Терри Пендлтон: Америкалық бейсболшының өмірі мен мансабы

American baseball player and coach

Terry Lee Pendleton (born July 16, 1960) is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). 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 15 year career, he went to the World Series five times, yet his team never won a championship. After his playing career, he became a coach for the Braves.

Pendleton started his baseball career as an Eastside Little League player, and then he moved on to play second base at Channel Islands High School. He played at Oxnard College from 1979 to 1980. The 1979 Oxnard team was the school's first team, and he helped lead the Condors to a state championship berth while earning a scholarship. He transferred to Fresno State for the 1981 and 1982 seasons, and he was a key contributor to the team's fourth consecutive conference title in the 1982 season, setting a school record with 98 hits on the season. Pendleton had his jersey retired in 2007, alongside the jerseys of Tex Clevenger and Jimy Williams. Pendleton's minor league campaign began with the Johnson City Cardinals and the St. Petersburg Cardinals during the 1982 season. Pendleton was moved up to class AA baseball with the Arkansas Travelers for the 1983 season. Making steady progress, Pendleton was promoted to class AAA in 1984 and played for the Louisville Redbirds. After four games at second base, Pendleton became a third baseman, the position he would play the rest of his career. However, when Van Slyke committed 7 errors in 30 games, the Cardinals promoted Pendleton to the majors, and he began his major league career as the Cards' starting third baseman. In 67 games during the 1984 season, Pendleton had a .324 batting average, 20 stolen bases, and finished tied for seventh in Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award voting. The Cardinals advanced to the 1985 World Series, and Pendleton ended up hitting the Cardinals' only triple, doing so in the Cardinals' 3–0 Game 4 win. His statline for the 1986 season was only modestly better. His batting average remained low at .239 and he only hit a single home run, but he was able to steal 24 bases, hit 26 doubles, and 5 triples. Despite this injury, Pendleton's switch hitting ability meant that he was able to be used as a left handed designated hitter during three of the four games the Cardinals played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. He finished the series by playing three games, getting three hits on seven at bats as the Cardinals fell in seven games for the second time in three years. As the 1988 season began, Pendleton seemed to struggle where he had flourished. Despite racking up 80 stolen bases in his first four seasons, he only stole three bases during the whole 1988 season; in fact, he went the rest of his career without stealing more than 10. Despite this, Pendleton hoped to rebound for the 1989 season. Rebounding was exactly what he did, as he played in all 162 games for the only time in his career, finished ninth in hits with 162, and earned his second Gold Glove with an impressive .971 fielding percentage.

After Pendleton was granted free agency on November 5, 1990, and then inking Pendleton to a four year, $10.2 million deal on December 3, 1990. With a new team and a new contract, Pendleton had a career year during the 1991 season, leading the Braves from a sixth place finish the year prior to a division title and pennant. Pendleton also won the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award because of his statistical improvements. In Game 7 of the series, Pendleton hit a double in the eighth inning that should have scored a run, however Lonnie Smith did not advance home, and a double play to end the inning kept the score at 0–0, leading to the Braves' eventual Game 7 defeat and Pendleton's third Game 7 World Series loss in a row. As the 1992 season rolled around, Pendleton remained in peak form. In 160 games, Pendleton batted .311, hit 21 home runs, and scored 94 runs. This marked Pendleton's fourth World Series loss in four attempts. Pendleton continued to produce extra base hits during the 1993 season, hitting 17 home runs and 33 doubles. However, he appeared to be showing signs of slowing down; although he placed second in at bats with 633, he led the National League in outs with 490. While with the Reds, Pendleton had three stints on the disabled list, and after his release, he spent the rest of the season recovering and did not sign with another club.

In 1893 games over 15 seasons, Pendleton posted a .270 batting average (1897 for 7032) with 851 runs, 356 doubles, 39 triples, 140 home runs, 946 RBI, 127 stolen bases, 486 bases on balls, .316 on base percentage and .391 slugging percentage. Defensively, he recorded a .957 fielding percentage and led National League third basemen in putouts and assists five times each. In 66 postseason games, including 5 World Series, he batted .252 (58 for 230) with 26 runs, 12 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, 23 RBI, 2 stolen bases and 12 walks. Pendleton served in that role through the 2010 season. In 2006, he was on a short list of manager candidates to replace Frank Robinson as manager of the Washington Nationals; a few weeks into the process, Pendleton withdrew himself from consideration. In 2007, Pendleton was also reportedly one of the front runners to replace Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals before La Russa ultimately decided to stay with the Cardinals. He was a candidate to replace Bobby Cox when the esteemed Braves manager retired at the end of the 2010 season. When Fredi Gonzalez was announced as Braves manager after the 2010 season, Pendleton was moved from hitting coach to first base coach, where he replaced Glenn Hubbard. Gonzalez was fired and replaced by Brian Snitker in May 2016, and Snitker chose Pendleton as bench coach. Pendleton was replaced by Walt Weiss after the 2017 season.