, has always been, and will always be, an Atlanta Brave.

I submit for your consideration:

1. He grew up in our system, pitching his first game at age 21.
2. He’s pitched 101.1 innings for 22 post-season series for the Braves.
3. At the time of his 300th win, 245 of them were for Atlanta.
4. He brought two Cy Young awards to Atlanta.
5. For seven years straight (as a Brave) he never pitched less than 218 innings.
6. He’s never been on the Disabled list!!!!

Welcome home, Tommy. We’ve missed you.

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I hope you have enjoyed this edition of this edition of Profiles in Bravery.

Let me know what you think-good, bad, or ugly. Especially if I goofed up something on my facts.

If there is a particular Brave you would like to see profiled, please let me know. I have a running list of players who I plan to highlight, but I want to know what you, the reader, want in this section.

Until then,

-Smitty