Federico Emilio Olivo Maldonado (March 28, 1928 – February 3, 1977) was a Dominican

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who appeared in 96

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Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1961; 1964–1966). Born in

Guayubín Guayubín is a town in the Monte Cristi province of the Dominican Republic. It is Monte Cristi's second largest town. They hold annual festivities from August 1 until about August 10, where they celebrate their saint which is San Lorenzo (Saint ...

, he threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as tall and . An older brother,

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; grc-gre, Διομήδης, Diomēdēs, "god-like cunning" or "advised by ...

, was also a major league

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Career

"Chi-Chi" Olivo was 27 years old when he signed with the Milwaukee Braves prior to the 1955 season, and was 33 when he made his major league debut on June 5, 1961. He gave up a

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to the very first batter he faced,

Jerry Lynch Gerald Thomas Lynch (July 17, 1930 – March 31, 2012), nicknamed "The Hat", "Lynch The Pinch" and "The Allison Park Sweeper", was an American professional baseball outfielder who ranked among the most prolific pinch hitters in Major League Baseba ...

. He returned to the mound again the next day, and surrendered three earned runs in just a third of an inning. He pitched once more three days later, but would not return to the majors for another three years. He stumbled in his first two outings of 1964, but settled down substantially from there. Over the month of July, Olivo had a 1.93

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

, and held opposing hitters to a .216 batting average. Both of his first two career wins came against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

on July 26 in a doubleheader at Shea Stadium. Overall, he went 2–1 with a 3.75 ERA and five saves. After two April appearances in 1965, Olivo was demoted to the Triple-A Atlanta Crackers. He dominated the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

with a 9–2 record and 1.74 ERA to earn a call back up to

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that September. He was equally dominant, pitching 9

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s, and allowing just one earned run. That one

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came against the

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courtesy of a Maury Wills infield

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in extra innings. After reaching first, Wills stole second, and came around to score on a two

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single by Lou Johnson off

Dick Kelley Richard Anthony Kelley (January 8, 1940 – December 11, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Kelley's career extended for 14 seasons, and he spent all or parts of seven years in Major League Baseball as a mem ...

to give Olivo his only loss on the season. Olivo's final major league season was 1966 for the newly relocated

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

. He went 5–4 with a 4.23 ERA and seven saves. That winter, he and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Bill Robinson were dealt to the

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for

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Clete Boyer Cletis Leroy "Clete" Boyer (February 9, 1937 – June 4, 2007) was an American professional baseball third baseman — who occasionally played shortstop and second base — in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–57 ...

. He pitched one season for the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, going 3–0 with a 1.59 ERA in nine starts. In his 96 MLB games, all in relief, Olivo compiled a 7–6

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with 12 saves and a 3.96 career earned run average. He allowed 129

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and 50

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, with 98

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s, in 141

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. Olivo also pitched in the Dominican Professional Baseball League for the Tigres del Licey, Aguilas Cibaeñas and Estrellas Orientales, and the

Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places * El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines * Puerto Colombia, Colombia * Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela * Puerto Galera, O ...

with the Criollos de Caguas. Olivo was the first Major League Baseball player to die in the Dominican Republic.

References

External links

Chi-Chi Olivo
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Olivo, Chichi 1928 births 1977 deaths Atlanta Braves players Atlanta Crackers players Austin Senators players Denver Bears players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Evansville Braves players Jacksonville Braves players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Milwaukee Braves players Richmond Braves players Syracuse Chiefs players Toledo Sox players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players