Terry Francona

Full Name: Terry Jon Francona	Primary Position: 1B,OF,LF,RF
Height/Weight: 6' 1"/190	First Game: August 19, 1981
Birthdate: April 22, 1959	Final Game: April 19, 1990
Birthplace: Aberdeen, South Dakota	MLB Experience: 10 years
Bat/Throw: Left/Left

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1 Biography
2 Statistics
3 Transactions
4 Trivia
5 Video Gallery
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8 Categories

[edit] Biography

Terry Francona (Terry Jon Francona) was born on April 22, 1959 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He made his Major League debut on August 19, 1981 for the Montreal Expos. In 1982, his rookie year, he hit .321 with 0 home runs and 9 RBI. Francona played for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers over the course of his 10 year career.

"Tito" Francona grew up outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He played his high school baseball at New Brighton High School under coach Greg Fazio.

After being drafted in the first round by the Montreal Expos in 1980, he found himself in "The Bigs" only a year later. His MLB debut came on August 19, 1981. Although mainly an outfielder in his early years, he would eventually move to first base where he played a majority of his games as a Major Leaguer. After five unspectacular years in the Expos organization, Francona spent the final five years as a journeyman, never quite living up to the promise that had made him a first round draft choice.

His managerial career began in the White Sox organization where he spent three years as a Minor League manager, even garnering national kudos in 1994 as the "top managerial prospect" in the minors, according to the respected trade-publication Baseball America.

His major league coaching career began in 1996 as the Tigers third-base coach. The following year, he was named manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, where he led the Phils to four consecutive mediocre finishes. He spent the next three years moving from organization to organization, mainly as a bench coach (with the Rangers in 2002 and the A's in 2003).

And then "Fate" stepped in. Thanks in part to Grady Little's refusal to replace Pedro Martinez in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, and thanks in part to Curt Schilling who loved playing for Francona in Philly, the Red Sox made Francona their manager before the start of the 2004 season.

And the rest is history.

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Batting Stats

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1981	MON	N	34	95	11	26	1	8	.274	.317	.326	0	1	5	6	1	3	1	1	0
1982	MON	N	46	131	14	42	0	9	.321	.360	.344	3	0	8	11	0	5	2	0	2
1983	MON	N	120	230	21	59	3	22	.257	.273	.352	11	1	6	20	0	0	0	2	7
1984	MON	N	58	214	18	74	1	18	.346	.360	.467	19	2	5	12	1	1	0	3	4
1985	MON	N	107	281	19	75	2	31	.267	.299	.349	15	1	12	12	1	2	5	4	1
1986	CHI	N	86	124	13	31	2	8	.250	.286	.323	3	0	6	8	1	0	0	0	3
1987	CIN	N	102	207	16	47	3	12	.227	.266	.295	5	0	10	12	1	1	2	1	5
1988	CLE	A	62	212	24	66	1	12	.311	.324	.363	8	0	5	18	0	2	0	1	4
1989	MIL	A	90	233	26	54	3	23	.232	.255	.322	10	1	8	20	0	1	2	3	4
1990	MIL	A	3	4	1	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	NL		553	1282	112	354	12	108	.276	.306	.356	56	5	52	81	5	12	10	11	22
Total	AL		155	449	51	120	4	35	.267	.285	.339	18	1	13	38	0	3	2	4	8
Total			708	1731	163	474	16	143	.274	.300	.351	74	6	65	119	5	15	12	15	30

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	TP	AVG
1981	MON	N	LF	24	21	197	39	3	0	0	0	1.000
1981	MON	N	RF	2	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	MON	N	OF	26	21	201	40	5	0	0	0	1.000
1981	MON	N	1B	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
1982	MON	N	OF	33	29	248.1	44	0	3	0	0	.936
1982	MON	N	RF	3	2	16.2	2	0	0	0	0	1.000
1982	MON	N	LF	30	27	229.2	41	0	3	0	0	.932
1982	MON	N	CF	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1982	MON	N	1B	16	0	26.1	21	0	0	2	0	1.000
1983	MON	N	1B	47	3	97	88	7	1	9	0	.990
1983	MON	N	CF	3	2	14	4	0	0	0	0	1.000
1983	MON	N	RF	36	29	269	69	2	1	1	0	.986
1983	MON	N	OF	51	38	361.1	84	3	2	1	0	.978
1983	MON	N	LF	14	7	78.1	13	1	0	0	0	1.000
1984	MON	N	LF	5	4	30	3	1	0	0	0	1.000
1984	MON	N	1B	50	49	432.2	427	49	3	43	0	.994
1984	MON	N	RF	2	1	10	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
1984	MON	N	OF	6	5	40	4	1	0	0	0	1.000
1985	MON	N	OF	28	24	197	49	2	1	0	0	.981
1985	MON	N	3B	1	0	4	0	3	0	0	0	1.000
1985	MON	N	RF	24	19	159	35	1	0	0	0	1.000
1985	MON	N	1B	57	36	370.1	382	35	5	32	0	.988
1985	MON	N	LF	5	5	38	8	0	1	0	0	.889
1986	CHI	N	1B	23	10	107.1	98	7	0	9	1	1.000
1986	CHI	N	CF	2	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
1986	CHI	N	LF	20	3	58.1	18	0	0	0	0	1.000
1986	CHI	N	OF	30	6	103	25	0	0	0	0	1.000
1986	CHI	N	RF	10	3	40.2	5	0	0	0	0	1.000
1987	CIN	N	RF	6	1	16.2	2	0	0	0	0	1.000
1987	CIN	N	1B	56	41	375.1	373	45	2	38	0	.995
1987	CIN	N	LF	2	0	5	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
1987	CIN	N	OF	8	1	21.2	4	0	0	0	0	1.000
1988	CLE	A	1B	5	4	34	40	3	1	3	0	.977
1988	CLE	A	LF	5	5	41	7	2	0	0	0	1.000
1988	CLE	A	DH	38	38	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1988	CLE	A	OF	5	5	41	7	2	0	0	0	1.000
1989	MIL	A	1B	46	32	313.1	320	25	4	32	0	.989
1989	MIL	A	RF	16	5	61	19	1	0	0	0	1.000
1989	MIL	A	DH	23	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1989	MIL	A	P	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1989	MIL	A	OF	16	5	61	19	1	0	0	0	1.000
1990	MIL	A	DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1990	MIL	A	1B	2	0	8	6	0	0	1	0	1.000
Total			CF	6	2	20	5	0	0	0	0	1.000
Total			OF	203	134	1274.1	276	14	6	1	0	.980
Total			1B	303	175	1765.1	1756	171	16	169	1	.992
Total			DH	62	59	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			P	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			3B	1	0	4	0	3	0	0	0	1.000
Total			LF	105	72	677.1	130	7	4	0	0	.972
Total			RF	99	60	577	133	4	1	1	0	.993

[edit] Pitching Stats

Year	Team		G	GS	W	L	ERA	K	R	ER	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	IB	WP	HBP
1989	MIL	A	1	0	0	0	.00	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

[edit] Transactions

Selected by Chicago Cubs in the 2nd round of the free-agent draft - did not sign (June 7, 1977).
Selected by Montreal Expos in the 1st round (22nd pick overall) of the free-agent draft (June 3, 1980).
Released by Montreal Expos (April 1, 1986).
Signed by Chicago Cubs (May 2, 1986).
Granted free agency (October 18, 1986).
Signed by Cincinnati Reds (March 23, 1987).
Granted free agency (November 2, 1987).
Signed by Cleveland Indians (February 28, 1988).
Granted free agency (November 4, 1988).
Signed by Milwaukee Brewers (March 30, 1989).
Granted free agency (November 13, 1989).
Signed by Milwaukee Brewers (December 12, 1989).
Released by Milwaukee Brewers (April 27, 1990).
Signed by St. Louis Cardinals (May 5, 1990).

[edit] Trivia

In his first year as the team's manager in 2004, Francona led the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918, ending an 86 year drought, and burying the Curse of the Bambino forever.
Francona is Boston's all-time leader in managerial post-season wins (11).
Before managing the Red Sox, Terry spent four years (1997-2000) managing the Philadelphia Phillies.
Terry's father Tito was a major-league outfielder from 1956 to 1970 with Baltimore, the White Sox, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, and Milwaukee.
In 1980, at the Unversity of Arizona, Terry won the Golden Spikes Award as the best player in amateur baseball.
In 1994, while with the AA Birmingham Barons in the White Sox organization, Terry managed Michael Jordan who tried his hand at baseball during a much-publicized sabbatical from the NBA.