Gene Tenace

Catcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1969-1983)

Gene Tenace was a catcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1983 for 4 teams, including the Athletics, a span of 15 seasons. In 1,555 career games, he hit .241 with 1,060 hits, 201 home runs, and 674 RBI. Gene Tenace was an All-Star, a World Series MVP, and a Babe Ruth Award. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 18,534.

AVG (Batting Average):
Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):
Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):
Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):
On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated

AVG .241
HR 201
RBI 674
H 1,060
OPS .817
PIV 18,534
Position
Catcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'0" / 190 lb
Born
10/10/1946 in Russellton, PA, USA
MLB Debut
1969-05-29
Last Game
1983-09-30
Awards
All-Star · World Series MVP · Babe Ruth Award

Full name: Fury Gene Tenace

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Career Batting Statistics

Gene Tenace — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
1,555 4,390 653 1,060 179 20 201 674 36 984 998 .241 .388 .429 .817 18,534

Career AVG .241 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 6.1% below league average.

Career OBP .388 vs. league average .323 across their career seasons — +19.9% above league average.

Career SLG .429 vs. league average .379 across their career seasons — +13.2% above league average.

Career OPS .817 vs. league average .702 across their career seasons — +16.3% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Gene Tenace Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1969 OAK AL 16 38 1 6 0 0 1 2 0 1 15 .158 — — — — 0.0
1970 OAK AL 38 105 19 32 6 0 7 20 0 23 30 .305 .253 (+20%) .325 (+32%) .385 (+46%) .711 (+39%) 777.4
1971 OAK AL 65 179 26 49 7 0 7 25 2 29 34 .274 .249 (+10%) .316 (+20%) .365 (+18%) .682 (+19%) 685.4
1972 OAK AL 82 227 22 51 5 3 5 32 0 24 42 .225 .243 (-8%) .310 (-1%) .353 (-4%) .664 (-3%) -62.7
1973 OAK AL 160 510 83 132 18 2 24 84 2 101 94 .259 .256 (+1%) .325 (+19%) .378 (+17%) .703 (+18%) 2266.1
1974 OAK AL 158 484 71 102 17 1 26 73 2 110 105 .211 .256 (-18%) .324 (+13%) .369 (+11%) .693 (+12%) 1654.0
1975 OAK AL 158 498 83 127 17 0 29 87 7 106 127 .255 .257 (-1%) .327 (+21%) .374 (+24%) .701 (+22%) 2755.6
1976 OAK AL 128 417 64 104 19 1 22 66 5 81 91 .249 .255 (-2%) .320 (+16%) .360 (+27%) .681 (+22%) 1964.8
1977 SDN NL 147 437 66 102 24 4 15 61 5 125 119 .233 .264 (-12%) .329 (+26%) .401 (+2%) .730 (+13%) 1896.3
1978 SDN NL 142 401 60 90 18 4 16 61 6 101 98 .224 .257 (-13%) .323 (+21%) .378 (+8%) .702 (+14%) 1658.4
1979 SDN NL 151 463 61 122 16 4 20 67 2 105 106 .263 .265 (-1%) .329 (+22%) .397 (+12%) .727 (+17%) 2071.7
1980 SDN NL 133 316 46 70 11 1 17 50 4 92 63 .222 .264 (-16%) .326 (+22%) .387 (+9%) .714 (+15%) 1420.4
1981 SLN NL 58 129 26 30 7 0 5 22 0 38 26 .233 .255 (-9%) .320 (+30%) .368 (+9%) .688 (+19%) 639.2
1982 SLN NL 66 124 18 32 9 0 7 18 1 36 31 .258 .261 (-1%) .324 (+35%) .388 (+29%) .712 (+31%) 896.2
1983 PIT NL 53 62 7 11 5 0 0 6 0 12 17 .177 .260 (-32%) .324 (+7%) .389 (-34%) .714 (-15%) -88.9
Career · 15 seasons 1,555 4,390 653 1,060 179 20 201 674 36 984 998 .241 — — — — 18,534

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Gene Tenace — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
42 114 10 18 3 0 4 14 30 33 .158

Playoff Batting by Year

Gene Tenace — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1982 WS SLN 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
1975 ALCS OAK 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 .000
1974 ALCS OAK 4 11 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 4 .000
1974 WS OAK 5 9 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 4 .222
1973 ALCS OAK 5 17 3 4 1 0 0 0 2 4 .235
1973 WS OAK 7 19 0 3 1 0 0 3 11 7 .158
1972 ALCS OAK 5 17 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 5 .059
1972 WS OAK 7 23 5 8 1 0 4 9 2 4 .348
1971 ALCS OAK 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1555 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Gene Tenace — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home784209730450094335.238
Away7712293349560107339.244

Last 10 Games — Batting

Gene Tenace — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1983-09-30 PITPHIL 100000000
1983-09-17 PITWSNW 100000000
1983-09-11 PITPHIL 100000001
1983-09-10 PITPHIW 100000010
1983-09-09 PITPHIL 302200010
1983-09-07 PITSTLL 000000010
1983-09-05 PITSTLL 101100200
1983-09-04 PITATLL 100000001
1983-09-02 PITATLW 100000010
1983-08-07 PITWSNL 100000000

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Gene Tenace — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
1B 625 517 4754 275 36 420
2B 6 0 3 1 0 0
3B 17 14 18 26 4 4
C 892 759 3945 441 63 65
OF 11 7 11 0 0 0

Season-by-Season Fielding

Gene Tenace — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1969 OAK C 13 8 61 6 0 0
1970 OAK C 30 29 180 18 2 7
1971 OAK C 52 45 300 20 2 3
1971 OAK OF 1 1 0 0 0 0
1972 OAK 1B 7 6 49 3 0 4
1972 OAK 2B 2 0 2 0 0 0
1972 OAK 3B 2 1 1 2 1 0
1972 OAK C 49 46 266 18 6 1
1972 OAK OF 9 6 11 0 0 0
1973 OAK 1B 134 132 1095 61 13 104
1973 OAK 2B 1 0 0 1 0 0
1973 OAK C 33 23 123 9 1 4
1974 OAK 1B 106 97 816 41 4 80
1974 OAK 2B 3 0 1 0 0 0
1974 OAK C 79 58 293 42 6 3
1975 OAK 1B 68 39 401 21 1 27
1975 OAK C 125 114 541 63 10 10
1976 OAK 1B 70 62 577 31 3 47
1976 OAK C 65 61 263 25 5 3
1977 SDN 1B 36 28 280 27 1 20
1977 SDN 3B 14 13 17 24 3 4
1977 SDN C 99 89 523 61 12 9
1978 SDN 1B 80 67 668 37 5 61
1978 SDN 3B 1 0 0 0 0 0
1978 SDN C 71 56 276 42 3 7
1979 SDN 1B 72 58 582 32 7 55
1979 SDN C 94 77 413 51 1 10
1980 SDN 1B 19 11 125 10 1 9
1980 SDN C 104 82 415 46 10 7
1981 SLN 1B 7 3 39 4 0 3
1981 SLN C 38 36 126 18 3 1
1982 SLN 1B 7 4 39 3 0 4
1982 SLN C 37 33 149 21 1 0
1983 PIT 1B 19 10 83 5 1 6
1983 PIT C 3 2 16 1 1 0
1983 PIT OF 1 0 0 0 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Gene Tenace Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Catcher 893
First Base 627
Second Base 5
Third Base 17
Left Field 1
Right Field 10
Designated Hitter 6

Awards & Honors

Gene Tenace — Awards & Honors
Year Award Notes
1980 Player of the Week Week of 1980-09-05
1975 Player of the Month September
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-09-12
1972 Babe Ruth Award C
1972 World Series MVP

Award Voting History

Gene Tenace — Award Voting History
Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1976 Most Valuable Player AL 18th 13.0 336 0
1975 Most Valuable Player AL 18th 7.0 336 0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Gene Tenace (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Mickey Tettleton
    .241 avg, 245 HR
  2. 77
    Mike Stanley
    .270 avg, 187 HR
  3. 76
    Darrell Porter
    .247 avg, 188 HR
  4. 75
    Yasmani Grandal
    .236 avg, 194 HR
  5. 72
    Darren Daulton
    .245 avg, 137 HR
  6. 67
    Andy Seminick
    .243 avg, 164 HR

Compare Gene Tenace

Side-by-side career stat comparisons against Tenace's closest peers by position and era.

vs Reggie Jackson
vs Rollie Fingers
vs Joe Torre
vs Johnny Bench
vs Carlton Fisk
vs Ted Simmons

Browse all MLB player comparisons →

Gene Tenace: the record in brief

Between the debut on May 29, 1969 and the final game on September 30, 1983, Gene Tenace built the record summarized on this page. The season rows list, in order, the Oakland Athletics (1969 to 1976), the San Diego Padres (1977 through 1980), the St. Louis Cardinals (1981 to 1982), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1983). Tenace played primarily as a catcher and threw and hit right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on October 10, 1946, in Russellton, PA, USA and a listed size of 6'0" and 190 pounds. Gene Tenace was the playing name; the full given name is Fury Gene.

Tenace collected 1,060 hits in 4,390 at bats across 1,555 games, good for a .241 batting average, adding 201 homers, 674 runs batted in, and 36 stolen bases. Tenace's career OPS of .817 combines a .388 on-base mark with .429 slugging. Tenace's .241 average ran 6.1% below the .257 that the league posted over the same seasons. No season beat the 29 home runs Tenace hit in 1975.

Frequently Asked Questions about Gene Tenace

What years did Gene Tenace play?
Gene Tenace played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1983.
Was Gene Tenace a pitcher?
No. Gene Tenace was a position player (Catcher).
How many home runs did Gene Tenace hit?
Gene Tenace hit 201 career home runs with 1,060 hits.
What teams did Gene Tenace play for?
Gene Tenace played for 4 teams: the Oakland Athletics (1969–1976), the San Diego Padres (1977–1980), the St. Louis Cardinals (1981–1982), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1983).
Did Gene Tenace win an MVP award?
No. Gene Tenace did not win the MVP award.
What awards did Gene Tenace win?
Gene Tenace won the World Series MVP award (1972). He was selected to 1 All-Star Game.
What were Gene Tenace's career stats?
In 1,555 games, Gene Tenace had 1,060 hits, 201 home runs, 674 RBI, 653 runs, and 36 stolen bases, with a .241 batting average.
What position did Gene Tenace play?
Gene Tenace played primarily as a catcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Gene Tenace and how much did he weigh?
Gene Tenace was listed at 6 feet and 190 pounds.
How many home runs did Gene Tenace hit each season?
Gene Tenace's home runs by season: 1 in 1969, 7 in 1970, 7 in 1971, 5 in 1972, 24 in 1973, 26 in 1974, 29 in 1975, 22 in 1976, 15 in 1977, 16 in 1978, 20 in 1979, 17 in 1980, 5 in 1981, 7 in 1982, and 0 in 1983. His most in one season was 29, in 1975.
What was Gene Tenace's career batting average?
Gene Tenace batted .241 over his career, with 1,060 hits in 4,390 at bats.
How many RBI did Gene Tenace have?
Gene Tenace drove in 674 runs in his career.
Is Gene Tenace in the Hall of Fame?
No. Gene Tenace has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
How many All-Star Games did Gene Tenace make?
Gene Tenace was selected to 1 All-Star Game.