Atlanta Braves history: top five franchise first basemen
By Fred Owens
Number two – Right said Fred
In 1894, at 22-years old, Fred Tenney played his first 27 games for the Boston Beaneaters and batted .395/.469/.570/1.039 with a 138 OPS+.
He came back to earth the following season and over the next 14 seasons batted .303/.377/.369/.747 with an OPS+ of 113. Those stats and a 114 wRC+ earn him the rank of the ninth-best first baseman in that span, but there’s more to the story,
You could call Tenney the Freddie Freeman of his day. In Tenney’s SABR biography, Mark Sternman calls Tenney the number two first baseman of the Deadball Era who developed the style of playing deep and well off the bag, as modern first basemen do. That style allowed him to lead the NL in putouts in 1905, 1907, and 1908.
"“Tenney’s way is far different from that of other first baseman,” wrote a Chicago News reporter in 1897. “He reaches his hands far out for the ball, and stretches his legs, so that he is farther out from the bag on every throw than any other first baseman in the league.”"
Fred Tenney created the first baseman stretch. He almost had to, at five-feet, nine inches tall, and 155 pounds, he wasn’t a big target.
He’s also considered the originator of the 3-6-3 double play. Tenney’s new play and his ability to play deep helped him lead the NL in assists from 1901 through 1907.
Fangraphs gives Tenney 40.7 fWAR and a DEF score of 30.2 over that 14-year span while Baseball-Reference gives him 39.3 rWAR and 3.8 dWAR. His career Fangraphs DEF score of 36.3 makes him number four all-time. Baseball-Reference also ranks him number four in dWAR.
His Beaneaters plus stat line (AVG+OBP+SLG+) reads 110/112/106 with 114 wRC+, and a .363 wOBA.
Tenney produced 2.9 fWAR in 1897 and 3.3 fWARin 1898 as the Beaneaters won back-to-back NL Championships. His 40.4 remains the highest total fWAR of any Braves first baseman to date, although Atlanta Braves’ current first baseman should catch him in two years.
There’s an excellent case for Tenney belonging in the Hall of Fame, but there’s little chance that happens.