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Antonio Francisco Peņa Padilla, widely known as Tony Peņa [PAY-nyah] (born June 4, 1957 in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He was the manager of the Kansas City Royals between 2002 and 2005.
In his player career, Peņa was known for his defensive skills with the Pirates, Cardinals, Red Sox, Indians, White Sox and Astros. He won four Gold Glove Awards and was a five-time All-Star.
Peņa had a great hitting National League Championship Series and World Series in 1987, going 17-for-43 in that postseason, with 4 RBIs in the WS.
In an 18-season career, he was a .260 batter with 107 home runs and 708 RBIs in 1988 games. He had 1687 hits in 6489 at bats.
Hired in 2002 to replace Tony Muser (John Mizerock had served as interim manager), Peņa took Royals fans for a ride in 2003, taking a 7-game lead by the All-Star break before settling into a third-place finish in the American League Central Division, with a record of 83-79. It was their first season with a winning record since the strike-shortened 1994 season. He was selected as American League Manager of the Year.
Peņa's Royals were less successful in 2004, finishing in last place in the Central Division of the American League with 104 losses. He resigned as manager of the Royals after a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on May 10, 2005 as the Royals had the worst record in the American League at 8-25. [1] (http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/SportsNews/s05119A.htm) He was replaced by interim manager Bob Schaefer.
Peņa is also coach of the Aguilas Cibaeņas professional baseball team in his native Dominican Republic's Winter league.
See also
External References
- Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/penato01.shtml) - playing statistics and managing record
- Standard Radio news report on resignation (http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/SportsNews/s05119A.htm/)
Categories: 1982 National League All-Stars | 1984 National League All-Stars | 1985 National League All-Stars | 1986 National League All-Stars | 1989 National League All-Stars | Boston Red Sox players | Chicago White Sox players | Cleveland Indians players | Houston Astros players | Pittsburgh Pirates players | St. Louis Cardinals players | Major league catchers | Kansas City Royals managers | Sportspeople of the Dominican Republic | 1957 births