Catchers with Sneaky-Good OBPs (split from Memoriez of Tyler Zuber)

[Edgy MD]

The worst case of middle-name usage has to belong to non-pitcher Gene Tenace. The name Gene came from Eugene, his middle name, but his first name was Fury. If my first name was Fury, I would drop my middle name and probably my last name too.



The worst part is that he is a perfectly viable Hall of Fame candidate that got all of one vote in his one year on the BBWAA ballot and, as far as I know, has never been on a Veterans Committee ballot.



If the world knew him as 😡🔥Fury❤️‍🔥☄️, that might be a different story.

[The Hot Corner]

Had he gone by Fury Tenace (rather than Gene) he certainly would have been far more memorable to HOF voters and fans alike. He had a fine career and has 6 World Series rings to show for it, but he needed more than a name change to get into Cooperstown.

[Frayed Knot]

Even better than 'Fury' is 'Fiore'

Gene Tenace was born not Fury Eugene Tenace but Fiore Gino Tennaci (I think he was Irish but I could be wrong) in Russellton, Pennsylvania 1946

Tenace/Tennaci finished his career with just a .241 BA but also a .388 OBA and a .429 SLg average (136 career OPS+), a walk rate

(he led the AL in walks twice) and SLG rate well above average in both cases and both are ridiculously good for a catcher who played during the

pitching friendly era of 1969-83, finishing his career with a 136 OPS+

[Edgy MD]

He actually leads all MLB catchers in walks.



In history.



1) Gene Tenace: 984

2) Mickey Tettleton: 949

3) Joe Mauer (HoF): 939

4) Jorge Posada 936

5) Rick Ferrell (HoF): 931

6) Darrell Porter: 905

7) Johnny Bench (HoF): 891

8) Mickey Cochrane (HoF): 857

9) Ted Simmons (HoF): 855

10) Carlton Fisk (HoF): 849



Also:

12) Gary Carter (HoF): 848



14) Mike Piazza (HoF): 759



18) Yogi Berra (HoF): 704



Another catcher that had a better career than folks realized because of under-appreciation for the walk tool was #2 Mets manager https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/westrwe01.shtmlWes Westrum, 54th all-time in walks by a catcher, despite playing in only 919 games.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Check out Dick Dietz. He was a catcher. And a base on balls machine, putting up OBPs in the neighborhood of .400 and once, as high as .474. Dietz career was cut short, believed to have been blackballed due to his fervent participation in the player's union and with the player' strike of 1972. Dietz played just two full seasons, ('70 and '71), producing all-star caliber seasons, especially for a catcher.



https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dietzdi01.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dietzdi01.shtml

[Edgy MD]

It is probably a good split topic, and a good theme for a SABR presentation — Catchers Who Provided Stealthily Effective Offense by Putting a Catcher's Knowledge of the Strike Zone to Use Offensively.



Ron Hodges was one of them, kinda.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Even better than 'Fury' is 'Fiore' Gene Tenace was born not Fury Eugene Tenace but Fiore Gino Tennaci (I think he was Irish but I could be wrong) in Russellton, Pennsylvania 1946 Tenace/Tennaci finished his career with just a .241 BA but also a .388 OBA and a .429 SLg average (136 career OPS+), a walk rate (he led the AL in walks twice) and SLG rate well above average in both cases and both are ridiculously good for a catcher who played during the pitching friendly era of 1969-83, finishing his career with a 136 OPS+

That BA is probably explained because he played half his games in the old Oakland stadium, which suppressed batting averages because of a lot of foul territory for catching popups. His career OBP might have been a lot higher.

Later

[MFS62]

He's remembered for his nickname and his dumpy body, but Smokey Burgess had an 18 year career with a slash line of .294/.362/.446 , for an OPS of .807.

Those numbers snuck up on me.



Later