| César Tovar | |
|---|---|
| Infielder/ Outfielder | |
| Born: July 3, 1940 Caracas, Venezuela |
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| Died: July 14, 1994 (aged 54) Caracas, Venezuela |
|
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 12, 1965 for the Minnesota Twins | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 29, 1976 for the New York Yankees | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .278 |
| Home runs | 46 |
| Runs batted in | 435 |
| Stolen bases | 226 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 - July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1965–72), Philadelphia Phillies (1973), Texas Rangers (1974-1975), Oakland Athletics (1975-1976) and New York Yankees (1976).[1] Tovar was a right-handed batter capable of playing various defensive positions on the field. He was the second player in major league history to play all nine positions during a single game.[2][3]
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Cesar Tovar was born in Caracas, Venezuela.[1] He was signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs (Reds) in 1959 as an 18 year old international free agent. He was then assigned to the Geneva Redlegs in the D-league New York-Penn League where he hit .252 in 87 games. He then batted .298, .338, and .329 in his next three pro seasons as he moved up the Reds' minor league system. He was promoted to Triple-A in 1963 and hit .297 with 115 runs while showing good speed and excellent gap power (41 doubles, 9 triples and 17 stolen bases in 152 games), but was blocked in Cincinnati by both a young Pete Rose at second base and veteran all-star center fielder Vada Pinson. Remaining at Triple-A in 1964, he slumped, hitting .275 with a .379 slugging percentage.[4]
However he got his chance to play when the Reds traded Tovar to the Minnesota Twins for the young southpaw, Gerry Arrigo. After going north with the team in 1965, Tovar made his major league debut on April 12.[5][6] However he would soon be sent back to AAA Denver and after hitting .328, he would receive a September call-up and see action in a total of 18 games in the season. However, Tovar would be left off the post-season roster and would watch the Twins' six-game World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers from home.
Starting in 1966, the Twins would make ample use of Tovar's ability to play a variety of positions. In 1967, he would divide his fielding season between third base (70 games), center field (64), second base (36), left field (10), shortstop (9) and right field (5), setting an American League record of 164 games played (the Twins had two tie games in the 1967 season) and leading the league with 726 plate appearances and 649 at-bats.[7] He was also among the top 10 batters in runs, hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases, on base percentage, hit by pitch and sacrifice hits.[7] At the end of the 1967 season, the Triple Crown Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski received all but one vote for the American League Most Valuable Player Award; the lone dissenting ballot (cast by Minneapolis Star sports writer Max Nichols) was marked in favor of Tovar and he would finish 7th in the MVP voting.[8]
On September 22, 1968, Tovar became the second player after Bert Campaneris (Kansas City Athletics, 1965) to play all nine fielding positions in a game. The two were later joined by Scott Sheldon (Texas Rangers, 2000) and Shane Halter (Detroit Tigers, 2000) as the only four players in MLB history to have accomplished the feat.[2][9][10][11][12] Tovar started the game on the mound against Oakland and pitched one scoreless inning in which he struck out Reggie Jackson. As fate would have it, the first batter he faced was Campaneris.
On May 18, 1969, Tovar combined with Rod Carew to set a major league record for most steals by a club in one inning with five. In the third inning against a Detroit battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan, Tovar stole third base and home. Carew followed by stealing second base, third base and home.[12][13][14] The two steals of home in the same inning also tied a record.
In 1970, Tovar ended the season with a .300 batting average, ranked third in the league in total hits with 195, and second in runs scored with 120.[15] As he improved at the plate, he also moved less around the diamond - playing primarily center field in 1970, left field in 1971, and right field in 1972. He improved his hitting through 1971, when he hit for a .311 batting average and led the league with 204 hits.[16] In 1971, SPORT magazine polled major league players to identify the game's most competitive player. Pete Rose won; the runners-up were Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, and César Tovar. On September 19, 1972, Tovar belted a walk-off home run to hit for the cycle.[17] Only four other players in major league baseball history have completed a cycle with a game-ending homer: Ken Boyer (1961),[18] George Brett (1979),[19] Dwight Evans (1984)[20] and Carlos González (2010).[21]
After a subpar season in 1972, the Twins traded Tovar on November 30 to the Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman/outfielder Joe Lis and pitchers Ken Reynolds and Ken Sanders. Tovar would then spend the 1973 season platooning with a young Mike Schmidt at third base. After being purchased by the Texas Rangers in December 1973, Tovar had a brief resurgence in 1974 as the leadoff hitter for Billy Martin, his Twins manager in 1970, hitting .292 with a .354 on-base percentage. The Rangers would sell Tovar to the Oakland A's in August 1975 and he would spend his last two seasons as a pinch hitter/defensive replacement for the A's and New York Yankees and retired following the end of the 1976 season.
In his 12-year career, Tovar played in 1448 games with 1546 hits in 5569 at bats for a .278 batting average along with 46 home runs, 435 RBI, 834 runs, 253 doubles, 55 triples, 226 stolen bases and a .335 on base percentage.[1][22][23]
Tovar is regarded as the all-time American League leader in breaking up no-hit attempts with five.[12][24][25] On April 30, 1967, Tovar's single was the only hit against the Washington Senators' Barry Moore.[26] On August 10, 1969, Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles extended his streak of consecutive batters retired to 35 before surrendering a ninth-inning single to Tovar, which also broke up Cuellar's bid for a no-hitter.[27] Earlier in the season (May 15), he broke up the no-hit bid of another Baltimore pitcher, Dave McNally.[28] Tovar was responsible for spoiling two other no-hitters during his career: against the Washington's Dick Bosman (August 13, 1970) and the Yankees' Jim "Catfish" Hunter (May 31, 1975).[29][30]
After retiring from the majors, Tovar returned to his native Venezuela. In 1979, Tovar played in the short-lived Inter-American League for the Caracas Metropolitanos and hit .285 for manager Jim Busby.[3] In August 1990, he managed the Venezuelan team to a 1-7 last place finish in the Baseball World Cup, which was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.[31]
César Tovar died on July 14, 1994 of pancreatic cancer in Caracas, Venezuelan Capital District, Venezuela, at 54 years of age.[32] Tovar was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.[33]