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2 Best Years 3 Accomplishments 4 Teams 5 External Links |
Tom Glavine excelled in several sports during high school, including ice hockey and baseball, and was drafted by both the Los Angeles Kings in the 1984 NHL amateur draft, and the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball organization in the 2nd round of the 1984 amateur baseball draft. Tom elected to play baseball and made his Major League debut on August 17, 1987.
Tom enjoyed good times and bad times during his first several years in the majors, compiling a 33-41 record from 1987 to 1990, including a 17-loss performance in 1988.
Tom's fortunes turned around in 1991 when he won 20 games and posted a 2.55 ERA. It was his first of three consecutive 20 wins or more seasons and his first season to earn the National League Cy Young Award. Tom's season also led a dramatic reversal in the Braves' competitive fortunes as they won the National League East Division and went to the World Series, only to lose to the Minnesota Twins.
Atlanta, long thought of as a perrenial cellar dweller, was lifted in the 1990s into one of the most successful franchises in the game on the strength of its stellar pitching staff and solid hitting. The trio of Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, acquired in 1993, is considered by some to the best trio of pitchers ever assembled on one team. Between them, they won 7 Cy Young Awards during the period of 1991 to 1998. Tom won his 2nd Cy Young in 1998.
In 2003, much to the chagrin of many Braves fans, Tom left Atlanta to play for the rival New York Mets, signing a three-year $35-million deal. For the first time since 1988, Tom failed to win 10 games, also posting his first losing record in that span, 9-14.
Early Career
Best Years
Accomplishments
Teams
External Links