From unrefined prospect to the Hall of Fame

This was viewed as a runof-the-mill trade in a pennant race, but it turned out to be much more for the Braves. The oft-repeated storyline is that a team in a pennant race thinks one player could push it into the postseason, so the team goes looking for that player, usually offering minor league prospects to a team with no illusions of making the playoffs.

On Aug. 12, 1987, the Detroit Tigers were in the pennant race, and the Braves were quite a distance from the postseason. Sometimes it takes only one prospect, which is all it took for the Braves to part with veteran starting pitcher Doyle Alexander, who helped the Tigers win the American League East title after the trade. The prospect was 20-year-old John Smoltz.

Most prospects in such trades don’t eventually find their place in the Hall of Fame, but the Braves saw something in Smoltz. The AJC’s article about the trade described him as someone “known for throwing hard but not always accurately.”

A 22nd-round pick in the 1985 draft, Smoltz was at Double-A in 1987, where he was 4-10 with a 5.68 ERA in 130 innings, in which he recorded 86 strikeouts and 81 walks.

Alexander was almost 37 and nearing the end of his career, and the Braves were in full rebuild mode with a burgeoning farm system. Alexander meant less to the Braves than to the Tigers, and Smoltz represented another pitcher with a live arm to throw in with their mix of prospects.

Alexander retired after the 1989 season. Smoltz made his debut in July 1988, and most Braves fans know the rest of the story. Except for maybe this one tidbit: The player promoted to the active roster to replace Alexander? Tom Glavine.

whose career led him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bartkowski and Vick each showed Hall of Fame potential, but fell short.

Bartkowski had a great throwing arm, likely the best of his day, but knee injuries cost him dearly. With each, he was less mobile and more susceptible to further damage. At a time when knee surgeries were more invasive than today, Bartkowski underwent numerous such surgeries, but still led the Falcons to their first three trips to the playoffs (1978, 1980, 1982).

Vick was one of the NFL’s all-time great athletes. While he could throw from the pocket, he often wouldn’t stay there for long, taking off to run faster than any quarterback before him. He, too, possessed great arm strength. Having helped lead the Falcons to the playoffs twice, Vick was leaving fans wondering what was next before his conviction on federal dogfighting charges landed him in prison in 2007.

Neither is the Falcons’ greatest all-time quarterback. That honor belongs to Matt Ryan. Yet, Bartkowski and Vick each tried to stake his claim to that distinction, and early on, the betting lines looked good. heal the crushed hearts of many Hawks fans — the Jazz were sending the Hawks six players. Trading a player so popular, who in 1996 was voted among the top 50 NBA players of all-time, was justified by the haul coming in return.

The Hawks received two picks from that year’s NBA expansion draft and four over the next three regular NBA drafts. Hawks coach Richie Guerin cited the Louisiana Purchase when trying to find a heist comparable to the one he thought the Hawks had pulled. But things went downhill from there.

As the expansion picks, the Hawks chose forward Bob Kauffman, who had been a three-time NBA

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