Federico Emilio Olivo Maldonado (March 28, 1928 – February 3, 1977) was a
Dominican professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...
who appeared in 96
games
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...
in
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
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
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
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
that September. He was equally dominant, pitching 9
inning
In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...
s, and allowing just one earned run. That one
run
Run(s) or RUN may refer to:
Places
* Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia
* Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant
People
* Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...
came against the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
courtesy of a
Maury Wills infield
bunt Bunt may refer to:
* Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India
* Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball
* Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail
* Bunt Island, island in Antarctica
* The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in
extra innings. After reaching first, Wills
stole second, and came around to score on a two
out
Out may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander
* ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
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
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
for
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
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
record
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
with 12 saves and a 3.96 career earned run average. He allowed 129
hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
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 Olivoat 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