Rubén (Mora) Amaro Sr. (January 6, 1936 – March 31, 2017) was a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

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), ...

from 1958 through 1969. He was the son of a Cuban,

Santos Amaro Santos Amaro, better known as "Canguro" Amaro (14 March 1908 – 31 May 2001), was a Cuban professional baseball player who played in both the Cuban League and the Mexican League. One of the most aggressive players in Cuban baseball, Amaro had th ...

, "El Canguro" and a Mexican, Josefina Mora. He finished 21st in voting for the 1964 National League

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

for playing in 129 games and having 299

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 ...

, 31 runs, 79

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 ...

, 11 doubles, 4

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, 34

runs 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 ...

, 16 walks, a .264 batting average, a .307

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, and a .341

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. Shortly after joining the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, Amaro suffered a knee ligament injury in a collision with left fielder

Tom Tresh Thomas Michael Tresh (September 20, 1938 – October 15, 2008) was a professional baseball infielder and outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (–) and Detroit Tigers (). Tresh was a switch-hitter and thre ...

. The injury limited Amaro to just 14 games in 1966. Amaro's father, Santos, was 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 ...

in the Mexican League. His second son, Rubén Jr., was an outfielder in Major League Baseball in the 1990s and served as the

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

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 ...

from 2009–2015. Amaro's third son, Luis, also played briefly for the Philadelphia Phillies in minor league baseball, and is currently the General Manager of the Aguilas del Zulia baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, recently winning the LVBP championship 2017. He also has a son David Amaro, a daughter Alayna Amaro, and his youngest son Ruben Andres Amaro. Amaro served as a member of the board of the

Baseball Assistance Team The Baseball Assistance Team is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization affiliated with Major League Baseball. The organization's mission is to "confidentially support members of the ''Baseball Family'' in need of assistance." The baseball family inc ...

, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players through financial and medical hardships. Amaro died on March 31, 2017 of natural causes.

In popular culture

His son,

Rubén Amaro Jr. Rubén Amaro Jr. (born February 12, 1965) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and General manager (baseball), General manager (GM). Amaro played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . He was named the GM of the Philadelphia ...

, portrayed him on two episodes (S5E11 and S6E6) of '' The Goldbergs'', an ABC series which is set in the 1980s. His son attended William Penn Charter School, the same school as TV and film producer

Adam F. Goldberg Adam Frederick Goldberg (born April 2, 1976) is an American television and film producer, and writer. Goldberg is best known as the creator and showrunner of '' The Goldbergs'', a television sitcom based on his childhood in which he is portrayed ...

, on whose adolescence the show is based.

References

External links

Rubén Amaro Sr
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Rubén Amaro Sr
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Amaro, Ruben Sr. 1936 births 2017 deaths Águilas de Mexicali players Baseball players from Veracruz Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players California Angels players Caribbean Series managers Chicago Cubs coaches Deaths from cancer in Florida Detroit Tigers scouts Eugene Emeralds players Gold Glove Award winners Houston Astros scouts Houston Buffaloes players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball players from Mexico Major League Baseball third base coaches Major League Baseball shortstops Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mexican people of Cuban descent Mexican League baseball managers Minor league baseball managers Naranjeros de Hermosillo players New York Yankees players Philadelphia Phillies coaches Philadelphia Phillies players Philadelphia Phillies scouts Reading Phillies players Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players Tomateros de Culiacán players Yaquis de Obregón players

In popular culture

See also

References

External links