Enzo Octavio Hernández (12 February 1949 – 13 January 2013) was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

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), ...

who played from 1971 through 1978 for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and

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 ...

. Hernández was born in Valle de Guanape,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Listed at 5' 8", 155 lb., he batted and threw right handed. A typical ′′good field-no hit′′ shortstop, Hernández was initially signed by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in 1967, and later played in the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

' minor league system. After being traded along with

Tom Phoebus Thomas Harold Stephen Phoebus (April 7, 1942 – September 5, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynas ...

Fred Beene Freddy Ray Beene (born November 24, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. Beene was a right-handed pitcher who played in the Major Leagues between to . He was listed at tall and . Beene attended Brazosport High School in Fr ...

and

Al Severinsen Albert Henry Severinsen (November 9, 1944 – January 27, 2015) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played in with the Baltimore Orioles and in and with the San Diego Padres. He batted and threw right-handed. Severinsen had a 3–7 record, ...

from the Orioles for

Pat Dobson Patrick Edward Dobson, Jr. (February 12, 1942 – November 22, 2006) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers (1967–69), San Diego Padres (1970), Baltimore Orioles (1971–72), Atla ...

and

Tom Dukes Thomas Earl Dukes (born August 31, 1942) is an American retired professional baseball player. The native of Knoxville, Tennessee, was a right-handed relief pitcher who appeared in 161 games over six seasons (1967–1972) for the Houston Astros, ...

on December 1, 1970, he became the Padres regular shortstop for most of the period from 1971 to 1976, stealing 20 or more bases four times. He also collected 595 assists In 1971, for the 5th highest total ever for a shortstop. On August 1, 1971, Hernández took part in one of eight recorded triple plays by the San Diego Padres franchise. In an eight-season career, Hernández was a .224

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

with two

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 ...

s, 113

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, 241 runs, 522 hits, 66 doubles, 13 triples, and 129 stolen bases in 714

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

. Hernández finished his Major League Baseball career with an 80% success rate on stolen bases. He also played from 1967 to 1979 with the

Tiburones de La Guaira The Tiburones de La Guaira ( en, La Guaira Sharks) are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Based in the city of La Guaira, they play their home games in Estadio Fórum La Guaira and have won seven national champions ...

and

Llaneros de Portuguesa The Llaneros de Portuguesa were a baseball club which played in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League during the 1975–1976 season. They were managed by Jim Williams and played its home games at the Estadio BR Julio Hernández Molina in Ac ...

of the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

. In besides, he spent time with five different minor league clubs in parts of four seasons spanning 1967–1978. Hernández died on January 13, 2013, aged 63, in

El Tigre El Tigre () is a city of Venezuela located in the state Anzoátegui. It is the capital of Simón Rodríguez Municipality and it is located south in Anzoategui state, equidistant from the Orinoco River and the Caribbean Sea in the Guanipa Mesa at ...

, Venezuela of an apparent suicide, after suffering a long illness. Citing a tweet from journalist Juan Guatache, the Venezuelan newspaper, ''El diario deportivo Líder'', added that the former player "in recent months had received treatment for a depressive condition and in the past December fell to health," without giving other details.

References

External links

1949 births 2013 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players Cocoa Astros players Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players Greensboro Patriots players Llaneros de Portuguesa players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Major League Baseball shortstops Miami Marlins (FSL) players Oklahoma City 89ers players Rochester Red Wings players People from Anzoátegui San Diego Padres players Suicides by firearm in Venezuela Tiburones de La Guaira players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States 2013 suicides {{Venezuela-baseball-shortstop-stub

See also

References

External links