Joe Adcock, a powerful right-handed hitter who played 10 seasons for the Milwaukee Braves from 1953-62, will be inducted into the Miller Park Walk of Fame, the Brewers announced Friday.
Adcock, who died in May 1999 at the age of 71, was elected after receiving 23 votes (67.6 percent) in balloting from the media and a panel. He had fallen one vote shy of election last year.
"Joe Adcock was a key contributor to the great success enjoyed by the Braves during their storied tenure in Milwaukee, and we are very pleased to secure his legacy with a place on the Miller Park Walk of Fame," Brewers chief operating officer Rick Schlesinger said Friday. "Joe's contributions to the Braves were numerous, and he was responsible for some of the most memorable moments in Milwaukee baseball history. We look forward to remembering Joe with a ceremony this summer and a permanent marker at Miller Park."
The first baseman, who spent 17 seasons in the Major Leagues, batted .285 with 239 home runs and 760 RBIs in 1,207 games for the Braves. Adcock notched a number of memorable feats. On April 14, 1953, he recorded the first base hit and scored the first run in County Stadium history. The next year, on July 31, 1954, he belted four home runs with a double at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, setting a single-game record of 18 total bases. That mark lasted 48 years until it was broken by Shawn Green in 2002.
"Joe always said that there was nowhere better to be a Major League ballplayer than the city of Milwaukee, and he had great ties to the area and even better memories of his time there," said his wife, Joan Adcock, a Wisconsin native who met and married Adcock while he was playing for the Braves. "This is a tremendous honor, and I know Joe would be humbled and thrilled to be remembered in this way."
Adcock also was a member of the Braves' 1957 World Series championship team. He drove in the lone run in a 1-0 Game 5 win over the Yankees. The Braves went on to defeat the Yankees in the series, 4-3.
On May 26, 1959, Adcock broke up Harvey Haddix's 12-inning no-hitter with a walk-off double at County Stadium. Adcock ranks third in Milwaukee Braves history in hits (1,206), home runs, RBIs and total bases (2,164).
That's not bad for someone who had never played baseball until he went to Louisiana State University on a basketball scholarship. Adcock grew up in Coushatta, La., and signed with the Reds in 1947. He was traded to the Braves in February 1953 as part of a four-team deal.
The induction will take place prior to a Brewers game at Miller Park this year; the specific date has yet to be determined.
There were a total of 23 Brewers players and seven Braves players on the Walk of Fame ballot, which included on-field personnel who wore a Brewers or Braves uniform for a minimum of three seasons but have been retired from playing/managing roles for at least three seasons. All players and managers receiving votes on at least 5 percent of the ballots will remain eligible in 2017.
Past inductees include Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount in 2001; Commissioner Bud Selig and Cecil Cooper in 2002; Bob Uecker and Harry Dalton in 2003; Jim Gantner and Gorman Thomas in 2004; Don Money and Harvey Kuenn in 2005; Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and John Quinn in 2007; Lew Burdette in 2010; Johnny Logan in 2013; and Teddy Higuera in 2015.