Terry Pendleton | |||
---|---|---|---|
Pendleton with the Atlanta Braves
|
|||
Atlanta Braves – No. 9 | |||
Third baseman / Coach | |||
Born: Los Angeles, California |
July 16, 1960 |||
|
|||
MLB debut | |||
July 18, 1984, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 25, 1998, for the Kansas City Royals | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .270 | ||
Home runs | 140 | ||
Runs batted in | 946 | ||
Teams | |||
|
|||
Career highlights and awards | |||
|
Terry Lee Pendleton (born July 16, 1960) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball, and a current coach of the Atlanta Braves. He played primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, but he also spent time with the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and Kansas City Royals. During his fifteen-year career, he went to the World Series five times, yet his team never won a championship.
Terry Pendleton started his baseball career as an Eastside Little League player, then moved on to play second baseman at Channel Islands High, then moved To Oxnard community college from 1979/80. Terry played on the very first Oxnard college baseball team in1979 and helped lead the Condors to a state championship berth then earning a scholarship and on to a collegiate baseball career at Fresno State. He played the 1981 and 1982 seasons with the Bulldogs, and was a key contributor to the team's fourth consecutive conference title in the 1982 season when he set a school record with 98 hits. That feat led to his recognition as an All-American. As a result, Pendleton had his jersey retired in 2007, alongside the jerseys of Tex Clevenger and Jimy Williams. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh round of the 1982 amateur draft, and subsequently signed with the team on June 12, 1982.
With little haste after his signing, Pendleton's minor league campaign began with the Johnson City Cardinals and the St. Petersburg Cardinals during the 1982 season. Pendleton impressed the organization enough to warrant being moved up to class AA baseball with the Arkansas Travelers for the 1983 season. He was selected to the league's all star team for his performance at Arkansas. Making steady progress, Pendleton was promoted to class AAA in 1984 and played for the Louisville Redbirds. After four games at second base, Pendleton was moved to third and became a third baseman, the position he would play the rest of his career. The Cardinals were so impressed with Pendleton's development as a third baseman in Louisville that they traded their starting third baseman, Ken Oberkfell, to the Atlanta Braves and temporarily placed Andy Van Slyke at third base while Pendleton continued to gain experience. However, when Van Slyke committed seven errors in thirty games, the Cardinals promoted Pendleton to the majors and began his major league career as the starting third baseman.