A 1980s Card Part 25- 1981 Topps Traded Gene Tenace

I have written a little bit about Gene Tenace before on my blog.  He was a Cardinals player that I discovered later on in life, and did not fully appreciate while I was collecting as a kid.  Tenace was the backup catcher for team when I first started watching baseball and collecting cards, so he was not high on my list.  At some point around college, or maybe right after, I learned all about Gene Tenace on the A's.

I believe that I found this rather rough copy of his 1973 Topps card in a dime box at a card shop in the south part of St. Louis County.  His career numbers did not look great at this point, but the little write up about his World Series MVP caught my eye.

I did a little more digging after this card.  Pretty impressive player.  He's never going to be in the Hall of Fame, but he is definitely in the Hall of Very Good Players.  The first Gene Tenace card I ever bought after I realized he was a good player?  

His 1981 Topps Traded card.  

Like almost all the other Cardinals cards in the 1981 Topps Traded set, the Tenace card shows him wearing the powder blue road uniform in a picture that was likely taken during Spring Training.  Love that his draw strings are hanging out the top of his pants.  Quite the fashion statement.

Here is the back of the card.

Look at those walks.  He was the forerunner of the Moneyball A's teams.  Tenace played with the Cardinals for two seasons before he ended his career with the Pirates in 1983.  These numbers are really close to his final career totals, which Jay Jaffe has as the 13th best catcher all-time.

I know pretty hard to believe.  If you do not have any Gene Tenace cards in your collection, he's somebody you should check out.

Some good tunes from 1981.....