Orlando Peña was born in Victoria de las Tunas on this day in 1933. He is part of a shrinking number of Cuban players who played in the island and the major leagues.
Orlando broke with the Reds in 1958 and was traded to the Kansas City A’s where he became a regular starting pitcher.
There were several other Cubans in the 1963 A’s: Hector Martinez, Aurelio Monteagudo, Jose Tartabull, Joe Azcue & Diego Segui.
Unfortunately, the A’s had very bad teams but Orlando did win 34 games over 3 and a half seasons. He had 184 strikeouts in 1964 to finish 6th in the AL.
He bounced around after that and I remember watching him with the Orioles in 1973.
Orlando won 56 games but had a very good 3.71 ERA over all of those years.
Happy # 83 Orlando Peña.