Wilson Eduardo Álvarez Fuenmayor (born March 24, 1970) is a Venezuelan former 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 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), ...

as a left-handed

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 ...

. During a thirteen-year baseball career, he pitched for the Texas Rangers,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

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 Yor ...

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

, and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

Career

Born in

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

Venezuela 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 ...

, Alvarez represented his hometown in the

1982 Little League World Series The 1982 Little League World Series took place between August 24 and August 28 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Kirkland National Little League of Kirkland, Washington, defeated the Puzih Little League of Chiayi County, Taiwan, in the championsh ...

, where they finished with a 2–1 record. Alvarez began his

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 ...

career when he was signed by the Texas Rangers 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 ...

on September 23, 1986. He made his major league debut at the age of nineteen on July 24,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, the first player born in the 1970s to make their debut. Five days later, he was traded with Scott Fletcher and

Sammy Sosa Samuel Peralta Sosa (born November 12, 1968) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Cubs. After playing for the Texas Rangers and C ...

to the Chicago White Sox for

Harold Baines Harold Douglas Baines (born March 15, 1959) is an American former right fielder and designated hitter (DH) in Major League Baseball who played for five American League (AL) teams from 1980 to 2001, and is best known for his three stints with th ...

and

Fred Manrique Fred Eloy Manrique Reyes an-RE-kay(born November 5, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1981, 1984), Montreal Expos (1985), St. Louis Cardinals (1986), Chicago White Sox (1987–89), Tex ...

. Alvarez provided one of the highlights of the

1991 Chicago White Sox season The 1991 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 92nd season. They finished with a record of 87-75, good enough for 2nd place in the American League West, 8 games behind of the 1st place Minnesota Twins, as the club opened the new Comiskey P ...

on August 11, pitching a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

at Memorial Stadium in only his second Major League start. It was quite a contrast to his only previous appearance, when he faced five batters for the Rangers and gave up two walks, a

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 ...

and 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 without retiring a batter, giving him an undefined career

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

prior to his no-hit gem. Alvarez had control problems in the minors, and it carried over to the big leagues. After shouldering a very heavy workload in 1991, he was kept under scrutiny for most of the season. Between the majors, minors and winter league action, Alvarez worked close to 300 innings in '91; a significant number for anyone, but especially for a 21-year-old pitcher. It wasn't until that he managed to break into the rotation permanently. That season, Alvarez won 15 games and finished second in the league in

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

, but his control problems continued; he led the league with 122 walks. In , Alvarez went 12–8 and made the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

All-Star team. After a disappointing 8–11 in , he had 15 wins and 181

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in . During the season, the White Sox traded Álvarez,

Danny Darwin Danny Wayne Darwin (born October 25, 1955), known as the "Bonham Bullet" and "Dr. Death", is an American professional baseball pitcher and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, ...

, and Roberto Hernández to the

for six prospects (

Keith Foulke Keith Charles Foulke ( ; born October 19, 1972) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. A graduate of Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas, Foulke attended Galveston College and Lewis–Clark State College. Between 1997 and 2008, he p ...

Bob Howry Bobby Dean Howry (born August 4, 1973) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. Early life Howry attended, and played baseball at Deer Valley High School in Arizona, then he attended McNeese State University and was drafted b ...

Lorenzo Barceló Lorenzo Barceló (born August 10, 1977) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He played for the Chicago White Sox from –. Career MLB career San Francisco Giants Barceló was originally signed by the San Francisco Gia ...

, Mike Caruso,

Ken Vining Kenneth Edward Vining (born December 5, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Vining played for the Chicago White Sox during the 2001 MLB season, 2001 season. In 8 career games, he posted an 0–0 record and an earned run average ...

, and Brian Manning) in what became known as the

White Flag Trade The White Flag Trade was a trade made between two Major League Baseball teams in 1997. On July 31, 1997, the Chicago White Sox traded three veteran pitchers to the San Francisco Giants for six minor league players. At the time, the trade was mali ...

. A

after the season, he signed a five-year contract with Tampa Bay. He was the team's first pitcher, and started Opening Day on March 31, 1998, throwing the Devil Rays' first ever pitch (a ball to Detroit's Brian L. Hunter). Inconsistency and poor conditioning continually kept him from realizing his full potential. In his first season with the Devil Rays, Alvarez missed two months with tendinitis in his shoulder, eventually losing 14 games during the season. The following year he made two trips to the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. Finally, he had arthroscopic shoulder surgery and missed the next two seasons. After finishing his contract with Tampa Bay, Álvarez signed with the Dodgers. He began the 2003 season as a starter for Triple-A

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. After going 5–1 with a 1.15 ERA, he filled the long

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

role for the Dodgers at mid-season. Later he got a chance to start, collecting a 5–0 record and 1.06 ERA over a stretch of nine games. In 2004, he went 7–6 in 40 games (15 as a starter). On August 1, 2005, Alvarez announced he would retire after the season. He compiled a career 102–92 record with 1330 strikeouts and a 3.96 ERA in 1747.2 innings. After a brief stint as the pitching coach of the

State College Spikes The State College Spikes are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in State College, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. The ...

(2007–2008), Álvarez joined the

organization when he was named pitching coach of the

Gulf Coast League Orioles The Florida Complex League Orioles are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Before 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Orioles. The team plays its home ...

in 2013. He was dismissed from that job in June 2019. In 2010, Álvarez gained induction into the

Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame The Pabellón de la Fama del Caribe (In English, the ''Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame'') was established in 1996 by Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, commissioner of the Confederación de Béisbol del Caribe (''Caribbean Confederation of Profession ...

Personal life

He is the father of Viviana, Vannessa, and Valentina Alvarez, and currently lives in Florida.

References

External links

Box Score of Wilson Álvarez's No Hitter
*''The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia'' – Gary Gillette, Peter Gammons, Pete Palmer. Publisher: Sterling Publishing, 2005. Format: Paperback, 1824pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Wilson 1970 births Living people Águilas del Zulia players American League All-Stars Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Rangers players Chicago White Sox players Durham Bulls players Gastonia Rangers players Gulf Coast Devil Rays players Gulf Coast Rangers players Las Vegas 51s players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Minor league baseball coaches Nashville Sounds players Oklahoma City 89ers players Orlando Rays players San Francisco Giants players Sportspeople from Maracaibo St. Petersburg Devil Rays players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Texas Rangers players Tulsa Drillers players Vancouver Canadians players Venezuela national baseball team people Venezuelan baseball coaches Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Canada Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links