Balvino Gálvez

Balvino Gálvez Jerez (born March 31, 1964 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Professional career

Gálvez was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981, and made his major league debut in 1986 with the Dodgers. He played in 10 major league games that year, but was demoted to the minors again the following year. He traveled between various minor league teams before signing with the Brother Elephants in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1994. In the two full seasons with the Elephants, he had a 26–16 record with an ERA of 2.53 and 203 strikeouts in the 370 innings pitched. He traveled to Japan in 1996, and was signed during spring training by the Yomiuri Giants. He was not regarded as a crucial player at the beginning of the season, but ended up with 16 wins, tying teammate Masaki Saito for the most wins in the Central League. The Giants won the Central League pennant that year.

Gálvez displayed a distinct pitching form in Japan, often releasing the ball while sticking out his tongue. He had a blistering mid-90 mph fastball, and had surprisingly good control. However, he grew restless whenever there were runners on base, and had trouble pitching from the set position. He frequently showed dissatisfaction towards the umpire's calls; a trait which would lead him into clashes with opposing teams and umpires.

On July 31, 1998, the Giants played against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium, and Gálvez faced Tomochika Tsuboi in the bottom of the 6th inning. Gálvez's pitch was closely called a ball by the umpire, Atsushi Kittaka, and Gálvez lost his cool, giving up a home run to Tsuboi on his next pitch. Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima emerged from the dugout to signal a change of pitchers, but Gálvez refused to leave the mound, shouting insults at umpire Kittaka. Gálvez allowed his teammates to drag him back to the dugout, but quickly turned back around to throw the baseball at umpire Kittaka (the ball narrowly missed him). The game erupted into a huge mess afterwards, and Gálvez was given a suspension for the remainder of the season. The next game between the Tigers and Giants also erupted into a brawl, and both teams were warned for throwing dangerous pitches on the August 2 game.

The Giants could have released Gálvez for causing such an incident, but they chose to re-sign him for 1999 because the team's main starters, (Masaki Saito, Hiromi Makihara and Masumi Kuwata) were showing heavy signs of aging. Gálvez actually ended up being the team's opening day starter, becoming the first non-Japanese player to pitch opening-day for the Giants. He pitched decently throughout the season, but was given very little run-support, resulting in a 9–12 record in 1999. He still figured as a crucial part of the Giants starting rotation, and was kept for the following season.

Gálvez had to compete for his spot on the team during spring training, as the Giants had signed three other non-Japanese pitchers during the offseason (there was a limit of two non-Japanese players on the roster). He earned his slot in the starting rotation, but lost all 6 of the games he started in 2000, despite giving up 3 runs or less each start. This made 10 consecutive losses, counting his four losses at the end of the previous year. He was demoted to the minor leagues after his sixth loss, and left the team at the end of the year.

He was signed by the Samsung Lions (Korean Baseball Organization) in 2001, and marked a win in his first start. However, it was discovered that he had traveled to Korea without a working visa, and he was sued by the opposing team (Hanwha Eagles).

Though the incident against the Tigers tarnished his reputation, Gálvez still compiled a 37–25 record in his five seasons in Japan; a fabulous record considering that very few foreign starters succeed in Japan. He also got 39 hits during his career in Japan; 10 of the 39 hits were home runs.

He also led the way for more players to travel to Japan from Taiwanese baseball, (the Giants scouted Gálvez after seeing him pitch in the Chinese Professional Baseball League) as many players including Alex Cabrera, Brian Warren, and Carlos Mirabal were signed by Japanese teams after scouts saw Gálvez's success.

Balvino Gálvez had the #5 spot in the Pirates' rotation pretty much locked down in 2001, when he made an error toward the end of spring training. He got into a shouting match with the pitching coach, Spin Williams,threw down his glove, stormed out of the stadium, and was on a plane back to the Dominican Republic within hours, never to appear again in organized baseball, other than the Japanese Baseball League. Very hot headed individual.

-- April 1, 2001:One of the wackiest: Pirates reliever Balvino Gálvez, who turned 37 yesterday and hadn't been in the majors since 1986, muffed a throw in a rundown drill, picked up the ball, threw it into the stands, stormed into the clubhouse, packed his things and bolted, without talking with the team or media. The release papers were drawn up immediately.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from Japanesebaseball.com
• Video clip of the July 31 incident on YouTube