Celerino Sánchez Pérez (3 February 1944 – 1 May 1992) was a Mexican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 Baseball scorekeep ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for 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) Am ...

Career

Sánchez starred as a baseball player in the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

from

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, primarily with the

Tigres del México Tigre ("Tiger" in various languages), Tigres or El Tigre may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Le Tigre, an American rock band ** ''Le Tigre'' (album) * '' El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera'', a Nickelodeon animated TV series ** ''El Ti ...

, before joining the

organization in 1972. After spending a few months with the Yankees' minor league affiliate, the

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, Sánchez joined the Yankees in June 1972, and was the Yankees regular third baseman for the rest of the year. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, the Yankees' acquisition of star third baseman

Graig Nettles Graig Nettles (born August 20, 1944), nicknamed "Puff", is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins (1967–1969), Cleveland Indians (1970–1972), New York Yankee ...

relegated him to a backup role. 1973 was Sánchez' final year in the Major Leagues. Sanchez hit his only career home run at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

on May 12, 1973 against Mickey Scott of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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) East Division. As one of the America ...

. He returned to the Mexican Leagues in 1976, where he played for several more years before retiring in 1979. Sánchez was elected to the

Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame The Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Mexicano (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, inaugurated on 10 ...

in 1994.

References

External links

1944 births 1992 deaths Asheville Tourists players Bravos de León players Cafeteros de Córdoba players Greensboro Patriots players Major League Baseball players from Mexico 20th-century Mexican sportsmen Major League Baseball third basemen Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Mexican League baseball players Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mineros de Coahuila players Naranjeros de Hermosillo players New York Yankees players Syracuse Chiefs players Piratas de Campeche players Tigres de Salamanca players Tigres del México players Baseball players from Veracruz {{Mexico-baseball-third-baseman-stub