Rubén Amaro Sr.

Rubén Amaro Sr.
Rubén Amaro Sr.
	Shortstop
	Born: January 6, 1936; Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
	Died: March 31, 2017 (aged 81); Weston, Florida, U.S.
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
	June 29, 1958, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
	August 27, 1969, for the California Angels
MLB statistics
Batting average	.234
Home runs	8
Runs batted in	156
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	St. Louis Cardinals (1958); Philadelphia Phillies (1960–1965); New York Yankees (1966–1968); California Angels (1969);
Career highlights and awards
	Gold Glove Award (1964);
Member of the Mexican Professional
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1986

Rubén (Mora) Amaro Sr. (January 6, 1936 – March 31, 2017) was a Mexican professional baseball player. He played as a shortstop and first baseman in Major League Baseball from 1958 through 1969.

Career

Amaro played on the Mexico national baseball team at the 1953 Amateur World Series.^[1]

He finished 21st in voting for the 1964 National League Most Valuable Player for playing in 129 games and having 299 at-bats, 31 runs, 79 hits, 11 doubles, 4 home runs, 34 runs batted in, 16 walks, a .264 batting average, a .307 on-base percentage, and a .341 slugging percentage.

Shortly after joining the New York Yankees, Amaro suffered a knee ligament injury in a collision with left fielder Tom Tresh.^[2]^[3] The injury limited Amaro to just 14 games in 1966.

Personal life

Amaro's father, Santos, was Cuban and played as an outfielder in the Mexican League. His mother Josefina Mora was from Mexico.

His son, Rubén Jr., was an outfielder in Major League Baseball in the 1990s and served as the General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 2009 to 2015. Amaro's 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. He also has a son David Amaro and a daughter Alayna Amaro.

Amaro served as a member of the board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players through financial and medical hardships.

Death

Amaro died on March 31, 2017, of natural causes.^[4]

In popular culture

His son, Rubén Amaro Jr., 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, on whose adolescence the show is based.

References

^ "English A Mystery to Rodriguez, But Pitchers Aren't". The Sporting News. April 5, 1969. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
^ "Amaro Injured, May Be Lost Until July". The Gazette. Montreal. Associated Press (AP). April 18, 1966. p. 38. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
^ "Yanks Future Bleak With Amaro Sidelined". The Gazette. Montreal. Associated Press (AP). April 19, 1966. p. 26. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
^ Fitzpatrick, Frank (March 31, 2017). "Ruben Amaro Sr. dies at 81". Philly.com. Retrieved March 31, 2017.

External links

Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
Rubén Amaro Sr at Baseball Almanac

[1] "English A Mystery to Rodriguez, But Pitchers Aren't". The Sporting News. April 5, 1969. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

[2] "Amaro Injured, May Be Lost Until July". The Gazette. Montreal. Associated Press (AP). April 18, 1966. p. 38. Retrieved August 15, 2015.

[3] "Yanks Future Bleak With Amaro Sidelined". The Gazette. Montreal. Associated Press (AP). April 19, 1966. p. 26. Retrieved August 15, 2015.

[4] Fitzpatrick, Frank (March 31, 2017). "Ruben Amaro Sr. dies at 81". Philly.com. Retrieved March 31, 2017.

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