Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 43, quartet

In our countdown toward Opening Day, we hit a day with four former Atlanta Braves that have such unique stories that we include them all!

When trying to decide who to include on the Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown, sometimes a good story is left on the cutting room floor. Instead of doing that with #43, we’ll include all four of the excellent stories, all players who wore #43 for the Atlanta Braves franchise at one time.

Wes

Wes Covington came up with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956, giving him the earliest debut of anyone we’ll discuss today. He immediately joined what was becoming a very integrated Braves lineup, sharing time on World Series teams in 1957 and 1958.

In fact, Covington never played more than 103 games nor came to the plate more than 405 times as a member of the Braves. He was featured as half of a platoon through his time with the organization, but he still managed a career line with the Braves organization of .284/.336/.473 with 64 home runs over 1,579 plate appearances.

Covington topped 20 home runs in both the 1957 and 1958 seasons for the Braves. He then played full-time in the World Series, though he wasn’t able to show his power in the postseason in the same way, managing just one double in 1957 and 1958 over 57 plate appearances.

Covington finished his Braves career by beginning one of the most bizarre transactional seasons in the game’s history. Covington was placed on waivers by the Braves in May, and the White Sox claimed him on May 10th. On June 10th, Covington was traded by the White Sox as part of an eight-player deal with the Athletics. He would not even last a month with the Athletics before being traded to the Phillies on July 2nd. Somehow in all of that turmoil, Covington was able to hit .270/.329/.433 on the 1961 season across four clubs!