Boston Red Sox

Date of birth: May 14, 1942 in Ciego de Ávila, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba

High School:  He was signed to a pro contract in 1960 at age 17

Nickname: Big Dog.

First Impression; This card is so simple and it is so perfect.

Career stats player: At this point Tony’s Big Red Machine days were past and he was onto the Big Red Sox Machine. He would once again play for the Reds at the end of his career. I remember his RBI totals every year were at or close to 100. Now checking the numbers he did drive in 90 or more runs from 1967 to 1977. He was a 7 time All-Star, 2 time world series champion and National Baseball Hall of Famer. He is still second all time in RBI for the Reds with 1192 (Bench 1376), and all time he had 1652 which is 32nd All-time.

All Time Stat: 18 or more homers in consecutive years from 1967-1977. 379 homers is 75th all time. 44th all time National League and 15th all time in National League RBI.

Career stats manager: 74-84. He got two stints. One in 1993 and this tells it better than I could rewrite it; “Perez was hired as manager for the 1993 season. The Reds started slowly with a 12-18 record, but quickly went on a seven-game winning streak before going on a seven-game West Coast road trip. Before a game against the San Francisco Giants, Reds beat writer Hal McCoy approached Perez with an idea to bat catcher Joe Oliver in the game instead of backup catcher Dan Wilson, since Oliver hit Giants starting pitcher Bud Black well. Perez took McCoy’s suggestion and the Reds won the game, the only win they would have on the trip. McCoy wrote about his meeting in his column shortly thereafter. Reds general manager Jim Bowden read the column and was angry that Perez allowed McCoy to influence a managerial decision and fired Perez with the team having a 20-24 record”*

In 2001 he replaced the fired John Boles for the Marlins and skippered the team to a 54-60 record the remainder of the season. He did not manage after that.

Fun Fact: Dan Wilson, a player under Perez became manager of the Mariners in 2024.

Ever a Future Star?  He was the keystone in a very ‘Brady’ 1965 NL Rookie Stars.

Rookie or final card? No, he would keep rolling until his final card in 1986.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? National Baseball Hall of Fame 2000. Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. #24 retired by the Reds.

Links to stories including Tony Perez.

*Wikipedia