In 2025, The Diamond hosts its 40^th and final season of professional baseball in Richmond. Between the Richmond Braves from 1985-2008 and the Richmond Flying Squirrels since 2010, countless future major leaguers have taken the steps from the first base dugout onto The Diamond’s playing surface.

Prior to the season, fans voted for The All-Diamond Team, selecting one manager as well as 14 of their favorite players who have gone on to MLB stardom after suiting up for the R-Braves and Flying Squirrels.

We continue the announcement of the All-Diamond Team with the fans’ choice for the second of three starting pitchers, Tom Glavine.

Manager: Grady Little
Starting Pitcher: John Smoltz
Starting Pitcher: Tom Glavine
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Utility Player: TBA
Catcher: TBA
First Baseman: TBA
Second Baseman: TBA
Shortstop: TBA
Third Baseman: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA

Tom Glavine’s first appearance at The Diamond was as an opponent of the Richmond Braves. Sort of.

On May 29, 1986, Glavine suited up for the Atlanta Braves in an annual mid-season exhibition game against their Triple-A club. Atlanta had just finished a series in Pittsburgh and stopped in Richmond on its way to Chicago. The R-Braves were back after a long road trip.

Rookie pitcher Duane Ward, weeks away from being swapped to the Blue Jays for Doyle Alexander, started the game for the A-Braves. Glavine was up for the day from Double-A Greenville. He replaced Ward in the fourth and threw three innings, allowing two runs.

Glavine was replaced on the mound by future Hall of Fame catcher (yes, catcher) Ted Simmons in a night of unintentional comedy, which included seven defensive errors.

A little over a year later, Glavine was wearing an Atlanta uniform for real and pitching in the big leagues. Two months after that exhibition, he was promoted from Greenville to Richmond, which was in the middle of tight race for the International League postseason.

His first start for the R-Braves was bumped after manager Roy Majtyka learned that Glavine had thrown 140 pitches in a complete-game outing in his final Double-A start. So his Richmond debut was pushed back a day to July 31, 1986 at Pawtucket.

The 20-year-old Glavine had a rude introduction to the IL. He lasted one out into the third inning and allowed eight runs in an 18-0 loss.

He faced the same PawSox team in his first official outing at The Diamond on August 5 and it went much better. He held Pawtucket to two runs through his first eight innings before giving way to the bullpen with one out and one on in the ninth. That tying run later came in to score, but Glavine had a solid Diamond debut, allowing four hits, but he walked five.

Two starts later on August 15, Glavine threw a complete-game shutout against Syracuse at The Diamond for his first Triple-A win. He took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning facing a lineup that included future MLB stars Fred McGriff and Cecil Fielder.

Glavine made three more regular-season starts and struggled, picking up a losing decision in each of them while issuing 13 walks in 12 2/3 innings.

The R-Braves surged down the stretch and clinched the IL pennant. They eventually topped Rochester in the postseason to claim the Governors’ Cup.

Glavine pitched out of the bullpen in the series. In Game 4, he picked up a save in an 8-7 Richmond win to force a winner-take-all Game 5. After four runs scored in the ninth inning, Glavine entered with two outs and a runner on second base. He worked a worked a full-count pop-up to strand the potential tying run at second.

In 1987, Glavine made his first unofficial appearance of the year at The Diamond in an April exhibition game against the A-Braves, throwing two scoreless relief innings.

In his first start on April 12, Glavine helped the R-Braves pick up their first win of the season with seven strong innings, notably without issuing a walk.

He saw mixed results over his next three starts, but he worked his first complete game of the year on May 6 at The Diamond against Toledo, allowing one run on four hits.

The R-Braves struggled to give Glavine much run support. He was charged with five losses in his next six starts, but Richmond had combined to score just 10 runs in his seven losing decisions through early June.

On June 17 against Syracuse, Glavine again threw nine innings and allowed one run, but the game went extras tied before the R-Braves won on a walk-off single by Dave Griffin in the 10^th.

The theme continued for the rest of Glavine’s time in Richmond. After an up-and-down run through mid-July, he went 1-2 with a 1.24 ERA over his final five Triple-A starts. He began that stretch with a 9 1/3-inning outing on July 23 at Maine, but the Braves lost in extras.

He threw nine innings in each of his next three starts, capped by a two-hit shutout on August 7 at Columbus when he tied his Triple-A high with seven strikeouts.

Glavine made his final Richmond start on August 12 at Toledo and allowed two runs over 7 1/3 innings. Two days later, he headed to the majors.

On August 17, 1987, Glavine made his MLB debut with Atlanta in Houstin. He allowed six runs over 3 2/3 innings with five walks. He went on to pitch 22 seasons in the majors, spending 17 seasons with the Braves and five with the Mets.

In his big-league career, Glavine won 305 games, was selected as a National League All-Star 10 times, won two Cy Young Awards and was named MVP of the 1995 World Series. Glavine was inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.