Héctor Raul Guerrero Wagner (November 26, 1968 – June 5, 2017) 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 ...

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 ...

for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

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(MLB) from 1990 to 1991.

Early life

Wagner was born in 1968 in

San Juan de la Maguana San Juan de la Maguana is a city and municipality in the western region of the Dominican Republic and capital of the San Juan province. It was one of the first cities established on the island; founded in 1503, and was given the name of San Juan ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

Career

Wagner originally signed with the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent on May 13, 1986. He began his professional career the following year, 1987, as a member of the Royals' rookie minor league team, the

GCL Royals The Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals were a minor league baseball franchise in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League from 1971–1978, 1982–1983 and 1985–2002. The club was owned and operated by the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball. The ...

. He pitched in 13 games that season, starting 12 of them, and had a win–loss record of 1–3 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.06. The following season, Wagner was promoted to the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays their ...

of the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Maj ...

. He pitched a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

through seven innings in a match against the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

on August 14 in a 5-1 victory. He finished the season having pitched 15 games for the Emeralds, going 4-9 with a 3.68 ERA. The Royals invited Wagner 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 ...

to start the 1989 season, and although he did not make the final roster, the team noted that he had a shot to make the roster later that season. He spent the season with the

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of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

, where he pitched in 24 games, won 6 and lost 11, and finished the season with an ERA of 4.56. Wagner spent the 1990 season with the

Memphis Chicks Memphis Chicks may refer to: *Memphis Chicks (Southern Association), a Minor League Baseball team that played from 1901 to 1960 *Memphis Chicks (Southern League) The Memphis Chicks were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Southern Lea ...

, the Royals' Double-A minor league affiliate. In 40 games, primarily 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 ...

, he had a 12-4 record, a 2.02 ERA, and over 133

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 ...

. In September, the Royals brought him to the major league roster, and he made his major league debut on September 10, 1990 against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. Wagner pitched in five games for the Royals in 1990, losing two and finishing the season with an ERA of 8.10. He was the eighth youngest player in Major League Baseball that season. As the

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

began, Wagner was on the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

, and after participating in spring training with the team, he started the season with the

Omaha Royals Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

, the Royals' Triple-A minor league affiliate. In late May, Royals' pitcher

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

was placed on the disabled list, and Wagner was called up to the major league roster in his place. He made two starts for the Royals that season, winning one and losing one, and finishing with an ERA of 7.20. After the two appearances, he was sent back to Omaha, where he finished the season with a 5-6 record and a 3.44 ERA. In 1992, he was to pitch for the Royals, but needed

rotator cuff The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles are the supraspi ...

surgery and ended up missing the season. After recovering from the surgery, Wagner split his time in 1993 between the Memphis Chicks and the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. ...

of the Royals minor league system. He pitched in ten games for Memphis, winning two and losing four, and he started 13 games with Wilmington, finishing the season with a 1-7 record and a 3.38 ERA. At the end of the season, the Royals released him, which ended his professional career for some time. He attempted a comeback in 1999 and 2001, playing for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

in the independent Atlantic League. He pitched in 20 combined games those two seasons, then pitched in four games for the

Pennsylvania Road Warriors The Road Warriors are a professional baseball team owned by the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The traveling team has operated intermittently throughout the league's history, usually being activated in years when the league otherwise h ...

the following year, his last season in the minor leagues.

Death

In 2013, Wagner was diagnosed with stomach cancer. On June 5, 2017, he died from the disease at the age of 48 years old in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area. As ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Hector 1968 births 2017 deaths Águilas Cibaeñas players Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Deaths from stomach cancer Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States People from San Juan de la Maguana Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Newark Bears players Pennsylvania Road Warriors players Appleton Foxes players Chinatrust Whales players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Eugene Emeralds players Gulf Coast Royals players Guerreros de Oaxaca players Memphis Chicks players Omaha Royals players Rieleros de Aguascalientes players Uni-President Lions players Wilmington Blue Rocks players