Felix Mantilla Lamela

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Felix Mantilla Lamela (born July 29, 1934 in Isabela, Puerto Rico) is a former Major League Baseball player.

In his 11-year career, Mantilla played for the Milwaukee Braves (1956-61), New York Mets (1962), Boston Red Sox (1963-65) and Houston Astros (1966). An infielder/outfielder, he played second base the majority of his career (326 games). He also played shortstop (180 games), third base (143), the outfield (156) and, in the latter part of his career, first base (16). He batted and threw right-handed.

Mantilla was a utility man during his six seasons with the Braves, where he was Hank Aaron's roommate and with whom he won a World Series title in 1957. He was selected by the New York Mets in the expansion draft and became their most regular third baseman in 1962, establishing career highs in batting average, home runs and RBI (.275, 11 and 59 respectively). At the end of the season he was traded to the Red Sox for three players, two of whom were Pumpsie Green and Tracy Stallard.

Mantilla’s numbers improved dramatically in the hitter-friendly Fenway Park: he hit .315 in 66 games in 1963, hit .289 with 30 home runs in 1964 (five fewer than he had hit in his career prior to that season), and set a career high with 92 RBIs in 1965. During this latter year, he was also named to the American League All-Star team for the only time in his career. Mantilla played his final season in the majors as a utility player in Houston.

A lifetime .261 hitter, Mantilla compiled 89 home runs with 330 runs batted in.

On May 26, 1959, leading off the 13th inning in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mantilla ruined Harvey Haddix's bid for a perfect game, reaching first base on Don Hoak's throwing error. (Mantilla had not even been in the starting lineup; he entered the game in the 11th after Del Rice had pinch-hit for Johnny O'Brien.) Mantilla was sacrificed to second by Eddie Mathews, followed by an intentional walk to Hank Aaron. The following batter, Joe Adcock, hit one over the right-center field wall, just beyond Bill Virdon's outstretched glove, for an apparent 3-0 victory. Mantilla scored the winning run, but Aaron, thinking the ball was still in play and that the game ended when Mantilla scored the winning run, rounded second and then headed for the dugout. Adcock, running out his home run, passed Aaron on the bases; as a result, the ruling from National League president Warren Giles was that only Mantilla's run counted and that the final score was 1-0.

[edit] External links

• Felix Mantilla statistics at baseball-reference.com