Rubén Angel Sierra García (born October 6, 1965) is a Puerto Rican former

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)

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 catch ...

. Over 20 seasons, Sierra played for the Texas Rangers (1986–92, 2000–01, 2003),

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

(1992–95),

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 ...

(1995–96, 2003–05),

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1996), Cincinnati Reds (1997),

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

(1997),

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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

(1998),

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

(2002) and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

(2006). Sierra also signed with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

at the end of 1999, but was released towards the end of spring training in March 2000. During his playing career, Sierra was known as 'El Indio' or 'El Caballo' (The Horse).

Early life

Sierra graduated from Liceo Interamericano Castro High School in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

in 1983, where he played

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

MLB career

In November 1982, the Texas Rangers of

(MLB) signed 17-year-old Sierra as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. Sierra made his major league debut on June 1, 1986, as an

and hit a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

in his second MLB

at bat 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 upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

. Sierra hit .264 with 16 home runs and 55

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

(RBIs) in his rookie year. In 1989, Sierra hit 29 home runs and led the league in RBIs (119), triples (14), slugging percentage (.543), total bases (344) and extra base hits (78), and finished second in MVP voting to Robin Yount. He had three seasons with over 100 RBIs with the Rangers. In August 1992, the Rangers traded Sierra, Jeff Russell, and Bobby Witt to the

for José Canseco. In 1995, the Athletics traded Sierra and Jason Beverlin to the

for Danny Tartabull. After helping the Yankees reach the playoffs for the first time in 14 years in 1995, Sierra was traded to the

with Matt Drews for Cecil Fielder. After the 1997 season, the Tigers traded Sierra to the Cincinnati Reds for minor leaguers Decomba Conner and Ben Bailey. Sierra won the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award with the Rangers in 2001. He played for the Mariners in 2002 and began the 2003 season with the Rangers. On June 6, 2003, the Rangers traded Sierra to the Yankees for Marcus Thames. Sierra was an important part of the 2004 Yankees, a team that hit over 240

s, hitting 17 of them as the usual designated hitter, playing in 56 games at the position. In Game 4 of the 2004 American League Division Series, with the Yankees down to the

5–2, Sierra hit a three-run home run to tie the game at 5–5 off of reliever Juan Rincón. His clutch home run helped the Yankees rally to win the game and the series. However, he was the final out of Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, hitting a ground ball to Pokey Reese, which secured the dramatic comeback victory of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. Sierra had an injury-plagued 2005 season and was let go by the Yankees after hitting just 4 home runs in 61 games. In 2006, Sierra signed a minor league contract with the

, but was released on July 10. In August, Sierra was offered a chance to sign on with the

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

for the September run and playoffs. However, due to an illness to his mother, he opted not to play again in 2006. In January 2007, Sierra signed a minor league contract with the Mets, who invited him to

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. However, on March 20, he requested and was granted his release by the team after being reassigned the previous Thursday.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sierra, Ruben 1965 births Living people American League All-Stars American League RBI champions Atlantic City Surf players Burlington Rangers players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Clippers players Detroit Tigers players Fort Myers Miracle players Gulf Coast Rangers players Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball right fielders Minnesota Twins players New York Yankees players Oakland Athletics players Oklahoma City 89ers players Oklahoma RedHawks players Langosteros de Cancún players Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Norfolk Tides players Sportspeople from Río Piedras, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Mexico Rochester Red Wings players Seattle Mariners players Silver Slugger Award winners Baseball players from San Juan, Puerto Rico Syracuse SkyChiefs players Texas Rangers players Toronto Blue Jays players Tulsa Drillers players

Early life

MLB career

See also

References

External links