Miguel Gaspar (19 September 1929 – 22 July 2012) was a Mexican professional baseball

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

and manager 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 ...

, the highest level of professional baseball in Mexico. Born in

Empalme, Sonora Empalme is a city surrounded by a municipality located on the south-central coast of the Mexican state of Sonora. According to the 2005 census the population of the city was 40,630 inhabitants, while the municipality, which has an area of 708.53& ...

, Gaspar also played in American minor leagues from 1950 to 1958. He hit four home runs in a

Rio Grande Valley League The Rio Grande Valley League was a minor league baseball league, with franchises based exclusively in Texas. The Rio Grande Valley League had two incarnations, playing in 1931 and 1949 to 1950. History In 1931, the league initially featured th ...

game while playing with the

Laredo Apaches The Laredo Apaches were a minor league baseball team from Laredo, Texas that existed in two different incarnations: 1949-53 and again in 1995. History The original Apaches were one of the six charter franchises of the Class D Rio Grande Valley Lea ...

in 1950. All told, he played professionally from 1950 to 1974 and he managed in 1959, from 1975 to 1977, in 1979, from 1985 to 1986, in 1988 and in 1993. He was elected to 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. ...

in 1994. In 2020, Gaspar was selected as the starting catcher on the Mexican League Historic Ideal Team by a committee of baseball journalists and historians. His nickname was Pilo.

References

1929 births 2012 deaths Algodoneros de Unión Laguna players Alijadores de Tampico players Austin Pioneers players Baseball players from Sonora Brownsville Charros players Diablos Rojos del México players Dorados de Chihuahua players Laredo Apaches players Leones de Yucatán players Mexican League baseball catchers Mexican League baseball managers Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Miami Sun Sox players Newport News Dodgers players People from Empalme, Sonora Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players San Antonio Missions players Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo players Wichita Indians players {{Mexico-baseball-bio-stub