Tenace was selected in baseball\'s first entry draft, being taken in the 20th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft by the then Kansas City Athletics. Tenace made his major league debut for Oakland on May 29, 1969 against the Detroit Tigers at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum where he went 0–4 with 2 strikeouts in an 8–4 Oakland loss. He hit the first home run of his career on June 6, 1969 at Tiger Stadium against Earl Wilson of the Detroit Tigers. He finished the 1969 season with a .158 batting average, 1 home run and 2 runs batted in, appearing in just 38 games as a third-string catcher.\n', '

He continued to play the next two years as the third-string catcher before serving as Dave Duncan\'s backup in 1971. Tenace entered the 1972 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 the 1972 American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers, he drove in the clinching run in Oakland\'s 2–1 victory in game 5; it was his only hit of the series.\n', '

He put himself in the spotlight once again in Game 1 of the 1972 World Series when the Athletics faced the Cincinnati Reds. He became the first player to hit home runs in his first two World Series at bats and drove in all three runs in the A\'s 3–2 victory. In Game 4, the A\'s were losing 2–1, with their only run to that point coming on Tenace\'s solo home run. A ninth-inning one-out rally consisting of four singles, with Tenace\'s the second and the rest coming from pinch hitters, won the game against Cincinnati\'s ace relief pitcher, Clay Carroll. He hit a three-run home run in the A\'s Game 5 loss. Before Game 6 of the 1972 Series, he was the target of a death threat. In Game 7, he was once again the hero, driving in two runs in a 3–2 victory for Oakland. In total, he went 8 for 23 in the Series, with 4 home runs and 9 RBI to earn the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.\n', '

Return to Gene Tenace Autograph Profile