Being an Atlanta Braves fan or a sports fan, in general, can sometimes be weird. We can get so invested into these teams and players that we start to think we are actually part of the team. Being a fan is a lot like watching your favorite tv show, you’re naturally going to pick your favorite characters and dislike those you find annoying.
Sometimes you just develop a general distaste for a player because they don’t swing the 34-inch wood stick the way you like it swung. Is it always fair to these guys to get hate on so much for sucking? It’s not like they’re going up to the plate looking to strike out every time just to piss off the guy at home watching on the couch.
Fans can be brutal sometimes, but it’s the nature of the game and these athletes know it comes with the territory and they’re going to have to deal with articles posted like this one where their names are on the list of “Most Disliked Braves Players of the Past 30 Years”. Whether it was a huge overpaid contract where the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze, on field performance, or just being a complete bozo off the field all the players on this list are guys that in one way or another Braves faithful just couldn’t get behind.
(Dis)Honorable Mentions
Mike Hampton
After signing one of the biggest deals in baseball history at the time in 2001, Mike Hampton proceeded to reward the Colorado Rockies with a 5.75 ERA over 62 appearances in two seasons. The Braves didn’t care and traded for him anyways for the 2003 season. While he wasn’t atrocious in his time in Atlanta he dealt with bad injury luck missing half of the 05′ season and all of 06′ and 07′. Lot of money spent and not a lot to show for it.
Dan Kolb
The closer who could never close games. Always a crowd pleaser. After an all-star campaign in the 2004 season with Milwaukee, the Braves thought it would be a good idea to bring in Dan Kolb to replace John Smoltz in the closer role. They were mistaken. In 65 games Kolb managed just 11 saves to go along with a 5.93 ERA and had 7 blown saves.
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