Enrique Romo Navarro (born July 15, 1947) is a Mexican former professional baseball

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 ...

who played for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

(1977–78) and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(1979–82). Romo batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Santa Rosalía,

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

, and is the younger brother of

Vicente Romo Vicente is an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese name. Like its French variant, Vincent, it is derived from the Latin name ''Vincentius'' meaning "conquering" (from Latin ''vincere'', "to conquer"). Vicente may refer to: Location *São Vicente, Ca ...

, who also pitched in the majors.

Career

In a six-season career, Romo posted a 44–33 record with a 3.45

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

, 52 saves, and 436

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 350

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...

. Romo pitched 11 seasons in

Mexican baseball The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

prior to making his major league debut for the Seattle Mariners in 1977 at the age of 29. In his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season, he led the Mariners with 16 saves. He was acquired along with Tom McMillan and Rick Jones by the

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

from the Mariners for

Mario Mendoza Mario Mendoza Aizpuru (born December 26, 1950) is a Mexican former professional baseball infielder. Mendoza, a lifetime .215 hitter, is best known for being the source of the name for the threshold for batting ineptitude, the " Mendoza Line", ...

Odell Jones Odell Jones (born January 13, 1953 in Tulare, California) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers, in pa ...

and Rafael Vásquez at the

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

on December 5, 1978. His most productive season came with the

1979 World Series The 1979 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1979 season. The 76th edition of the World Series was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and ...

Champions, with whom he had a 10–5 mark, a 2.99 ERA, career-highs in games (84) and

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

(129.3), exclusively as a set-up man for closer

Kent Tekulve Kenton Charles Tekulve ( ; born March 5, 1947), nicknamed "Teke", is an American former professional baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also played f ...

. Romo also made two appearances in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, won by Pittsburgh over 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 ...

in seven games. On October 1, 1980, he slugged a grand slam home run 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 ...

. In 1983, Romo failed to report to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

, first indicating he would arrive late due to one of his children dealing with chicken pox, and then later not attending at all, announcing the intention to join an unsanctioned league in Mexico. Pittsburgh warned Romo that such a move would require them to fine him $500 for each day of camp that he missed; ultimately, Romo remained in Mexico.

Legacy

Along with his brother Vicente, Romo is a member of the

Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame The Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Profesional de México (in English, Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame), commonly called the Salón de la Fama (Hall of Fame) is a baseball hall of fame and museum located in Monterrey, Nuevo León. ...

, having been inducted in 2003. In 2010, the Romo brothers had their uniform numbers retired by

Yaquis de Obregón The Yaquis de Obregón ( en, Obregón Yaquis) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora. The “Yaquis” are the only team in league history to have won three consecutive league championships ...

of the Mexican Winter League. In 2015, Romo was announced as being part of the 2016 induction class of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame.

References

External links

, o
Enrique Romo
- Baseballbiography.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Romo, Enrique 1947 births Living people Algodoneros de Unión Laguna players Baseball players from Baja California Sur Charros de Jalisco players Diablos Rojos del México players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Mexico Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mexican League baseball pitchers Ostioneros de Guaymas players Pittsburgh Pirates players Porteños de Puerto México players Seattle Mariners players Yaquis de Obregón players People from Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur

Career

Legacy

See also

References

External links