1966 Topps #239 Orlando Pena
About Orlando Pena
By the time Topps put #239 in its third series, Pena was a full-time reliever. All 54 of his 1966 appearances came out of the Detroit bullpen and he finished 18 of them, working 108 innings - the heaviest load he ever carried in a season without making a single start. He went 4-2 with seven saves and a 3.08 ERA, striking out 79 against 35 walks.
Orlando Gregorio Pena was born November 17, 1933, in Victoria de las Tunas, Cuba, and worked as a butcher in his father's supermarket before baseball took over. He was one of three players signed out of a 1955 Cincinnati tryout camp in Havana, and he climbed through the Florida State, Carolina and International leagues to a major league debut on August 24, 1958, retiring six straight Dodgers in relief and getting the win. A slight right-hander at 5-11 and 154 pounds, he leaned on a forkball he had learned from Elroy Face and was accused often enough of loading the ball that he admitted throwing a few. Cincinnati shuttled him back to Triple-A, and it was the Kansas City Athletics, who got him from the Milwaukee organization in August 1962, that finally handed him a rotation spot. From 1965 on he was a reliever, and a persistent one: eight clubs - Reds, Athletics, Tigers, Indians, Pirates, Orioles, Cardinals, Angels - across 14 seasons through 1975, finishing 56-77 with a 3.71 ERA, 40 saves and 818 strikeouts in 427 games. He scouted for the Tigers and White Sox afterward and is a member of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame, inducted in 2000.
Sources: SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 235 | 3 | 33 | 136 | 40 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #583 Detroit Tigers
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #20 Willie Horton
- #38 Ron Nischwitz
- #58 Dave Wickersham
- #81 Ray Oyler
- #98 Don Demeter
- #113 Hank Aguirre
- #145 Bill Freehan
- #161 Jerry Lumpe
- #187 Chuck Dressen
- #198 Mickey Stanley
- #209 Tigers 1966 Rookie Stars
- #218 American League 1965 Home Run Leaders
- #220 American League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #226 American League 1965 Strikeout Leaders
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #239 card?
It is card #239 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Orlando Pena of the Detroit Tigers.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-11.