Truman Eugene "Tex" Clevenger (July 9, 1932 – August 24, 2019) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather d ...

and

spot starter S sabermetrics :Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the SABR – the Society for American Baseball Research. The term was coined by Bill James, an ...

who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

, Washington Senators,

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

from 1954 to 1962. He was tall and , and threw and batted right-handed. He attended

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bac ...

Career

Clevenger began his pro career in the Red Sox organization in 1953. In the minors that year, he went 16–2 for the Class C San Jose Red Sox, which was good enough to earn him the 1953 California League MVP Award. On April 18, 1954, at the age of 21, Clevenger made his MLB debut with the Boston Red Sox. His first season was no more than mediocre, as he went 2–4 with a 4.79

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

. Overall in his career, he compiled a 36–37

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

with a 4.18

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...

, 298 walks and 361 strikeouts. Oddly enough, perhaps his best season was his last—in 21 games with the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

champion Yankees in 1962, he had an ERA of 2.84 and a record of 2–0. As a hitter, he hit .157, with the highlight of his hitting career being a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

in 1958. He had a .961 career

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. He did not appear for the Yankees in either the

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

1962 World Series The 1962 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1962 season. The 59th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the defending American League (AL) and World Series champion New ...

After baseball

After leaving baseball, Clevenger worked as an insurance underwriter and owner of a car dealership. In 1987, he was inducted into the

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cal ...

Athletic Hall of Fame. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008, and died August 24, 2019.

Transactions

*On November 8, 1955, Clevenger was sent with Al Curtis (a minor leaguer), Dick Brodowski, Neil Chrisley, and Karl Olson from the Red Sox to the Washington Senators for

Bob Porterfield Erwin Coolidge "Bob" Porterfield (August 10, 1923 – April 28, 1980) was a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for twelve seasons between 1948 and 1959 for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh ...

Mickey Vernon James Barton "Mickey" Vernon (April 22, 1918 – September 24, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Washington Senators (1939–1948, 1950–1955), Cleveland Indians (1949–1950, 1958), Boston Red ...

Johnny Schmitz John Albert Schmitz (November 27, 1920 – October 1, 2011) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who worked in 366 games over 13 seasons as a member of the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Se ...

and Tom Umphlett. *On December 14, 1960, the Los Angeles Angels drafted Clevenger in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

. *On May 8, 1961, Clevenger was traded with

Bob Cerv Robert Henry Cerv ( ; May 5, 1925 – April 6, 2017) was an American professional baseball left fielder. Prior to his professional career, he was a collegiate baseball and basketball player at the University of Nebraska. He was born in Weston, N ...

by the Angels to the New York Yankees for

Ryne Duren Rinold George "Ryne" Duren (February 22, 1929 – January 6, 2011) was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was known for the combination of his blazing fastball and his very poor vision. With his thick eyeglasses, few batt ...

, Lee Thomas and

Johnny James John Phillip James (born July 23, 1933) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels between and . James was originally signed by the Yankees in . He batted left-handed but threw rig ...

References

External links

Tex Clevenger
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Clevenger, Tex 1932 births 2019 deaths Baseball players from California Boston Red Sox players Fresno State Bulldogs baseball players Los Angeles Angels players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players San Jose Red Sox players Sportspeople from Visalia, California Washington Senators (1901–1960) players