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Orlando Gregorio Pena
Kansas City Athletics
Pitcher
Born: November 17, 1933, Victoria de las Tunas, Cuba
Acquired: Sent from Daytona Beach (Florida State) to the Cincinnati Redlegs in an unknown transaction before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1958-1960; Kansas City Athletics 1962-1965; Detroit Tigers 1965-1967; Cleveland Indians 1967; Pittsburgh Pirates 1970; Baltimore Orioles 1971, 1973; St. Louis Cardinals 1973-1974; California Angels 1974-1975
Orlando Pena's major league career spanned 14 seasons over 18 years. In the mid-1950s, the Cincinnati Reds affiliated with the Havana Sugar Kings, leading to a steady pipeline of Cuban players entering their system. Pena spent all of 1959 on the Reds pitching staff, pitching in 46 games, before lingering in the minors the next two seasons. Acquired by the Athletics in August 1962, Pena would enter his most productive seasons. While he led the league with 20 losses in 1963, he was arguably the ace of the Athletics staff with a 3.69 ERA over 35 appearances for the eighth place club. In total, over four seasons, he'd pitch in 100 games for the Athletics, the longest stint of a journeyman career that saw him pitch for eight different major league teams.
Pena next began a pattern of an effective year in the majors followed by a full year (or two) in the minors. He made 54 appearances with the Tigers in 1966, 48 with the Indians in 1967 and 53 with the Orioles and Cardinals in 1973. He last pitched in the majors for the Angels at the age of 41. Pena retired with 427 career big league appearances, a 56-77 record and a 3.71 ERA over 1,202 innings pitched. He'd serve as a scout for the Tigers and White Sox following his retirement.
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #411
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show. If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May. If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July. Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time. I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.
The Card / Athletics Team Set
This is the fifth card I've added to the 1965 Athletics team set showing off the club's glorious gold and green road uniform, worn between 1963 and 1967. The others, so far, are manager Mel McGaha (#391), Billy Bryan (#51), Diego Segui (#197) and Wes Stock (#117). The cartoon highlight on the back is indeed accurate as Pena led the Athletics with 12 wins and 184 strikeouts. John O'Donoghue (#71) was second with 10 wins and Segui was second in strikeouts with 155.
1965 Season
In 12 games at the start of the season with the Athletics, Pena was 0-6 with a 6.88 ERA over 35 1/3 innings pitched. He was placed on waivers and selected by the Tigers on June 23rd. Pena had much more success with the Tigers, appearing in 30 games, all in relief, and going 4-6 with a 2.51 ERA in 57 1/3 innings pitched. He saved four games and was one of the Tigers' most effective relievers along with closer Terry Fox (#576), Larry Sherry (#408) and Fred Gladding (#37).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #271
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1959, 1963-1968, 1974-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1975 Topps #573
38 - Pena non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/4/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #411
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show. If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May. If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July. Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time. I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.
After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in. Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Pena card which was a little less than $2 after the dealer discount. I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests. I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.
The Card / Athletics Team Set
This is the fifth card I've added to the 1965 Athletics team set showing off the club's glorious gold and green road uniform, worn between 1963 and 1967. The others, so far, are manager Mel McGaha (#391), Billy Bryan (#51), Diego Segui (#197) and Wes Stock (#117). The cartoon highlight on the back is indeed accurate as Pena led the Athletics with 12 wins and 184 strikeouts. John O'Donoghue (#71) was second with 10 wins and Segui was second in strikeouts with 155.
1965 Season
In 12 games at the start of the season with the Athletics, Pena was 0-6 with a 6.88 ERA over 35 1/3 innings pitched. He was placed on waivers and selected by the Tigers on June 23rd. Pena had much more success with the Tigers, appearing in 30 games, all in relief, and going 4-6 with a 2.51 ERA in 57 1/3 innings pitched. He saved four games and was one of the Tigers' most effective relievers along with closer Terry Fox (#576), Larry Sherry (#408) and Fred Gladding (#37).
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First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #271
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1959, 1963-1968, 1974-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1975 Topps #573
38 - Pena non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/4/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #310 Johnny Callison - Philadelphia Phillies
Previous Card: #310 Johnny Callison - Philadelphia Phillies
Next Card: #312 Joe Nuxhall - Cincinnati Reds
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