Roberto Enrique Vargas Vélez (May 29, 1929 – May 27, 2014) was a

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 ...

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 for the

Milwaukee 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) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

during the 1955 season. Listed at 5' 11", Weight: 170 lb., Vargas batted and threw left handed. He was born in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque '' Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wi ...

. Vargas was among the first ten Puerto Rican ball players to debut in the major leagues, making his first appearance for Milwaukee on April 17, 1955, the same day as fellow

Boricua Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...

did it with the

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 ...

. He made 25 relief appearances for the Braves, allowing 23

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s on 39

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and 14 walks for an 8.76 ERA, while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

13 in 24⅔ innings of work and did not have a decision. Sent back to the minors midway through the season, Vargas, who had pitched for the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

in 1948, performed for 11 teams in eight different leagues in a span of eight seasons from 1949–1960. Besides, he played four years 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 ...

as well as winter baseball at Puerto Rico between 1947 and 1961, while representing his country several times in the

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

tournament. Eventually, Vargas had a long career coaching and managing in the Puerto Rico winter league. There, he advised young pitching prospects about the importance of throwing first-pitch strikes and pounding the strike zone and jamming hitters. Vargas died in 2014 in

Caguas, Puerto Rico Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded ...

, two days short of his 85th birthday.Baseball Almanac – Major League Baseball Players Who Died in 2014
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an
SeamheadsMexican League statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Roberto 1929 births 2014 deaths Charros de Jalisco players Chicago American Giants players Drummondville Cubs players Houston Buffs players Lakeland Pilots players Macon Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Memphis Red Sox players Mexican League baseball pitchers Milwaukee Braves players Montreal Royals players Sportspeople from Santurce, Puerto Rico Petroleros de Poza Rica players Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Mexico Reading Indians players Baseball players from San Juan, Puerto Rico Victoria Rosebuds players Wichita Braves players 20th-century African-American sportspeople

See also

References

External links