Carlos Quintana (baseball)

Carlos Narciso Quintana Hernandez (born August 26, 1965 in Mamporal, Venezuela) is a former Major League Baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox from 1988-1993.

Professional career

Quintana (kin-TAH-na) was signed by the Red Sox in 1984 as an undrafted free agent. Over the next four years he worked his way up the Red Sox minor league system playing for Elmira, Greensboro, New Britain and Pawtucket.

He made his first appearance for the Red Sox on September 16, 1988. He split 1989 season between Pawtucket and Boston, and was named the full time first baseman during spring training in 1990, beating out Bill Buckner for the job. Over the next two seasons Quintana earned a reputation as an outstanding defensive first basement and an intelligent batter who maintained a high on base percentage, albeit without much power or speed.

In February 1992, Quintana was involved in an automobile accident in town of Tacarigua de Mamporal, Venezuela while rushing his two brothers to a hospital after they were shot at a party. In the accident, Quintana broke his left arm and his right big toe and his wife Solys, broke both of her legs. The injuries caused Quintana to miss the entire 1992 season.

Quintana returned to the Red Sox for the 1993 season but was still feeling the effects of the accident, including loss of feeling in his left thumb. He lost the starting first base position to Mo Vaughn and at the end of the season he announced his retirement from MLB baseball, but spent more than a season in Venezuelan League and played the 1994 season for the Buffalo Bisons, then a Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1998 played in Italy for Bbc Grosseto and hit four HR in a game against BC Modena.

In his career with the Red Sox, Quintana batted .276 (380-1376), with 19 home runs, 165 RBI, 163 runs, 59 doubles, one triple, three stolen bases, a .350 on base percentage, and 498 total bases for .362 of slugging average.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Trivia

• Drove in six runs in the third inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on July 30, 1991, tying the major league record for most RBI in an inning.
• Played in a game in Pawtucket and a game in Boston on the same day in 1989.

References

1. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE: BASEBALL; Quintana Has Surgery After Auto Accident". The New York Times. 1992-02-25. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFD6143CF936A15751C0A964958260. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 
2. ^ "Carlos Quintana". Sons of Sam Horn. http://www.sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Carlos_Quintana. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 
3. ^ "Carlos Quintana". Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/carlos-quintana. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Carlos Quintana Baseball Library
• Baeball Reference minor league statistics