There’s nothing overtly wacky about this 1978 Gene Tenace card. However, Tenace always seemed to get cards that were a bit strange. This ‘78 card is the epitome of the cards he received.
Fury Gene Tenace was a hard nosed player who played most of his career for Oakland and San Diego as a catcher and firstbaseman. In 1978, he batted .224 but walked 101 times and was hit by the pitch 11 times. He hit 16 homers with 16 doubles and 4 triples. He stole six bases and struck out 98 times.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 Totals | 142 | 515 | 401 | 60 | 90 | 18 | 4 | 16 | 61 | 6 | 101 | 98 | .224 | .392 | .409 |
The things that strikes me about this card is that Tenace has a 55-9 yet still manages to get a 24-41 as well. I guess this happens due to the inordinate amount of 14s (and probably 13s, as well). Tenace has seven 14s plus a 61-42. It helps his cause that as a catcher, he gets both a 36 and a 38.
Tenace was rated as a slow baserunner yet still manages a 15-10 and has no 24s on his card either.
Not weird but worthy of note… this 1978 card has the notation at the bottom that says: “42- Hit by Pitcher”. The 42 result number was relatively new. It was introduced in 1972 for the 1971 season (thanks, Ron Hunt!) and the current boards at the time had no instructions regarding the 42 result number.
Anything Geno related makes me smile. Those A’s were such a magical time of my youth it’s a smile that never fades.
Yeah, he was always one of my favorite players. No matter his average, he helped out his team offensively.
yeah those a’s never had glossy stats to intimidate you but they were so clutch their numbers were extremely deceiving.
Having the 41 36 38 combo is wacky. Catchers have 36 38 and firstbaseman have 41 37. Apba must have thought the team lineup, whatever it was, needed both on tenace’s card.
I had the 1981 Jeff Leonard card on my team that year. Only had about 150 at bats that year but his card had 5 zeros on the power numbers. The other odd thing is he had a 5 rating at catcher. I had and excellent fielding team. Hernandez at first Sandbeeg at 2nd Schimdt at 3rd,and a 9 at short(can’t remember). I had 3 A starters. When I had a 2 fielding pitcher I could play leonard at catcher and still field a one.