hired by the previous owners three months before the sale, survived the 1976 season—but he would be involved in a bizarre firing-and-rehiring by Turner during the campaign. Turner also employed three general managers in 1976. In May, he replaced veteran baseball man Eddie Robinson, inherited from the previous regime and in office for almost four full years, with former Boston Red Sox executive John Alevizos. But Alevizos lasted only four months before he was removed in favor of Braves' farm system director Bill Lucas, who became the first African-American general manager in Major League history on September 17. Lucas, the former brother-in-law of Braves' legend Henry Aaron, would begin the rebuilding of the franchise into a competitor, but he died suddenly at age 43 from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979, the year before the Braves finally cracked the .500 mark. Led by stars such as Dale Murphy and Bob Horner, the early 1980s Braves featured a succession of successful teams, and won the 1982 National League West Division championship. But they declined precipitously in 1985, and after some very lean years in the late 1980s, Turner, working with a talented team of senior executives such as Bobby Cox, Stan Kasten and John Schuerholz, would turn the Braves into a perennial contender during the 1990s, and a nationally popular franchise on WTBS, where they styled themselves as "America's Team." They won consecutive division titles from 1991–1993 and 1995–1996, NL pennants in 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1996, and the 1995 World Series, before Turner sold the team and all of his Turner Broadcasting holdings to Time Warner in 1996. Regular season Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions June 8, 1976: 1976 Major League Baseball draft Ricky Jones was drafted by the Braves in the 18th round, but did not sign. John Butcher was drafted by the Braves in the 3rd round of the secondary phase, but did not sign. June 13, 1976: Darrell Evans and Marty Perez were traded by the Braves to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Montañez, Craig Robinson, Mike Eden, and Jake Brown. June 15, 1976: Blue Moon Odom was traded by the Braves to the Chicago White Sox for Pete Varney. June 23, 1976: Elías Sosa and Lee Lacy were traded by the Braves to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Marshall. Roster Player stats Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games