César Tovar

Outfielder / Infielder

Born: July 3, 1940
Caracas, Venezuela

Died: July 14, 1994 (aged 54)
Caracas, Venezuela

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

April 12, 1965, for the Minnesota Twins

Last MLB appearance

September 29, 1976, for the New York Yankees

MLB statistics

Batting average

.278

Home runs

Runs batted in

435

Teams

César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 – July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1965–72), Philadelphia Phillies (1973), Texas Rangers (1974–1975), Oakland Athletics (1975–1976) and New York Yankees (1976). Tovar was an extremely versatile player capable of playing various defensive positions on the field. He was the second player in major league history to play all nine positions during a single game. Tovar also had a prolific career in the Venezuelan Winter League where he played 26 seasons, second only to the 30 seasons played by Vic Davalillo.

Tovar was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela where as a child, he shined shoes to earn extra income for his family. At the age of 15, he befriended Gus Gil, another Venezuelan who went on to play in Major League Baseball. In January 1959, Cincinnati Reds General Manager, Gabe Paul, attempted to sign Gil to a contract however, Gil insisted that Paul should also have Tovar sign a contract. Paul relented in order to make Gil agree to sign. Tovar began his professional baseball career when he was assigned to the Geneva Redlegs in the D-league New York–Penn League. He hit .252 in 87 games as an infielder for Geneva in 1959. That winter, he returned to Venezuela to play for the Leones del Caracas, and won the league's rookie of the year award.

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Wikipedia