Gene Tenace cards always had a funny quality about them. I tried to capture that in a past Weird Wednesday column with Tenace’s 1978 card but Howie Mooney’s 1981 Tenace card really shows it so much better.
Keep in mind, that Tenace’s batting average was only .233 in 1981 for the Cardinals. As a result, his last 8 result number is at 55. In fact, he only has eight total hit numbers going out to his 25-9.
Yet because of his eight 14s, a 42 and the prerequisite 36 and 38 for being a catcher, Tenace’s 1981 card gets nice result numbers at pretty remote places like 21, 24, and 26. It also helped that in 1981, the 12 was placed at 64.
Bill James probably loved Gene Tenace’s statistics.
Hi Tom,
If I am not mistaken, the use of a 66 1-non 1 result was pretty rare correct?
I also think he had a card in the 80’s that had 2 41’s on it but don’t remember.
I’m using the cards from 1977 season. Tenace hit .233 that year but his OBP was .415. For me, through 50+ games, he is at .242 and .436. Leads the league in walks, just like in 1977. always a fan of these types, just wish he was faster. Sometimes I bat him leadoff because he just gets on base so often. And his 1977 card has 25-36, only seven hit numbers. But 7 14s and a 42.
I replayed 1969-1983 using BBW and Tenace was one of my favourites. He is the classic better in APBA than real life
You’re right about Bill James. In 2000, he ranked Tenace at 23rd among catchers. He touted his very high secondary average, which of course, was bolstered by his high number of walks.
Tom, I love the APBA Blog. I have a question on Tenace’s card that I hope is not a dumb one. You say that since his average is low, “his last 8” is at 55 and it helped that the 12 was at 64. Aren’t all 36 numbers of equal random chance? If so, why does it matter where an 8 or a 12 is located on the card? Thanks! The Blog has been very helpful to me in getting to know the nuances of APBA over the last three years. See you at the Chicago tournament in two weeks.
Hi Dick,
My wording is probably not the best. Thanks for calling me out on it.
APBA generally puts the best hit numbers on the card in a specific order on the card. Not always but generally speaking, the cardmakers will put the best numbers in this order
66, 11, 33, 22, 44, 55, 15, 25, 51, 31, 35, 42.
To complicate things, if a player has a 11 or a 10, they are inserted at 15 then 25 and if needed, 51 then 31.
So when I say Tenace’s last 8 is at 55, that means that he has a 9 at 15. If Tenace had gotten a 22-7 for example (not likely, he rarely did in his career), his three 8s and two 9s would have moved back one in the chain.
hope that clears that up. I may write this up as an article. You’re probably not the only one wondering :)
Tom