António Francísco Peña was born June 4, 1957 in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. It was there that he grew up and was taught baseball by his mother. On July 22, 1975 he was signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tony would spend almost five full seasons on different minor league teams for the Pirates until he made his Major League Baseball debut on September 1, 1980.
Peña would play for six seasons with the Pirates, becoming enamored be their hometown crowds. In a surprising move, Peña was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere and Mike Dunne. Tony would only play three season for the Cards, who chose not to re-sign the veteran catcher. In November of 1989, Tony would sign with the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox enjoyed the strong defense that Tony provided for the team. His ability to jump out of his stance quickly and throw accurately made him a good catcher, and a good addition to the team. However Tony was never able to provide the power numbers, hitting 10 or more home runs only 5 times, and never after 1989. Soon, the Red Sox decided that they wanted more punch, and let the catcher go.
In February of 1994, Tony signed with the Cleveland Indians. There, he split time with fellow star catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr. He would spend three seasons with the Indians helping them in the post-season with some perfectly timed hits. When his three seasons as an Indian were up, they chose not to pick up the option on his contract, and Tony found himself working for the Chicago White Sox. Tony would not spend a lot of time in a White Sox uniform. He was signed in January, but was traded in August to the Houston Astros for a minor league pitcher. This would be Tony's final season as a MLB player.
In the winter of 1997, Tony would manage, and play, for Cibão in the Dominican League. Even though he knocked in what would be the game winning runs, Tony would scratch himself off of the roster after his team won the Dominican Title, signifying his retirement from baseball.
Tony would not stay away from professional baseball, however. In 1998, shortly after his retirement from playing he signed with the White Sox again, only this time as a manager for an affiliate in the Arizona Fall League. He would also be the Chicago's Coordinator of Dominican Operations that year.
The next season, Tony would manage for the Astros' AAA affiliate, the New Orleans Zephyrs, in the Pacific Coast League. He managed their for three years before being named the bench coach for the Astros. On May 15, 2002, after much speculation, the Kansas City Royals announced that Tony Peña would be their new manager. This came to a surprise to most as many thought it would be Buck Showalter. Peña would be the third Dominican born manager behind Felípe Alou and Luís Pujols.
On June 24, 2002 history would be made as Peña's Royals took on the Detroit Tigers, led by fellow Dominican Luis Pujols. This marked the first time in MLB history that two Dominican-born managers would lead squads against each other. Baseball commissioner, and all around idiot, Bud Selig as well as Dominican President Hipólito Mejía were on hand for the event. Each threw out the opening pitch and the Dominican Republic's anthem was played as well as America's.
Peña abruptly resigned as Royals manager on May 10, 2005, after several losing seasons with the team. He was replaced by Bob Schaefer (on an interim basis) and Buddy Bell. As of 2006, Peña is the New York Yankees bench coach.
Tony Pena would always be known for his odd crouch behind the plate. Tony would stick one leg really far out and squat quite low to the ground. Tony has a wife and three kids, one of whom, Tony Peña, Jr., is currently playing shortstop for the Royals. The elder Peña was a 5-time All-Star, 1982, 84-86 and 89, and a 4-time Gold Glove winner, 82-85 and 91.
Statistics:
Position:
Catcher
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 184
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
1980 PIT 8 21 1 9 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 4 .429 .429 .571 1.000
1981 PIT 66 210 16 63 9 1 2 17 1 2 8 23 .300 .326 .381 .707
1982 PIT 138 497 53 147 28 4 11 63 2 5 17 57 .296 .323 .435 .758
1983 PIT 151 542 51 163 22 3 15 70 6 7 31 73 .301 .338 .435 .773
1984 PIT 147 546 77 156 27 2 15 78 12 8 36 79 .286 .333 .425 .758
1985 PIT 147 546 53 136 27 2 10 59 12 8 29 67 .249 .284 .361 .645
1986 PIT 144 510 56 147 26 2 10 52 9 10 53 69 .288 .356 .406 .762
1987 STL 116 384 40 82 13 4 5 44 6 1 36 54 .214 .281 .307 .589
1988 STL 149 505 55 133 23 1 10 51 6 2 33 60 .263 .308 .372 .680
1989 STL 141 424 36 110 17 2 4 37 5 3 35 33 .259 .318 .337 .655
1990 BOS 143 491 62 129 19 1 7 56 8 6 43 71 .263 .322 .348 .670
1991 BOS 141 464 45 107 23 2 5 48 8 3 37 53 .231 .291 .321 .612
1992 BOS 133 410 39 99 21 1 1 38 3 2 24 61 .241 .284 .305 .589
1993 BOS 126 304 20 55 11 0 4 19 1 3 25 46 .181 .246 .257 .502
1994 CLE 40 112 18 33 8 1 2 10 0 1 9 11 .295 .341 .438 .779
1995 CLE 91 263 25 69 15 0 5 28 1 0 14 44 .262 .302 .376 .679
1996 CLE 67 174 14 34 4 0 1 27 0 1 15 25 .195 .255 .236 .491
1997 CHW 31 67 4 11 1 0 0 8 0 0 8 13 .164 .250 .179 .429
1997 HOU 9 19 2 4 3 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 .211 .273 .368 .641
Career Totals: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
1988 6489 667 1687 298 27 107 708 80 63 455 846 .260 .309 .364 .673
Sources
Tony Peña Statistics - http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/penato01.shtml
Luis Pujols, Tony Peña make history for MLB and Dominican Republic - http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/020626/6/nae1.html
CNNSI.com - Tony Peña Batting Stats - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/stats/alltime/player/batting/730.html
RoyalsZone.com - http://www.royalszone.com/coaches/pena.shtml
Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/pena.htm