 |
 |
George Robert Tebbetts
Cleveland Indians
Manager
Born: November 10, 1912, Burlington, VT
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent, June 1934
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1936-1942, 1946-1947; Boston Red Sox 1947-1950; Cleveland Indians 1951-1952
As a Manager: Cincinnati Reds 1954-1958; Milwaukee Braves 1961-1962; Cleveland Indians 1963, 1964-1966
Died: March 24, 1999, Manatee, FL (age 86)
As a catcher, Biride Tebbetts went to the All-Star Game four times - twice with the Tigers before World War II, and twice with the Red Sox after the War. He missed three full seasons while serving in the military between 1943 and 1945, but he's still regarded as one of the best catchers of the 1940s. In 1940 he enjoyed one of his strongest seasons, hitting .296 and leading the Tigers to the World Series. Unfortunately, Tebbetts went 0 for 11 in the series as the Reds prevailed in seven games. In 14 seasons between 1936 and 1952, Tebbetts played in 1,162 games, batting .270 with exactly 1,000 hits, 38 home runs and 469 RBIs.
Tebbetts began his big league managerial career with the Reds in 1954 and was named N.L. Manager of the Year in 1956 when he guided the Reds to a 91-63 record, just missing the World Series. That was to be his most successful year as a manager and through the rest of his stint with the Reds, then moving to the Braves and finally finishing up with the Indians, a Tebbetts-led team never finished above fourth place. He resigned as Indians manager in August 1966, with his big league managerial record at 748-705. He'd later serve as a scout for the Mets, Yankees, Orioles and Marlins, staying involved in baseball until retiring in 1997.
August 21, 2020 from Charleston, SC - Card #159
In my largest (by volume) purchase to date, I spent an enjoyable hour or so in mid-August browsing the eBay store of seller mantlerulz and clicking Add to Cart on 30 different cards. We had previously added 29 cards to our set back in February from the Philly Show. The 30 cards, all commons, cost me $52 total (before shipping and taxes) with the cards ranging in prices from $1 to $6. I love this haul and I found the seller's store by accident when I was browsing eBay in an attempt to add a few more cheap cards from the set's first series. With this purchase, we've now passed the quarter mark for completion of the set. We still have a long way to go, and quite a few pricey cards to add, but any day I can add 30 commons in excellent shape and at very low prices is a great day. This Tebbetts card was only $2.
The Card / Indians Team Set
Tebbetts appeared on an Indians' manager card within the Topps set for each of the years he managed the club. The back of this card covers all the highlights from Tebbetts' playing career, including the fact he was a popular player, but spelling his last name wrong with the big letters at the top. And for some reason, Topps omits Tebbetts' 1941 All-Star Game appearance within the write-up. I don't know why I notice things like this, but the Topps employee who wrote up the back of this card refers to the manager as Birdie, Mr. Tebbetts and finally Mr. Birdie Tebbetts for the final kicker.
1965 Season
This was to be the final full season of managing for Mr. Birdie Tebbetts, as he guided the Indians to a fifth place finish with a record of 87-75. His top pitchers were Sam McDowell (#76) (17-11, 2.18 ERA) and Sonny Siebert (#96) (16-8, 2.43 ERA) while his top sluggers were first baseman Fred Whitfield (#283) (.293, 26 home runs and 90 RBIs) and Rocky Colavito (#380) (.287, 26 home runs, 108 RBIs.)
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #257
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1952, 1958, 1962-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Fleer Boston Red Sox 100th Anniversary #3
51 - Tebbetts non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/16/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #300 Sandy Koufax - Los Angeles Dodgers
Next Card: #302 Al Stanek - San Francisco Giants
No comments:
Post a Comment