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Gene Tenace World Series Babe Ruth Award (BBWAA) 1972 World Series Sport Magazine Award 1972 World Series MVP 1972 All-Star Selection 1975 |
| Full Name: Fury Gene Tenace Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6-0 Weight: 190 Born: Oct 10, 1946 in Russellton, Pennsylvania College: None Major League Debut: May 29, 1969 |
 CLICK FOR PHOTO GALLERY  MANAGERIAL RECORD |
| CAREER BATTING STATISTICS |
| BATTING | |||||||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | OBP | SLG |
| 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak SD SD SD SD StL StL Pit |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
.158 .305 .274 .225 .259 .211 .255 .249 .233 .224 .263 .222 .233 .258 .177 |
16 38 65 82 160 158 158 128 147 142 151 133 58 66 53 |
38 105 179 227 510 484 498 417 437 401 463 316 129 124 62 |
1 19 26 22 83 71 83 64 66 60 61 46 26 18 7 |
6 32 49 51 132 102 127 104 102 90 122 70 30 32 11 |
0 6 7 5 18 17 17 19 24 18 16 11 7 9 5 |
0 0 0 3 2 1 0 1 4 4 4 1 0 0 0 |
1 7 7 5 24 26 29 22 15 16 20 17 5 7 0 |
2 20 25 32 84 73 87 66 61 61 67 50 22 18 6 |
1 23 29 24 101 110 106 81 125 101 105 92 38 36 12 |
15 30 34 42 94 105 127 91 119 98 106 63 26 31 17 |
.200 .430 .381 .307 .387 .367 .395 .373 .415 .392 .403 .399 .416 .436 .346 |
.237 .562 .430 .339 .443 .411 .464 .458 .410 .409 .445 .424 .403 .500 .258 |
| Totals | AVG .241 |
G 1555 |
AB 4390 |
R 653 |
H 1060 |
2B 179 |
3B 20 |
HR 201 |
RBI 674 |
BB 984 |
K 998 |
OBP .388 |
SLG .429 |
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| BATTING | BASERUNNING | MISC | |||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | HBP | GDP | TB | IBB | SH | SF | SB | CS | SB% | AB/HR | AB/K |
| 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak SD SD SD SD StL StL Pit |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
1 0 2 3 10 12 12 4 13 11 7 4 4 4 4 |
0 2 3 4 13 10 8 7 5 5 7 11 1 1 0 |
9 59 77 77 226 199 231 191 179 164 206 134 52 62 16 |
0 2 0 2 8 6 2 2 10 8 4 11 2 1 0 |
0 0 1 2 8 2 3 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 7 4 4 5 4 2 6 4 2 1 0 |
0 0 2 0 2 2 7 5 5 6 2 4 0 1 0 |
0 2 1 0 2 9 4 4 3 5 6 4 0 1 1 |
-.--- .000 .667 -.--- .500 .182 .636 .556 .625 .545 .250 .500 -.--- .500 .000 |
38.0 15.0 25.6 45.4 21.3 18.6 17.2 19.0 29.1 25.1 23.2 18.6 25.8 17.7 --.- |
2.5 3.5 5.3 5.4 5.4 4.6 3.9 4.6 3.7 4.1 4.4 5.0 5.0 4.0 3.6 |
| Totals | HBP 91 |
GDP 77 |
TB 1882 |
IBB 58 |
SH 21 |
SF 39 |
SB 36 |
CS 42 |
SB% .462 |
AB/HR 21.8 |
AB/K 4.4 |
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| CAREER FIELDING STATISTICS |
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | POS | G | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
| 1969 1970 1971 1971 1972 1972 1972 1972 1972 1973 1973 1973 1974 1974 1974 1975 1975 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980 1981 1981 1982 1982 1983 1983 1983 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak SD SD SD SD SD SD SD SD SD SD StL StL StL StL Pit Pit Pit |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL NL |
C C OF C 3B 2B 1B OF C 2B C 1B 2B C 1B 1B C C 1B 3B 1B C 3B C 1B 1B C 1B C 1B C 1B C OF C 1B |
13 30 1 52 2 2 7 9 49 1 33 134 3 79 106 68 125 65 70 14 36 99 1 71 80 72 94 19 104 7 38 7 37 1 3 19 |
67 200 0 322 4 2 52 11 290 1 133 1169 1 341 861 423 614 293 611 44 308 596 0 321 710 621 465 136 471 43 147 42 171 0 18 89 |
61 180 0 300 1 2 49 11 266 0 123 1095 1 293 816 401 541 263 577 17 280 523 0 276 668 582 413 125 415 39 126 39 149 0 16 83 |
6 18 0 20 2 0 3 0 18 1 9 61 0 42 41 21 63 25 31 24 27 61 0 42 37 32 51 10 46 4 18 3 21 0 1 5 |
0 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 1 13 0 6 4 1 10 5 3 3 1 12 0 3 5 7 1 1 10 0 3 0 1 0 1 1 |
0 7 0 3 0 0 4 0 1 0 4 104 0 3 80 27 10 3 47 4 20 9 0 7 61 55 10 9 7 3 1 4 0 0 0 6 |
1.000 0.990 -.--- 0.994 0.750 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.979 1.000 0.992 0.989 1.000 0.982 0.995 0.998 0.984 0.983 0.995 0.932 0.997 0.980 -.--- 0.991 0.993 0.989 0.998 0.993 0.979 1.000 0.980 1.000 0.994 -.--- 0.944 0.989 |
| Totals | G 1551 |
Ch 9577 |
PO 8731 |
A 743 |
E 103 |
DP 489 |
FPCT 0.989 |
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| POST SEASON BATTING STATISTICS |
| BATTING | |||||||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | Playoff | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | AVG | BB | SO | SB |
| 1971 1972 1972 1973 1973 1974 1974 1975 1982 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak StL |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL |
ALCS ALCS WS ALCS WS ALCS WS ALCS WS |
1 5 7 5 7 4 5 3 5 |
3 17 23 17 19 11 9 9 63 |
0 1 5 3 0 1 0 0 0 |
0 1 8 4 3 0 2 0 0 |
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 1 9 0 3 1 0 0 0 |
.000 .059 .348 .235 .158 .000 .222 .000 .000 |
1 3 2 2 11 4 3 3 1 |
1 5 4 4 7 4 4 2 2 |
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 |
| Totals | ALCS WS |
18 24 |
57 57 |
5 5 |
5 13 |
1 2 |
0 0 |
0 4 |
2 12 |
.088 .228 |
13 17 |
16 17 |
1 0 |
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| LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES FIELDING |
| YEAR | TEAM | POS | G | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
| 1971 1972 1972 1973 1973 1974 1975 1975 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak |
C 2B C C 1B 1B 1B C |
1 2 5 3 5 4 1 3 |
8 5 22 2 41 37 9 11 |
8 2 19 2 38 35 8 11 |
0 2 3 0 3 2 1 0 |
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 1 0 0 2 3 3 0 |
1.000 0.800 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 |
| Totals | G 24 |
Ch 135 |
PO 123 |
A 11 |
E 1 |
DP 9 |
FPCT 0.993 |
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| WORLD SERIES FIELDING |
| YEAR | TEAM | POS | G | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
| 1972 1972 1973 1973 1974 |
Oak Oak Oak Oak Oak |
1B C C 1B 1B |
1 6 3 7 5 |
4 50 6 55 21 |
3 45 6 51 20 |
1 4 0 2 1 |
0 1 0 2 0 |
1 1 0 6 3 |
1.000 0.980 1.000 0.964 1.000 |
| Totals | G 22 |
Ch 136 |
PO 125 |
A 8 |
E 3 |
DP 11 |
FPCT 0.978 |
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Gene Tenace was the very first player to have hit home runs in his very first two World Series at-bats (OAK-A on October 14, 1972). This achievement was duplicated in 1996 by Andruw Jones (ATL-N).
In the early 1970's the Oakland A's fielded a team of colorful figures noted for unusual green and gold uniforms, swashbuckling mustaches, and clubhouse brawling. Gene Tenace was invisible as a backup catcher; he came into full view in the World Series.
Tenace's only hit in the 1972 American League Championship Series was a single in the fifth game, but it drove in the run that paved the way for the A's to win the pennant. In the World Series Tenace came to bat in the second inning of Game 1 with two outs and a runner on first. Tenace blasted a pitch from Reds hurler Gary Nolan - a two run homer. Once more Tenace homered off Nolan in the fith inning, and the A's won 3-2 because Tenance drove in all of their runs and became the first player to homer in his first two Series at bats.
Tenace hit another home run in Game 4, singled to keep alive a ninth-inning rally, and scored the winning run. His three-run homer in Game 5 put the A's ahead to stay, and he drove in two of the A's three runs in their 3-2 Game 7 victory. All in all, he hit four homers, drove in nine runs, and batted .348. Appropriately, he won the Series Most Valuable Player Award.
That Series performance earned him the starting catcher job with the A's for the 1973 season. For the next four years he was a significant contributor in the offensive lineup, slugging 22 homers or more every year and walking more than 100 times three years in a row. In 1974 he established a dubious record of hitting only 58 singles, the fewest number by a player who participated in 150 games or more. That small number belied his 26 homers and league-leading 110 walks.
Like most of the key players of the three-time World Champion A's. Tenace flew the coop when free agency became legal. Tenace was signed by Ray Kroc in 1977 to play for the San Diego Padres for five years for $1.81 million. He became the fourth-richest player in then game at the time. Although Kroc knew he had signed a World Series hero, he apparently hadn't realized that this same player was only a lifetime .245 hitter. After Tenace hit .233 and .224 in his first two years in San Diego, Kroc was taking major heat for spending so much for so little.
Tenace wasn't hitting for average, but he was still getting walked a lot - 125 times to lead the National League again in 1977, followed by 101, 105, and 92 walks during the next three seasons in San Diego. It wasn't good enough for the Padres. Tenace was swapped to the Cardinals in December 1980 in the 11-man megatrade that included Rollie Fingers and Terry Kennedy.
He was touted as a possible managerial candidate during his later years. The Pirates all but announced he would succeed Chuck Tanner as their field boss when they obtained him in 1983. When the year ended though, Tanner was still the manager and Tenace had retired. He served as a coach for the Astros for two years before moving to the Blue Jays from 1990 through 1997. He got to manage in 1991, but only as a fill-in while Cito Gaston recovered from a back injury. (Click to see TENACE's MANAGERIAL RECORD.)