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César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 - July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was an infielder/outfielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1965-72), Philadelphia Phillies (1973), Texas Rangers (1974-1975), Oakland Athletics (1975-1976) and New York Yankees (1976).^{[1 ]}

Major League career

Tovar was born in Caracas, Venezuela.^{[1 ]} He was signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1959 and, after being traded to Minnesota in late 1964, made his debut on April 12, 1965.^[2][3] The Twins made ample use of his ability to play a variety of positions; by 1967, Tovar divided his fielding season between third base (70 games), center field (64), second base (36), left field (10), shortstop (9) and right field (5), setting an American League record of 164 games played and leading the league with 649 at-bats. ^[4] In addition, he was among the top 10 batters in runs, hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases, on base percentage, hit by pitch and sacrifice hits. ^[4] At the end of the 1967 season, the Triple Crown Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski received all but one vote for the American League MVP award; the lone dissenting ballot was marked in favor of Tovar.^[5]

On September 22, 1968, Tovar became the second player to play every position in a game, joining Bert Campaneris (Kansas City Athletics, 1965), Scott Sheldon (Texas Rangers, 2000) and Shane Halter (Detroit Tigers, 2000) as the only players to have accomplished the feat.^[6][7][8][9] Tovar started the game on the mound against Oakland and pitched one scoreless inning in which he struck out Reggie Jackson; the first batter he faced was Campaneris. Along with Campaneris, Tovar is one of only four players to have played in all of the baseball positions, including one pitching appearance and being a designated hitter.^{[10 ]} No National League player has ever played all nine positions in one game.

On May 18, 1969, Tovar combined with Rod Carew to set a major league record for most steals by a club in one inning with five. In the third inning against a Detroit battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan, Tovar stole third base and home. Carew followed by stealing second base, third base and home.^{[10 ][11][12]} The two steals of home in the same inning also tied a record.

In 1970, Tovar ended the season with a .300 batting average, ranked third in the league in total hits with 195, and second in runs scored with 120.^[13] He improved his hitting through 1971, when he hit for a .311 batting average and led the league with 204 hits.^[14] In 1971, SPORT magazine polled major league players to identify the game's most competitive player. Pete Rose won; the runners-up were Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, and César Tovar. On September 19, 1972, Tovar hit for the cycle.^[15][16] After a colorful tenure as a Twin, Tovar platooned with the young Mike Schmidt at third base for the Phillies in 1973. After that, he gave the Rangers, Athletics and Yankees, three years of his versatile services.

Tovar is regarded as the all-time American League leader in breaking up no-hit attempts with five.^{[10 ][17][18]} On April 30, 1967, Tovar's single was the only hit against the Washington Senators' Barry Moore.^[19] On August 10, 1969, Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles extended his streak of consecutive batters retired to 35 before surrendering a ninth-inning single to Tovar, which also broke up Cuellar's bid for a no-hitter.^[20] Earlier in the season (May 15), he broke up the no-hit bid of another Baltimore pitcher, Dave McNally.^[21] Tovar was responsible for spoiling two other no-hitters during his career: against the Washington's Dick Bosman (August 13, 1970) and the Yankees' Jim "Catfish" Hunter (May 31, 1975).^[22][23]

In his 12-year career, Tovar batted .278 with 46 home runs, 435 RBI, 1546 hits, 834 runs, 253 doubles, 55 triples, and 226 stolen bases in 1448 games.^{[1 ][24][25]}

César Tovar died of pancreatic cancer in Caracas, Venezuela, at 54 years of age.^[26]

Honors

Tovar was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.^[27]

Related links

• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of players who have hit for the cycle
• List of players from Venezuela in Major League Baseball

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Almanac
• Baseball Library
• Bio from Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins
• Letter Man at Minnesota, Baseball Digest, July 1967
• The Day César Tovar Played All 9 Positions, Baseball Digest, February 1973
• When César Tovar Played All Nine Positions in One Game, Baseball Digest, December 1998

References