Highlighted Year: Bill Bruton, 1953

Outfielder, Milwaukee Braves

Age:  27

1^st season with Braves

Bats – Left, Throws – Right

Height: 6’0”    Weight: 169 

Prior to 1953:

An Alabama native, Bruton played sandlot baseball while growing up. After high school he joined the Army and then relocated to Wilmington, Delaware where he played softball with several local teams. The naturally right-handed batter switched to the left side upon realizing that he was better at hitting line drives as a lefthanded batter. He also married the daughter of Negro League star “Judy” Johnson, who was impressed with his playing ability. Johnson got him a tryout with the Negro League Philadelphia Stars in 1949, who released him following spring training. Bruton turned to playing semipro ball and barnstorming. Offered a contract by the Boston Braves in 1950, he signed and was assigned to Eau Claire of the Class C Northern League where he batted .288 with 25 doubles, 13 triples, and 5 home runs. Advancing to the Denver Bears of the Class A Western League in 1951, the young outfielder with impressive speed hit .303 and set a league record with 27 triples. In 1952 he made the jump to the Class AAA Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association where he allayed concerns regarding his ability to hit at higher minor league levels, and following a slow start, batted .325 with a league-leading 211 hits and 30 stolen bases. With the move of the Braves to Milwaukee, Bruton took over as the regular center fielder as a rookie.

1953 Season Summary

Appeared in 151 games

CF – 150, PH – 1, PR – 1

[Bracketed numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 668 [9, tied with Johnny Logan]

At Bats – 613 [3]

Runs – 82

Hits – 153

Doubles – 18

Triples – 14 [2]

Home Runs – 1

RBI – 41

Bases on Balls – 44

Int. BB – 1

Strikeouts – 100 [3]

Stolen Bases – 26 [1]

Caught Stealing – 11 [3]

Average - .250

OBP - .306

Slugging Pct. - .330

Total Bases – 202

GDP – 9

Hit by Pitches – 6 [5, tied with Alvin Dark & Del Rice]

Sac Hits – 5

Sac Flies – N/A

League-leading stolen bases were +4 ahead of runner-up Pee Wee Reese

Midseason snapshot: 3B – 9, HR - 1, RBI - 25, SB – 14, AVG - .249, OBP - .291

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Most hits, game – 4 (in 4 AB) vs. NY Giants 6/20

Longest hitting streak – 10 games

HR at home – 1

HR on road – 0

Most home runs, game – 1 (in 5 AB) vs. St. Louis Cards 4/14 – 10 innings

Multi-HR games – 0

Most RBIs, game – 4 vs. Phila. Phillies 6/17

Pinch-hitting – 0 for 1 (.000)

Fielding

Chances – 421

Put Outs – 397

Assists – 15

Errors – 9

DP – 5

Pct. - .979 

Awards & Honors:

4^th in NL Rookie of the Year voting, tied with Rip Repulski, StLC (2 votes, 8% share)

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In their first season in Milwaukee, the Braves went 92-62 to finish second in the NL, 13 games behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers while drawing 1,826,397 spectators to County Stadium. Bruton got off to an outstanding start by making a game-saving defensive catch and hitting the winning home run (his only one of the season) in the first home game in Milwaukee. The Braves quickly moved into contention and were in first place, on and off, from May 23 until June 27. The club ultimately couldn’t keep pace with the Dodgers and dropped into second place.

Aftermath of 1953:

Although hindered by minor injuries during spring training and the early stages of the 1954 season Bruton raised his batting average to .284 with a .336 on-base percentage while again leading the NL in stolen bases with 34. Defensively, his great speed allowed him to play a shallow center field and he excelled. In 1955 Bruton improved his extra base hit numbers to 30 doubles, 12 triples, and 9 home runs while batting .275 with a .325 OBP and again topped the NL with 25 stolen bases. During the 1956 season the replacement of Charlie Grimm as manager of the Braves by Fred Haney, who took a more cautious approach to base stealing, caused Bruton’s stolen bases total to drop to 8 while he batted .272 with a .304 OBP, 8 home runs, 56 RBIs, and a league-leading 15 triples. Haney also liked to utilize the sacrifice bunt and Bruton achieved a career high with 18 sacrifice hits. 1957 was a pennant-winning season for the Braves but Bruton suffered a knee injury that required offseason surgery and was limited to 79 games in which he hit .278 with a .317 OBP, 9 triples, and 5 home runs. He did not appear in the World Series that was won by the Braves. Bruton returned to action in May of 1958 and, while limited to 100 games, batted .280 with a .336 OBP and continued to perform well defensively in center field. The Braves again won the pennant and again faced the Yankees in the World Series. In the tenth inning of Game 1, his RBI single drove home the winning run. He led off Game 2 with a home run. While the Yankees went on to win in seven games, Bruton hit .412 in his only career postseason action. Milwaukee fell short of another pennant in 1959 but Bruton batted .289 with 22 doubles, 6 triples, 6 home runs, 41 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, and a .338 OBP. He also led all NL center fielders with a .990 fielding percentage. In 1960 he topped the NL with 112 runs scored and 13 triples to go along with a .286 batting average, 27 doubles, 12 home runs, 22 stolen bases, and a .330 OBP. In the offseason, Bruton was traded to the Detroit Tigers as part of a five-player deal that was primarily aimed at obtaining Detroit second baseman Frank Bolling, which filled a major hole for the Braves. In 1961 with Detroit, Bruton’s batting average dipped to .257, although with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs while his defense remained strong. Hindered by a leg injury and broken jaw in 1962, his batting production was still solid at .278, with 16 home runs, 74 RBIs, and a .346 OBP. He played two more seasons before retiring in 1964 to take a job with the Chrysler Corporation. For his major league career, Bruton batted .273 with 1651 hits that included 241 doubles, 102 triples, and 94 home runs. He also scored 937 runs and compiled 545 RBIs, 207 stolen bases, and a .328 OBP. With the Braves he batted .276 with 1126 hits, 622 runs scored, 167 doubles, 79 triples, 48 home runs, 327 RBIs, 143 stolen bases, and a .323 OBP. Following his retirement from Chrysler in 1989, he returned to Delaware. Deeply religious, he was involved in charitable and church activities until his death in 1995 at age 70.

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category also includes Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.