i heard on npr this morning that it was tony peña’s birthday. he was my brother and i’s favorite baseball player growing up. he wasn’t a big superstar by any means, but he was our guy. we were totally obsessed and had to have all of his baseball cards. it all sprung from my brother having a catchers glove with his signature. it didn’t matter that all gloves came with a players signature on them, my brother’s had tony’s and he was also a catcher, so we were hooked.

eventually my brother and i were able to meet tony at an exhibition game between the cardinals and the orioles in baltimore. after the game we tracked down the cardinals bus where the players were loading. unfortunately, we were told tony was already on the bus. when he heard there were two little boys outside wanting to meet him though, he graciously came out and met us and signed our balls. it was amazing!

in the long run it worked out having a favorite baseball player that wasn’t the biggest star. he was humble enough to still come off a bus to meet a couple of obsessed kids and his baseball cards weren’t the most expensive to collect!

by the way, how amazing was the 1987 topps baseball card design? i think that’s where my woodgrain obsession began! it was also a perfect year to be a tony peña fan. he was traded from the pirates to the cardinals, so he had two cards that year!

– ryan