José Concepción Herrera Ontiveros (April 8, 1942 – October 16, 2009) was a
Venezuelan
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 ...
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 who appeared as an
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 ...
and
second baseman 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), ...
for 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 ...
(–) and
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
(–). He batted and threw
right-handed
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...
, stood tall and weighed .
Career
Born in San Lorenzo in
Zulia
Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...
, Herrera was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in 1964 as an amateur
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
and made his debut with the team on June 3, 1967, two years after it became the Astros. He was recalled after
batting Batting may refer to:
* Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs
* Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...
over .280 during his first three
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
seasons. It was an unusual debut: Houston
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 ...
Bob Aspromonte
Robert Thomas Aspromonte (born June 19, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player and business entrepreneur. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball in and then from to , most prominently as a member of the newly for ...
, facing future
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
r
Jim Bunning
James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to ha ...
of the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
in the fifth
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 ...
, protested a
strike two call and was ejected from the game by
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
Frank Secory; Herrera, called upon to
pinch hit
In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, America ...
with a two-strike count already on him, struck out—with the "K" charged to Aspromonte. Herrera later made four more pinch-hitting appearances that June, collecting one
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 four official
at bats
In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...
and one
run batted in
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 ...
. In 1968, Herrera batted over .300 in
Triple-A and was rewarded with a more extended call-up to Houston, appearing in 27 games, and starting in 16 games in the outfield and seven at second base. He hit .240 with five
extra-base hit
In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...
s, and was not protected in the
1968 National League expansion draft. The Expos selected him with the 29th overall pick.
The 1969 season would see Herrera's most extended
MLB
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), ...
service. After hitting .301 in Triple-A, he appeared in 47 games for Montreal from June 17 through the end of the season, including 31 starts as an outfielder. He got off the mark quickly, batting over .350 into mid-August, and was still hitting .323 on September 1 with 11
multi-hit games, and his first two big-league
home runs
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 ...
, struck July 24 and 26 against the
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 ...
at
Fulton County Stadium
Fulton may refer to:
People
* Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship
* Fulton (surname)
Given name
* Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer
* Fult ...
.
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...
1969 Regular Season Batting Log
/ref> But he leveled off in September to finish at .286. Herrera had only one at bat on Opening Day 1970 at Crosley Field
Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) an ...
, Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, as a pinch hitter and struck out in his final MLB appearance.
He played six more years in the upper minors, including four in the Mexican League
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 ...
, before leaving the game in 1975.
In his MLB career of parts of four seasons, Herrera posted a .264 batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
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, 20 RBI, 16 runs, 61 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 ten doubles in 80 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 ...
. He died in Lagunillas Municipality, Zulia
Lagunillas Municipality is one of the 21 municipalities that make up Zulia State, Venezuela. There are about 170,000 inhabitants. The shire town is Ciudad Ojeda.
See also
*Municipalities of Venezuela
Municipalities of Venezuela are subdivision ...
, in his native country in 2009 at age 67.
See also
* List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela
From 1939 to 2019, 397 Venezuelan baseball players born in Venezuela have played in Major League Baseball. This list shows players who appeared in at least one game in MLB, including number indicating order of arrival, name of player, position, ...
References
External links
, o
Retrosheet
Mexican League statistics
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League statistics
1942 births
2009 deaths
Amarillo Sonics players
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Cardenales de Lara players
Diablos Rojos del México players
Durham Bulls players
Evansville Triplets players
Houston Astros players
Jacksonville Suns players
Leones de Yucatán players
Llaneros de Portuguesa players
Major League Baseball outfielders
Major League Baseball players from Venezuela
Mexican League baseball players
Mineros de Coahuila players
Montreal Expos players
Oklahoma City 89ers players
People from Anzoátegui
Portland Beavers players
Statesville Colts players
Tiburones de La Guaira players
Toledo Mud Hens players
Vancouver Mounties players
Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Canada
Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Mexico
Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States
Winnipeg Whips players
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