New Arrival: Tony Pena, c, Cleveland Baseball
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Card: 2017 Topps Archives – Fan Favorite Autographs 1983 Tony Pena #FFA-TP
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Tony Pena had a great career as both a player (from 1980-1997) and coach (2002-2017). For me, I know him for his brief late-career run with Cleveland and a game winning homerun in the 1995 American League Division Series.
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Don’t forget: Tony Pena had some very good seasons in the 1980’s with Pittsburg and St. Louis and was a five time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner. By the time he signed with Cleveland he was 37, but still a capable backup catcher.
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Pena was a solid backup in Cleveland, which was important considering starting catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. was always struggling with health issues. In 1995 he caught the majority of the season, and his respectable .262/.302/.376.
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But the highlight of Pena’s time in Cleveland came when he hit a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning of Game 1 in the 1995 American League Division Series that helped propel the Indians to a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. At the time, it was the longest playoff game in history.