Power of positive thinking
Persistent Peña realizes dreams
He had no way of knowing what it would be like.
How could he?
What 10-year-old holding a Wiffle ball bat in his backyard in Haverhill could imagine the feeling of stepping into a batter's box at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium and smacking a winning home run?
"That's what I dreamt as a kid," said Carlos Peña before his Tampa Bay Rays clinched their American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox Monday night. "I would imagine hitting the game-winning home run in my mind. I have quite an imagination because I accurately imagined what it would feel like if I ever got to this point and step into a batter's box for real. I think back and I could feel the dirt under my spikes, I could hear the sounds of fans screaming, almost vividly. I could almost smell it. I nailed it. I think back, how did I know it was like this?"
Like the 10th-inning walkoff homer he hit against the White Sox' Brandon McCarthy Sept. 4, 2006, during his short tenure with the Red Sox. He'd done it before. He almost wept that night thinking about all the times he came to bat in the backyard, game on the line, a sellout crowd at Fenway screaming so loud he couldn't think. Then, wham! Out of the ballpark.
"I've always had legitimate power," said Peña, the former Northeastern University first baseman who was drafted 10th overall by the Texas Rangers in 1998.
That power was displayed early in his big-league career, peaking in 2004 when he cracked 27 home runs for the Detroit Tigers. But by 2005 he had lost his stroke and was back in the minors, resurfacing briefly with the Red Sox in 2006 after the Yankees gave up on him.
The Red Sox discarded Peña that offseason, just as the Rangers, A's, Tigers, and Yankees had done before them. Rays general manager Andrew Friedman was looking to add some lefthanded balance to the lineup, so he signed Peña to a minor league contract in 2007. What Tampa Bay got was a rejuvenated slugger who found his comfort zone. Peña set franchise records for home runs (46), RBIs (121), on-base percentage (.411), and slugging percentage (.627) and was named the AL's Comeback Player of the Year.
"Last year I was just able to be myself. I'd never been so happy playing baseball in my entire life," Peña said. "I was enjoying baseball like I was a Little Leaguer again. It was like I was playing a pickup game with my friends and after the game we were going to get some ice cream. And that's a big attribute of this staff and the environment we have in this clubhouse.
"The fact it's been so simple is incredible because so many aspects of the game are so complex. You've got the media, the fans, the contracts, expectations, but when you just break it down, it's a game. It's a ball and a bat and you run and you catch and you throw it. That's it. The ones who can keep it simple the most are the ones who have success for the longest time."
Wandering, wondering
Peña's career has had so many highs and lows you think it would have hardened him. Yet, his persona is quite the opposite. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, one of four children of Felipe and Mery Peña, and the family moved to Haverhill when Carlos was 12. He spent just one semester at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, before transferring to Northeastern, where he blossomed into a feared power hitter.Doug Melvin was the Rangers' general manager when Peña was drafted. After Melvin was fired in 2001, nine months after he signed Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year, $252 million contract, new GM John Hart traded Peña to Oakland.
"I think the point of signing A-Rod at the time was that we were going to build with a young infield," said Melvin, who is now the GM of the Milwaukee Brewers. "With Carlos at first, and we were going to play Michael Young at second. We had Travis Hafner and Hank Blalock as well. I thought Carlos was a kid we were going to grow with. He was streaky, but most power hitters are. After I left, he and Hafner both were traded."
Peña's time with the Athletics was brief. He struggled to hit in the majors, and after he was demoted to Triple A Sacramento, the coaching staff felt he didn't take instructions very well. On July 5, 2002, he was packaged with minor league pitcher Jeremy Bonderman and sent to Detroit in a three-team trade.
Peña's first game with the Tigers was against the Red Sox, and he went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. He finished with 19 homers in 2002, and 18 the next season. Then came the breakthrough in 2004, when he hit 16 of his 27 homers after the All-Star break.
Peña's success suddenly evaporated, as did his power. Just two months into the 2005 season, he was demoted to Triple A Toledo with just three homers and a .181 batting average. Peña clicked again in the minors, and after his recall in mid-August he smacked 15 homers in just 38 games.
Amazingly, after a poor start in spring training in 2006, the Tigers released him. He was signed by the Yankees and spent the season with Triple A Columbus until he exercised an out clause in his contract Aug. 16, looking for a fresh start. The next day, he signed with the Red Sox and joined Pawtucket.
"I don't feel much resentment toward any team in particular," said Peña. "My mentality is I don't want to waste my time looking for negatives. I was mostly just thanking God because it was my dream to play major league baseball ever since I was little, so to be able to do it, I was just thankful."
Peña still remembers the heart-wrenching moments. Feeling the angst of not knowing whether he'd ever get back to the majors. As quickly as he tasted major league life, he had lost it.
"At times it was difficult [in Columbus], but I had a lot of faith and the best thing of all was I had an incredible support system," he said. "Regardless of how disappointed I was or how much I hurt emotionally or how weak I was energy-wise, my family - my wife, my daughter, mom, dad, my brothers - they were with me every step of the way. They just gave me the strength to put on the uniform one more time and not only that, but do it joyfully. When you stop enjoying yourself, it's a sad thing. They gave me the strength to keep doing it with a smile on my face. Look at this now . . . it's great to be where I am right now."
Melvin was a little surprised that both the Yankees and the Red Sox let Peña go.
"That type of lefthanded power is hard to find," Melvin said.
Believing is seeing
The Rays, and Friedman in particular, were smart to sign Peña, but they had no great expectations, either. Peña didn't have a very good spring training in 2007 and he was headed back to Triple A until Greg Norton was injured a day before spring training ended.Peña struggled in April, hitting just .213 with 16 strikeouts and just two walks. But in May he was red-hot (.356, 6 homers, 15 RBIs), and Peña hasn't looked back.
It's all a part of his life story, one he believes has far more positives than negatives.
"This is my journey," he said. "It has been my journey. You can argue whether it's been fair or not, but why even waste your time, so I didn't spend much time trying to justify why things happened. I just told myself I'm just going to keep on going.
"No doubt that it's all part of what you go through and it was tough, but when you look back at your life, you think about the hard times and how you reacted to those hard times. No good book is without a good conflict. If my story is a good story there has to be some conflict in it. I've had much conflict in my story and maybe it'll make for a good story of life to be able to tell my grandchildren about someday."
Peña also remains positive because of his beliefs.
"I'm a man of faith so I always believe something good is going to come," he said. "There's a blessing around the corner and all I have to do is turn that corner. Sometimes you would try to turn and . . . 'Man, I'm still here.' But I told myself keep coming, keep coming. Finally something unbelievable has happened that made me a part of this ball club. It's an experience I'll always cherish."
Another slow start this season didn't discourage Peña. He knew better. He got hot in July and was torrid in August, hitting nine homers and driving in 29 runs as the Rays went a major league-best 21-7 for the month. He finished the season leading the team with 31 homers and 102 RBIs in 139 games.
He left Game 1 of the ALDS with blurred vision in his left eye and also missed Game 2, the result of a household accident in which he scratched his cornea. In the clinching Game 4, Peña had three hits, knocked in two runs, and also made a stellar play in the field.
He led all AL first basemen with a .998 fielding percentage, committing just two errors. Defense has always been very important to him and he'd love to win a Gold Glove.
"I grew up watching guys like Tony Fernandez and Roberto Alomar. They were two of my favorite players when I was younger," he said. "I couldn't be a shortstop because I'm lefty. OK, so I play first base but at least I'm in the infield. I took a lot of pride in my defense."
Lasting impressions
Nobody can really put a finger on Peña's resurgence. Some think it's simple maturity, that the light finally turned on and he understands pitchers and hitting. Some believe it's the environment of being in Tampa Bay and being with an open-minded, progressive manager like Joe Maddon."Maybe I'm biased and I've been blessed with unbelievable managers, but Joe Maddon is amazing," Peña said. "It was a shock to me when I see how much people respect him and at the same time how comfortable every single one of us feels to go up to him and talk to him as another teammate. That's rare. He's definitely the best manager I've ever had. He's a very smart guy. Common sense. At the same time he preaches simplicity. He'll come out with some complex analysis of something, but then he's also smart enough to know that simple is powerful."
So many years later after pretending, imagining he was hitting homers at Fenway, his enthusiasm for all things Boston has not waned. The fact he's playing against the Red Sox in the ALCS brings a wide smile to his face.
"It's just cool. That's the best word to describe it," said Peña, who hit one of the Rays' four homers in their 9-1 rout in Game 3 at Fenway and followed that with a two-run shot in the first inning last night. "Fenway is a special place. So every time I go there I make it a point to enjoy it. I know that Ted Williams played there. Yaz played there. I went to high school in Boston. I went to college in Boston. I was a diehard Red Sox fan. For me it's just awesome. It's the coolest thing. If I'm at first base or taking batting practice I'm looking around and I'm like, 'Wow!'
"I rooted for them so hard in 2004. I was on a cruise and I almost flipped the boat upside down when they won. I always appreciated what New England means to me. To be able to have played for them was awesome. And to play against them is also cool. To see David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek - these are guys I appreciate as ballplayers. They're good people, too."
Peña believes he's on the ground level of great things in Tampa Bay, believing that someday there'll be a Red Sox Nation-like enthusiasm for the Rays.
"I think so," he said. "I think at least this team here will be remembered as one of the greatest teams that ever played in the Tampa area. I saw someone with a sign the other day that read 'Rays Republic.' I said, 'Man I love that.' It would be great to create that type of legacy here."
He envisions it, in fact. And we know visions can have real conclusions. 