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 Triple threats Braves become 4th to win 100 games in three straight years
Posted: Wednesday September 29, 1999 07:51 PM
By Desmond M. Wallace, CNN/SI Tom Glavine's 13th victory of 1999 proved to be a lucky one for the record books. With Tuesday's 9-3 win over the New York Mets, the Atlanta Braves became just the fourth team in major league history to earn 100 wins in three consecutive seasons. Atlanta joined the 1929-'31 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1942-'44 St. Louis Cardinals, and 1969-'71 Baltimore Orioles as the only teams to reach the 100-win plateau in three successive seasons. But unlike the other century-win teams, the Braves' streak has so far failed to include a World Series championship.
Both the Athletics (1929 and '30) and Cardinals ('42 and '44) won titles in two of the three seasons while the Orioles earned a World Series win in 1970. The Braves, though, have seen nothing but playoff disappointment. In 1997, despite winning 101 games in the regular season, the Braves lost to the Marlins in the National League Championship Series, 4-2. Last year, Atlanta won 106 games only to lose in six games in the NLCS, this time to the Padres. However, the one thing that separates the Braves from the other three squads is -- surprisingly -- pitching. The A's, Cardinals and Orioles each had at least one pitcher have three straight 20-win seasons in their team's 100-win run.
Lefty Grove and George Earnshaw each won more than 20 games for the A's from 1929-31. Mort Cooper did it for the Cardinals from 1942-44. And Baltimore had Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally accomplish the feat in 1969-71. In fact, the '71 Orioles had four 20-game winners (Cuellar, McNally, Jim Palmer and Pat Dobson). For the Braves, Denny Neagle won 20 in '97, while Tom Glavine was the lone pitcher to reach 20 in 1998. Greg Maddux tries for win No. 20 against the Mets on Wednesday. Offensively, though, Chipper Jones has been as productive as Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx was for the A's from 1929-31. Foxx combined for 100 homers and 393 RBIs in the three-year span. Jones has 100 homers and 326 RBIs since 1997. Of course, Foxx was 21 when the A's run started, Jones was 25. Coincidentally, St. Louis was led by another 21-year-old destined for the Hall of Fame at the beginning of its run -- Stan Musial, who had 35 homers and 247 RBIs in the Cards' 100-win string.
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