Baseball’s first black GM gave the Braves something they lacked: Credibility. He joined the front office in 1965, working in the sales and promotions department before switching to the player development side, eventually becoming the team’s farm director. In September 1976, Ted named him vice president in charge of baseball operations, another way of saying general manager.
Lucas’ first big hire was Bobby Cox.
His first big trade brought Jeff Burroughs to Atlanta, sending Ken Henderson, Dave May, Carl Morton, Roger Moret and Adrian Devine to the Rangers. Burroughs had two outstanding years in Atlanta (an OPS above .