Steven Robert Ontiveros (born October 26, 1951) is a former

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 ...

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 from through for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

(1973–1976) and Chicago Cubs (1977–1980). He also played six seasons in Japan for the

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, w ...

(1980–1985). Ontiveros was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. He is of Mexican American descent. A solid third baseman with an average arm, Ontiveros won ''The Sporting News'' Minor League Player of the Year Award in 1973. He reached the majors with the San Francisco Giants late in the season, spending four years with them. He was traded along with

Bobby Murcer Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he later ...

and minor-league right-handed pitcher Andy Muhlstock from the

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

to the Cubs for

Bill Madlock Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, Jr. (born January 12, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1973 to 1987. Madlock is notable for being a four-time National League b ...

and

Rob Sperring Robert Walter Sperring (born October 10, 1949) is a former professional baseball player who played for the Chicago Cubs from 1974 to 1976 and the Houston Astros in 1977. He was involved in a pair of transactions separated by months of each oth ...

on February 11, 1977."Madlock Goes to Giants As Cubs Obtain Murcer," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Friday, February 11, 1977.
Retrieved February 14, 2023. 1977 ended up being his most productive season for the Cubs, when he posted career-highs in games played (156),

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 ...

(.299),

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 (10), RBI (68), hits (162), and on-base percentage (.390). On April 17, 1977, Ontiveros singled against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Tom Seaver George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cinc ...

, in Seaver's fifth career one-hit game. In an eight-season career, Ontiveros was a .274 hitter with 24 home runs and 224 RBI in 732 games. Following his major league career, he played in Japan with the

from 1980 to 1985 and hit .312 with 82 home runs and 390 RBI.

References

External links

The Baseball Guru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontiveros, Steve Major League Baseball third basemen San Francisco Giants players Chicago Cubs players Seibu Lions players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from Bakersfield, California American baseball players of Mexican descent 1951 births Living people St. Lucie Legends players