It's easy to forget just how great Tom Glavine was. He spent much of his career as the No. 2 starter on his team, and numerous younger fans have more memories of Glavine's time with the New York Mets than his incredible run with the Atlanta Braves during the '90s. The fact that he has been gone from the game for a year, never making it onto a major-league mound during the 2009 season (and making only 13 starts in 2008) has not helped matters, either, as his retirement seemed more like a foregone conclusion than an impactful and surprising announcement. Regardless, Glavine's contributions on the field are worth celebrating, as he is one of the most successful pitchers of his generation, as well as one of the top left-handers in the game's history.
Thomas Michael Glavine was born in 1966 in Concord, Mass., but it was in nearby Billerica that he would become a multi-sport star. Glavine played both hockey and baseball, and excelled at both—as a senior, he was named the Merrimack Valley's MVP in hockey, and that same year also won the Division I North Title and Eastern Massachusetts championship in baseball. Though it's tough to forecast just how good he would have been had he stuck with hockey, it's worth noting he was selected in the fourth round (69th overall) in the 1984 draft, two rounds ahead of Brett Hull and five rounds ahead of Luc Robitaille, who were inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame last year.
Glavine chose to stick with baseball, and was selected by the Braves in the second round of the 1984 amateur entry draft. He would make his major-league debut late in the 1987 season, in an appearance that did nothing to convey what kind of career he had before him: Glavine lasted 3.2 innings, giving up six runs, five walks, and whiffing just one hitter versus the Houston Astros. He wasn't much better in his second season, posting a record of 7-17 that was partially the fault of the team around him as the Braves lost 106 games and also Glavine's, as he was still learning how to pitch against major-leaguers and posted an ERA well below the league average thanks to an awful strikeout rate and too many walks for so few whiffs.
Things would turn around in 1989, though, as Glavine knocked his K/BB rate up by one to 2.3 thanks to a decrease in his walk rate, and posted a league-average ERA alongside his first winning record. The next year gave him another average season, this time with a bump in his strikeout rate (but the return of his walks). The 1991 season would be the first time he was able to both strike out hitters and avoid putting them on base via walks at the same time, and the results were what we now consider to be vintage Glavine—in one of his greatest season in a career full of them, he picked up 20 wins, posted an ERA 53 percent above the league average (the second best rate of his career) while striking out 7.0 per nine and finishing with his highest K/BB ratio. This was also the beginning of a three-year stretch where he won at least 20 games, as well as the first time he would win a Cy Young Award. The Braves moved from perennial doormat to World Series contender in 1991 as well, though they would lose in seven games to the Minnesota Twins.
Glavine was always hittable, especially as he lost velocity later on in his career, but his ability to locate his pitches and change speeds in order to deceive hitters made him very successful for a long time. This was very evident during this first stretch of success from 1991-93, when Glavine struck out just 5.6 batters per nine innings over 711 innings, but allowed 2.9 walks per nine while also keeping the ball in the yard at 0.5 homers per nine. He had a knack for inducing soft contact thanks to the movement on his pitches, which kept the number of hits down.
The 1993 season was particularly special, with the Braves winning 104 games behind a rotation of Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, and the recently acquired Greg Maddux. Maddux and Smoltz, Hall of Famers in their own right, need no introduction, but even Avery was, at this stage, a very talented starting pitcher with a future many felt was brighter than any of his rotation mates'. They can’t all be Cooperstown-bound, though, and Avery's career fizzled while the other starters continued their reign of dominance over the National League. The Braves went down to the wire with the San Francisco Giants, who at that time were in the same division, the West, as Atlanta as this was the final season before the three-division format, which saw the Braves shift to the NL East, and the wild card were introduced. Both teams would finish with more victories than the East's leader, the Philadelphia Phillies, but only one could advance to the playoffs. Glavine’s performance was part of the reason the teams were so close—despite winning 22 games and succeeding against most of the league consistently, Glavine whiffed against the Giants, with an ERA of 5.29 across 17 innings and three starts. He was much better against the Phillies in his lone playoff start that season, going seven in a victory that saw him give up two runs and no walks while striking out five, but alas, the Braves did not prevail in the series.
There's much more, but you get the gist of it.
Thomas Michael Glavine was born in 1966 in Concord, Mass., but it was in nearby Billerica that he would become a multi-sport star. Glavine played both hockey and baseball, and excelled at both—as a senior, he was named the Merrimack Valley's MVP in hockey, and that same year also won the Division I North Title and Eastern Massachusetts championship in baseball. Though it's tough to forecast just how good he would have been had he stuck with hockey, it's worth noting he was selected in the fourth round (69th overall) in the 1984 draft, two rounds ahead of Brett Hull and five rounds ahead of Luc Robitaille, who were inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame last year.
Glavine chose to stick with baseball, and was selected by the Braves in the second round of the 1984 amateur entry draft. He would make his major-league debut late in the 1987 season, in an appearance that did nothing to convey what kind of career he had before him: Glavine lasted 3.2 innings, giving up six runs, five walks, and whiffing just one hitter versus the Houston Astros. He wasn't much better in his second season, posting a record of 7-17 that was partially the fault of the team around him as the Braves lost 106 games and also Glavine's, as he was still learning how to pitch against major-leaguers and posted an ERA well below the league average thanks to an awful strikeout rate and too many walks for so few whiffs.
Things would turn around in 1989, though, as Glavine knocked his K/BB rate up by one to 2.3 thanks to a decrease in his walk rate, and posted a league-average ERA alongside his first winning record. The next year gave him another average season, this time with a bump in his strikeout rate (but the return of his walks). The 1991 season would be the first time he was able to both strike out hitters and avoid putting them on base via walks at the same time, and the results were what we now consider to be vintage Glavine—in one of his greatest season in a career full of them, he picked up 20 wins, posted an ERA 53 percent above the league average (the second best rate of his career) while striking out 7.0 per nine and finishing with his highest K/BB ratio. This was also the beginning of a three-year stretch where he won at least 20 games, as well as the first time he would win a Cy Young Award. The Braves moved from perennial doormat to World Series contender in 1991 as well, though they would lose in seven games to the Minnesota Twins.
Glavine was always hittable, especially as he lost velocity later on in his career, but his ability to locate his pitches and change speeds in order to deceive hitters made him very successful for a long time. This was very evident during this first stretch of success from 1991-93, when Glavine struck out just 5.6 batters per nine innings over 711 innings, but allowed 2.9 walks per nine while also keeping the ball in the yard at 0.5 homers per nine. He had a knack for inducing soft contact thanks to the movement on his pitches, which kept the number of hits down.
The 1993 season was particularly special, with the Braves winning 104 games behind a rotation of Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, and the recently acquired Greg Maddux. Maddux and Smoltz, Hall of Famers in their own right, need no introduction, but even Avery was, at this stage, a very talented starting pitcher with a future many felt was brighter than any of his rotation mates'. They can’t all be Cooperstown-bound, though, and Avery's career fizzled while the other starters continued their reign of dominance over the National League. The Braves went down to the wire with the San Francisco Giants, who at that time were in the same division, the West, as Atlanta as this was the final season before the three-division format, which saw the Braves shift to the NL East, and the wild card were introduced. Both teams would finish with more victories than the East's leader, the Philadelphia Phillies, but only one could advance to the playoffs. Glavine’s performance was part of the reason the teams were so close—despite winning 22 games and succeeding against most of the league consistently, Glavine whiffed against the Giants, with an ERA of 5.29 across 17 innings and three starts. He was much better against the Phillies in his lone playoff start that season, going seven in a victory that saw him give up two runs and no walks while striking out five, but alas, the Braves did not prevail in the series.
There's much more, but you get the gist of it.
