LOS ANGELES, CA — Over the years, numerous Latino baseball players have played at the Major League level. Some names we can rattle off easily, and others we remember if they played for our team or did one spectacular thing. Case in point: Armando Galarraga, Cumana, Venezuela. He only pitched for six years in the big leagues and had a record of 26-34, yet he will be remembered for pitching what is known as “The Imperfect Game.”
Near-perfect game: Armando Galarraga, Detroit vs. Cleveland Indians, June 2, 2010. Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning on a disputed call at first base by umpire Jim Joyce – Image Credit: Handout/FOX Sports
After retiring twenty-six Cleveland Indians and one out away from throwing the twenty-first perfect game in baseball history, first-base umpire Jim Joyce called Indians batter Jason Donald safe at first. The replay showed that Donald was out by two feet. There was no replay in 2010, so Galarraga had to settle for an 88-pitch, one-hit shutout after facing 28 batters.
I can’t name that many perfect-game pitchers, but I will always remember Galarraga.
An easy name to remember is Albert Pujols, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, an eight-time LatinoMVP award winner. We are only talking about Latino players and their numbers here, and Albert leads the pack. He has the most records of any Latino player
Most Games Played: 3,080
Most At-Bats: 11,114
Most Hits: 3,384
Most Doubles: 686
Most Home Runs: 703
Most Total Bases: 6,211
Most RBIs: 2,218
Albert Pujols, an eight-time LatinoMVP Award winner, during 2022 All Star Game press conference – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Then there are the Latino leaders in pitching: “Big Sexy” Dominican Bartolo Colón, with 247 wins; Dennis Martínez, “El Presidente,” the first Nicaraguan player to play in the Major Leagues, with 245 wins; and Juan Marichal, from Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic, with 243 wins. Marichal is the leader in complete games with 244 and shutouts with 52.
You can argue with your friends about ERA, and all of you will be right. In his 19 years in the Big leagues, the great Mariano Riviera had a lifetime ERA of 2.21 over 1,283.2 innings pitched, while 16-year veteran Marichal had a lifetime ERA of 2.89 over 3,509 innings pitched. Second to Dennis Martinez’s 3,999.2 innings pitched over 23 years.
Image Credit: Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
I wonder if anyone knew he needed to get only one more out to finish at an even 4,000-innings pitched. By the way, Cy Young holds the record for innings pitched with 7,356 over 22 years. My arm hurts just thinking about that.
There is a rich history of Latinos in baseball, and the future looks like more records will be broken by the abundance of amazing Latinos at the top of the baseball world today.
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