My First Cards

After nine years with the Pirates, Rennie Stennett left as a free agent to play in San Francisco. He experienced being part of two World Championship teams while in Pittsburgh. He’d been pretty good with the Pirates in 1970 and 1977 but was otherwise not a very good hitter. For his career, he got on base a slim .306 clip…awful for a major leaguer. His defense wasn’t bad though, as his rTot was 48.6 for his career.

His final season was 1981, and he didn’t get much playing time and only hit .230/.264/.264. I couldn’t find any record of him playing anywhere in ’82, but he was in AAA Witchita the following year before his playing days were over.

He did have his moments in ’81 though. Like on May 30, in a long 14 inning contest at Candlestick with the Astros visiting. Rennie scored 2 runs, and drove in another 2 more.

The back of this card also mentions he smacked a 6th inning home run on April 12, helping beat the Padres. I don’t think that’s as good a highlight as the Astros game I just referred to though. I mean, HR’s are good stats, but don’t you think that if a guy is directly involved with 4 runs, it’s much better than being involved with only 1? Call me silly, but that makes more sense to me on a very basic level.

The look on his face in this card seems to reflect his unease with where his career is at. There’s just this look of a lack of confidence in himself and hoping he can just keep from making the last out, but trying not to think about it. A slight reflection of hesitation in his eyes. Trying to focus on the ball and rid himself of his nerves.