| Birdie Tebbetts | ||
 |
Full Name: George Robert Tebbetts Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 170 lbs. Born: Nov 10, 1912 in Burlington, VT Major League Debut: Sep 16, 1936 |
|
| PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEN LEVINE (SABR Member) |
| Birdie Tebbetts | ||
|
Full Name: George Robert Tebbetts Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 170 lbs. Born: Nov 10, 1912 in Burlington, VT Major League Debut: Sep 16, 1936 |
|
| PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEN LEVINE (SABR Member) |
CAREER STATISTICS - BATTING
TOTALS
| BATTING | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1946 1947 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 |
TM Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Bos Bos Bos Bos Cle Cle |
LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL |
POS C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C |
G 10 50 53 106 111 110 99 87 20 90 128 122 79 55 42 |
AB 33 162 143 341 379 359 308 280 53 291 446 403 268 137 101 |
R 7 15 16 37 46 28 24 20 1 22 54 42 33 8 4 |
H 10 31 42 89 112 102 76 68 5 87 125 109 83 36 25 |
2B 1 4 6 22 24 19 11 11 1 10 26 14 10 6 4 |
3B 2 3 2 2 4 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 |
HR 1 2 1 4 4 2 1 1 0 1 5 5 8 2 1 |
RBI 4 16 25 53 46 47 27 34 2 28 68 48 45 18 8 |
TB 18 47 55 127 156 135 90 86 6 100 170 138 119 48 32 |
BB 5 10 12 25 35 38 39 28 3 21 62 62 29 8 12 |
IBB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
| Totals | G 1162 |
AB 3704 |
R 357 |
H 1000 |
2B 169 |
3B 22 |
HR 38 |
RBI 469 |
TB 1327 |
BB 389 |
IBB 0 |
|||
| BATTING | BASERUNNING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1946 1947 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 |
TM Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Det Bos Bos Bos Bos Cle Cle |
LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL |
K 3 13 13 20 14 29 17 23 3 30 32 22 26 7 9 |
HBP 0 0 0 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 2 |
SH 0 3 3 8 2 2 3 4 2 4 3 6 2 0 2 |
SF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
GDP 0 0 0 8 9 7 9 10 2 8 22 14 13 4 5 |
SB 0 0 1 2 4 1 4 1 0 2 5 8 1 0 0 |
CS 0 0 2 1 5 2 0 3 1 4 2 1 1 0 1 |
SB% -.--- -.--- .333 .667 .444 .333 1.000 .250 .000 .333 .714 .889 .500 -.--- .000 |
AVG .303 .191 .294 .261 .296 .284 .247 .243 .094 .299 .280 .270 .310 .263 .248 |
OBP .395 .238 .348 .315 .357 .354 .335 .312 .143 .346 .371 .369 .377 .308 .339 |
SLG .545 .290 .385 .372 .412 .376 .292 .307 .113 .344 .381 .342 .444 .350 .317 |
AB/HR 33.0 81.0 143.0 85.3 94.8 179.5 308.0 280.0 --.- 291.0 89.2 80.6 33.5 68.5 101.0 |
AB/K 11.0 12.5 11.0 17.1 27.1 12.4 18.1 12.2 17.7 9.7 13.9 18.3 10.3 19.6 11.2 |
| Totals | K 261 |
HBP 12 |
SH 44 |
SF 0 |
GDP 111 |
SB 29 |
CS 23 |
SB% .558 |
BAVG .270 |
OBP .341 |
SLG .358 |
AB/HR 97.5 |
AB/K 14.2 |
||
ALL-STAR STATISTICS -
BATTING TOTALS
| BATTING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1941 1942 1948 1949 |
TM Det Det Bos Bos |
LG AL AL AL AL |
G 0 1 1 1 |
AB 0 4 1 2 |
R 0 0 1 0 |
H 0 0 0 2 |
2B 0 0 0 1 |
3B 0 0 0 0 |
HR 0 0 0 0 |
RBI 0 0 0 1 |
TB 0 0 0 3 |
BB 0 0 2 0 |
K 0 2 1 0 |
SB 0 0 0 0 |
BAVG -.--- .000 .000 1.000 |
SLG -.--- .000 .000 1.500 |
AB/HR --.- --.- --.- --.- |
AB/K --.- 2.0 1.0 --.- |
| Totals | G 3 |
AB 7 |
R 1 |
H 2 |
2B 1 |
3B 0 |
HR 0 |
RBI 1 |
TB 3 |
BB 2 |
K 3 |
SB 0 |
AVG .286 |
SLG .429 |
AB/HR --.- |
AB/K 2.3 |
||
WORLD SERIES STATISTICS - BATTING
TOTALS
| BATTING | PERCENTAGES | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR 1940 |
TM Det |
LG AL |
G 4 |
AB 11 |
R 0 |
H 0 |
2B 0 |
3B 0 |
HR 0 |
RBI 0 |
TB 0 |
BB 0 |
K 0 |
SB 0 |
BAVG .000 |
SLG .000 |
AB/HR --.- |
AB/K --.- |
| Totals | G 4 |
AB 11 |
R 0 |
H 0 |
2B 0 |
3B 0 |
HR 0 |
RBI 0 |
TB 0 |
BB 0 |
K 0 |
SB 0 |
AVG .000 |
SLG .000 |
AB/HR --.- |
AB/K --.- |
||
| TEAM ABBREVIATION KEY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YEARS 1936-1947 1947-1950 1951-1952 |
TM Det Bos Cle |
LG AL AL AL |
TEAM NAME Detroit Tigers Boston Red Sox Cleveland Indians |
LEAGUE NAME American League American League American League |
Birdie Tebbetts, a member of the Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame, managed both the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. As a major league catcher, Tebbetts batted .270 lifetime.
Playing against the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940 World Series, Detroit Tigers' catcher Birdie Tebbetts tied a record that will never to broken. "If you can believe it, I went zero for the series," said Tebbetts from his home in Anna Maria, Florida. "I batted 11 times, and never got a hit against Cincinnati, which beat us in a fun seven-game Series. And I really hit the ball hard a few times -- they just didn't fall in."
Tebbetts played for Detroit, the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland during a 14-year major league career (1936-52) -- his finest seasons were with the Tigers in 1940 (.296 average) and Boston in 1950 (.310). "Unfortunately, I lost my peak years to World War II service," said Tebbetts, who missed the 1943 through 1945 seasons. "If not for the war, I probably would have been in six or seven All-Star Games instead of just four." "But Serving your country was foremost in your mind back then," he added. "It's something that had to be done."
Following his playing career, Tebbetts succeeded Buster Mills as manager of the Cincinnati "Redlegs" prior to the 1954 season. (In the mid-1950s, the Cincinnati club temporarily changed its name to Redlegs because of the perceived Soviet Cold War threat). Tebbetts inherited a fantastic offensive club in Cincinnati - with sluggers like Ted Kluszewski, Wally Post and Gus Bell -- but pitching was another story.
Even with a lack of quality starting pitching, the Reds made a run at the National League pennant in 1956. With Kluszewski, Post, Bell, Ed Bailey and rookie phenom Frank Robinson leading the way, the Redlegs as a team belted 221 home runs -- tying the National League record -- and missed the pennant by just three games.
Tebbetts was replaced by Jimmy Dykes late in the 1958 season, but resurfaced as manager of the Milwaukee Braves in 1961 and '62. In 1963, Tebbetts succeeded Mel McGaha as skipper of the Cleveland Indians. He had some pretty decent years in Cleveland from '63 to '66.
Tebbetts later became a scout for the New York Yankees, and currently is a master scout for both the Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins. Over 11 years as a major league manager, his record was 781-744.