| Gene Tenace | |
|---|---|
 Tenace with the San Diego Padres in 1978 | |
| Catcher /First baseman /Manager | |
| Born: (1946-10-10)October 10, 1946 (age 79) Russellton, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 29, 1969, for the Oakland Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 30, 1983, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .241 |
| Home runs | 201 |
| Runs batted in | 674 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As manager As coach | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Fury Gene Tenace (/ˈtɛnɪs/; bornFiore Gino Tenacci; October 10, 1946) is an American former professionalbaseball player andcoach.[1] He played as acatcher andfirst baseman inMajor League Baseball from1969 through1983, most notably as a member of theOakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutiveWorld Series championships between 1972 and 1974.
Tenace was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics fromValley High School inLucasville, Ohio, and played for theOakland Athletics,San Diego Padres,St. Louis Cardinals and thePittsburgh Pirates. He batted and threw right-handed. Despite his relatively modest career batting average of .241, his career on-base percentage of .388 is the fourth-highest all-time among qualifying catchers, and his .429 slugging percentage was considerably above the average in the era he played. His 46.8Baseball ReferenceWins Above Replacement (WAR) ranks 13th all-time among catchers, and his 7-year peak WAR is tied withRoy Campanella for 12th all-time among catchers.[2] Also of note is that his career rWAR is fifth highest among all sub .250 hitters.[3][4] Tenace's career 140Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) are tied withMike Piazza for the highest all-time among catchers.[5] Tenace won the1972World Series Most Valuable Player Award.[6]
After his playing days ended, Tenace coached for several organizations, most notably for theToronto Blue Jays. In 2023, he was inducted into theAthletics Hall of Fame.[7]
Tenace was selected inbaseball's first entry draft, being taken in the 20th round of the1965 Major League Baseball draft by the thenKansas City Athletics. Tenace made his major league debut for Oakland on May 29,1969, against theDetroit Tigers atOakland–Alameda County Coliseum where he went 0-for-4 with twostrikeouts in an 8–4 Oakland loss.[8] He hit the firsthome run of his career on June 6, 1969, atTiger Stadium againstEarl Wilson of the Detroit Tigers.[9] He finished the1969 season with a .158batting average, a home run and tworuns batted in, appearing in just 38 games as a third-string catcher.[1]
He continued to play the next two years as the third-string catcher before serving asDave Duncan's backup in1971.[10] Tenace entered the1972 season backing up Duncan, but was given a chance to show his abilities by being made the team's regular catcher in the post-season. Tenace took full advantage of this opportunity, excelling in the 1972 playoffs and World Series. In the1972 American League Championship Series against theDetroit Tigers, he drove in the clinchingrun in Oakland's 2–1 victory in Game 5; it was his only hit of the series.[11] Tenace's heroics made up for an error in Game 4 of the series when he had to play second base (for the first time since high school) in the late innings due to regular second basemanDick Green getting hurt and backup second basemanTed Kubiak having to play shortstop due toBert Campaneris being suspended. Tenace dropped a throw fromSal Bando on a potential game-ending double play attempt in the bottom of the 10th which kept the inning alive as the Tigers eventually won.
He put himself in the spotlight once again in Game 1 of the1972 World Series when the Athletics faced theCincinnati Reds. He became the first player to hit home runs in his first two World Seriesat bats and drove in all three runs in the A's 3–2 victory. Prior to Tenace's feat, only eight other players had homered in their first World Series at bat.[12] In Game 4, the A's were losing 2–1, with their only run to that point coming on Tenace's solo home run.[13] A ninth-inning one-out rally consisting of foursingles, with Tenace's the second and the rest coming frompinch hitters, won the game against Cincinnati's acerelief pitcher,Clay Carroll. He hit a three-runhome run in the A's Game 5 loss.[14] Before Game 6 of the 1972 Series, he was the target of a death threat.[15] In Game 7, he was once again the hero, driving in two runs in a 3–2 victory for Oakland.[16] In total, he went 8-for-23 in the Series, with fourhome runs and 9 RBI to earn theWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award.[11][17]
Tenace's heroics helped him earn a full-time job in Oakland's lineup. He served as the team's startingfirst baseman for two seasons, while still serving as the backup catcher toRay Fosse. He had his roles reversed in1975, starting at catcher while backing up first base. As a regular starter for the A's, Tenace had a lowbatting average but a fair amount of power, hitting 20 home runs in four consecutive years in Oakland, finishing among the top 10 home run hitters in theAmerican League each year. He further made up for his lack of a high batting average by sporting a tremendous batting eye. He drew over 100walks in a season three times for Oakland, and led the American League inwalks in 1974, making up for a career-low .211 average that year.[18] Statistically, his best year with Oakland was in1975, when he hit a career-best 29 home runs and drove in 87 runs, drew 106 walks, finished 18th in the American LeagueMost Valuable Player Award balloting and was selected to be the starting first baseman for the American League in the1975 All-Star Game.[19][20]
As a member of the A's, Tenace hit what turned out to be the final home run in the history of Kansas City'sMunicipal Stadium on September 30, 1972, in a 10–5 Oakland victory over theKansas City Royals.
Tenace was one of several Athletics who becamefree agents after the1976 season and participated in a newly created re-entry draft, in which teams acquired the rights to negotiate with veteran free agents. Tenace and teammateRollie Fingers were the first players from that draft to sign, with both joining theSan Diego Padres in December of that year.[21] In four years as a starter with the Padres, his power numbers dropped in part due to the cavernous dimensions of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, only reaching 20 home runs once; but his batting eye remained, recording three more seasons of 100 walks, with a career best of 125 in1977. In1979, Tenace ledNational League catchers with a .998fielding percentage, committing only oneerror in 94 games.[22] He recorded anon-base percentage of over .390 in each of his years in San Diego, and finished third in the National League in that department in three consecutive years.[1]
On August 1, 1979, Tenace was part of abench-clearing brawl against theAtlanta Braves. After hitting a home run off of pitcherEddie Solomon, he charged the mound when Solomon apparently said something to him, and the benches cleared. No punches were thrown, and the Braves won 5–4.[23]
After the1980 season, Tenace, Fingers,Bob Shirley, andBob Geren joined theSt. Louis Cardinals in a trade forTerry Kennedy and six minor league players.[21] In his two years in St. Louis, Tenace primarily played against left-handed pitchers,platooning withDarrell Porter. As a member of the Cardinals team he won the1982 World Series, giving him fourWorld Series rings.[24]
Tenace played his final season as autility player and pinch-hitter, appearing in 53 games and batting just .177 with 6 RBI for thePittsburgh Pirates in1983.[1] He retired after being released the following year inspring training.
Tenace became a coach after retiring as a player. He was touted as a possible managerial candidate during his later years. ThePittsburgh Pirates became strongly interested in the possibility of hiring Tenace as theirmanager to replaceChuck Tanner. When the year ended, however, Tanner was still the manager, so Tenace became a coach at the Major League level with theHouston Astros in1986 and1987, and later coached with theToronto Blue Jays from1990 to1997.[25][26] When managerCito Gaston was sidelined with aherniated disc in1991, Tenace served as the team'sinterim manager, going 19–14 and keeping Toronto competitive en route to an eventualAmerican League Eastern Division title.[27] He was part of Toronto's World Series-winning teams in1992 and1993, giving him six rings in six World Series appearances as a player and a coach. After he left the Jays, he joined theBoston Red Sox organization, serving as hitting coach for theirTriple-AaffiliatePawtucket Red Sox in 1999, andDouble-AaffiliateTrenton Thunder in 2001. He then served as ahitting instructor for theSt. Louis Cardinals organization.[28] He was re-hired as the Blue Jays' hitting coach on June 20,2008, whenCito Gaston replacedJohn Gibbons as the team's manager.[29] Tenace replaced hitting coachGary Denbo. He was one of two members of Gaston's old coaching staff from his last World Series championship team who were brought back to the team (third base coachNick Leyva being the other). He announced his retirement following the2009 season.[30]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| TOR | 1991 | 33 | 19 | 14 | .576 | interim | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 33 | 19 | 14 | .576 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
Tenace advocates a more aggressive approach to hitting. Under his guidance, hitters spend less time working the count and more time preparing to hit. He stresses the mental part of hitting, such as the mental preparation for what a pitcher will do, rather than just the physical aspect.[31] Under Tenace, the philosophy of hitting can be described as "Grip It And Rip It" and more of an old school approach to hitting.[32]
During the 2008 season, prior to the hiring of Gaston, the Blue Jays had a record of 35–39. Once Gaston and his coaches took over the Blue Jays went 51–37 to finish with an 86–76 record. The offensive improvements under Gaston were one of the reasons for the resurgence and as the hitting coach, Tenace was credited with rejuvenating a stagnant offense.Adam Lind commented: "The thing is, a lot of people can teach you how to hit, but not a lot of people can teach you how to hit in the big leagues", referring to the major league experience of Gaston and Tenace.[33] Blue Jays' former center fielderVernon Wells has said he likes the approach to hitting that Tenace teaches: "One thing Gene talks about is having that approach mentally when you go up there, in your mind you already guarantee yourself that one run on third, but you want to do more than that. Gene always says that first runner is a gimme, you should be able to come through in pretty much every situation like that. And then you try to do more damage than just that one run".
In a 15-year major league career, Tenace played in 1,555games, accumulating 1,060hits in 4,390at bats for a .241 career batting average along with 201 home runs, 674 runs batted in and anon-base percentage of .388.[1] He not only caught nearly 900 games, but also playedfirst base over 600 times.[1] Tenace ended his career with a .986fielding percentage as a catcher and a .993 fielding percentage as a first baseman.[1] He reached 20 home runs in five of his seven seasons as a regular, with a high of 29 in1975. After becoming an everyday player in1973, he did not have an on-base average below .370 until his final year; his OBP was above .400 five times and over .390 (about 60 points above the league average) an additional three times, ending his career with an impressive .388 on-base percentage.[1] Six times he drew more than 100 bases on balls, and he led his league twice.[1] He set the American League record for having the lowest batting average while leading the league in walks in1974 when he posted a .211 batting average with a league-leading 110 walks.[34] In1977, he had a .415 on-base percentage while posting a .233 batting average, the second lowest batting average with a .400 on-base percentage in major league history.[35] Less than half of his career trips to first base came via base hits, reaching 1,075 times through walks (984) and beinghit by pitches (91) as opposed to only 1,060 hits. His ratio of on-base percentage to batting average (1.61) is the highest of any player in major league history with at least 4,000 plate appearances.[1]
In his book,The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, baseball historianBill James ranked Tenace 23rd all-time among major league catchers.[36] Chuck Rosciam, a baseball historian and a member of theSociety for American Baseball Research, ranked Tenace as the fourth-greatest offensive catcher in MLB history, behindMike Piazza,Roger Bresnahan, andMickey Cochrane.[37] Among major league catchers, Tenace is fourth overall in career on-base percentage (OBP) behind Mickey Cochrane,Wally Schang andJoe Mauer.[38] He is tied withJohnny Bench andJoe Torre for third in career on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) behind onlyRoy Campanella andYogi Berra.[39]