César Gerónimo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

César Francisco Gerónimo Zorrilla (born March 11, 1948 in El Seibo, Dominican Republic), known as César Gerónimo, is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball who was a member of the famed Big Red Machine dynasty of the Cincinnati Reds during the 1970s. He batted and threw left-handed.

In 1967, Gerónimo was signed by the New York Yankees, who unsuccessfully tried to make a pitcher out of him. Two years later he made his major league debut with the Houston Astros. Ending the 1971 season he went to the Cincinnati Reds in a blockbuster, nine-player deal that also moved Joe Morgan to the Reds. A winner of four Gold Glove Awards between 1974-77, Gerónimo was the outstanding defensive center fielder of five divisional championship series and the 1975-76 World Series Champion Cincinnati teams. He played the last three seasons of his career (1981-3) with the Kansas City Royals.

In his 15 seasons, Gerónimo batted .258, with 51 home runs and 392 RBI, 460 runs scored, 977 hits, 161 doubles, 50 triples and 82 stolen bases. He also holds the dubious distinction of being the 3,000th strikeout victim of both Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan. "I was just in the right place at the right time," he joked.

His nickname was "The Rifle". He earned this name by having such a strong throwing arm. Once after catching a fly out on the center field warning track he threw the ball home to keep a runner at third base from scoring and the ball went so far on a fly that it went over catcher Johnny Bench’s head.

After retiring he worked for the Japanese Hiroshima Carp, as a coach in their Dominican baseball academy. He currently resides with his family in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

[edit] See also

• Players from Dominican Republic in MLB

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference