Rosalia Padilla Pena, mother of Tony Pena passes away
Tony Pena’s mother, Rosalia Padilla Pena, expired at the age of 79 yesterday and that means a lot to the player. Joe Ponsnanski, a famous blogger wrote a featured piece on Tony and his Mother when the baseball legend was the Kansas City Royals’ manager.
He shared a lot of personal moments the two had in the Dominican Republic. He wrote about Tony and his brother playing baseball with their mother.
There is no denying the fact that Tony Pena owes much of his career to his mother, who groomed him in the Dominican Republic. His mother especially was the one who taught him baseball. Now after a history of 18 baseball playing seasons, and 15 years of managing
and coaching, he can look back to recall the good moments he had in his childhood.
"She would place two little p***s in the outfield, one in the on-deck circle and one in the batter's box," wrote Joe Posnanski. "She pitched. ‘She had some kind of arm,’ Tony said. ‘Hitting her was like trying to hit Nolan Ryan.’"
Tony’s mother was the last person to grant him the opportunity to go to the States to play baseball in the major leagues.
"She didn't consider baseball a career option for Tony," Posnanski wrote. "Boys in the Dominican were supposed to play baseball -- it added color to a dreary life of farming and burning sunshine. But that was all. Tony Pena's life was already laid out. His
future wife, Amaris, lived three houses down. He was strong enough to work in the banana fields. He would have children and live his life in Palo Verde. When the baseball scout asked to take Tony away to America for baseball, he might as well have asked to
take him on a spaceship to Pluto. 'Please,' Tony said to his mother. And then he said something that can only be loosely translated to mean: 'Baseball is all that is in my heart.' Rosalia remained unmoved. 'If I don't make it in one year,' Tony said, 'I will
come home.’... And she nodded."
Tony Pena coaches the New York Yankees at the moment and his contribution will be greatly valued by his mother who saw him make it to the leagues and accomplish a lot. Her funeral will be held today at 3 p.m. in Altamira, Dominican Republic.
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