Auction Ends: Nov 19, 2016 09:30 PM EST

Sports & Fitness

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Tony Perez Autographed Baseball

Item Number: 819

Estimated Value: Priceless
Sold: 65 USD to Live Event Bidder

Live Event Item

After the online close, this item went to a Live Event for further bidding. Absentee Bidding offered.

Item Description

Bid on this signed baseball by Tony Perez and you'll have a piece of history in your collection!

One of the national pastime’s great run producers, Atanasio “Tony” Pérez Rigal was among the best when it came to driving in big runs for Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” clubs of the 1970s.

Of the 1,652 RBI Perez collected over his 23-year big league career (1964-86), the slugging first baseman and seven-time All-Star totaled 954 in the ‘70s, second only to Hall of Famer and former Reds teammate Johnny Bench’s 1,013.
“With men in scoring position and the game on the line,” said longtime opponent Willie Stargell, “Tony’s the last guy an opponent wanted to see.”

A native of Cuba, Perez left a job in a Havana sugar cane factory when he signed a minor league contract with the Reds in 1960. “I ate chicken for a week one time,” Perez said. “It was the only word I knew – chicken, chicken, chicken.”
Eventually, Perez would become a positive influence on those who came afterwards. “(Perez) was a fatherly type in the clubhouse, especially to the Spanish ballplayers,” said longtime Reds teammate Pete Rose. “They looked up to him as well as relating to him through his background and language.” By 1967, he had notched the first of seven seasons with 100-or-more RBI as well as earning MVP honors in the 1967 All-Star Game by hitting a game-winning home run in the 15th inning off of future Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter.

Along the way Perez compiled nine seasons of at least 20 homers, finishing with a career total of 379. Perez, who played in five World Series, notched three home runs in the 1975 Fall Classic against the Boston Red Sox, including a two-run shot in the Reds’ 4-3 victory in Game Seven.

This package will be featured at our live event on Saturday, November 19, 2016. Online bidding for this item will end on Friday, November 11, 2016. Please place a reserve bid if you don't want this prize to get away at the live event. Winners will be notified on Monday, November 21, 2016!