Cookie Rojas
| Cookie Rojas | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Second baseman / Manager | |||
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Born: March 6, 1939 Havana, Cuba |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 10, 1962, for the Cincinnati Reds | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 1, 1977, for the Kansas City Royals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .263 | ||
| Home runs | 54 | ||
| Runs batted in | 593 | ||
| Managerial record | 76–79 | ||
| Winning % | .490 | ||
| Teams | |||
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As player
As manager |
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
As player
As manager
Octavio Víctor "Cookie" Rojas Rivas (born March 6, 1939) is a Cuban former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He is currently a television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman and outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Kansas City Royals. Listed at 5' 10" (1.78), 160 lb (73 k), A five-time All-Star player, Rojas batted and threw right handed. He is the Miami Marlins' Spanish-language TV color commentator.
Playing baseball over the objections of his father, who wanted him to be a doctor, Rojas signed his first professional baseball contract with the Cincinnati Reds as a 17-year-old amateur free agent prior to the start of the 1956 season. Rojas was then assigned to Cincinnati's D-level team, the West Palm Beach Sun Chiefs in the Florida State League. From 1957 to 1959, Rojas would make steady progress through the Reds' minor league system, playing for the Wausau Lumberjacks in the C-level Northern League in 1957, the Savannah Redlegs in the Single A South Atlantic League in 1958, before coming home and playing for the Havana Sugar Kings in the AAA International League. His advancement through the system was steady despite his batting average falling every year between 1956 and 1960, finally bottoming out at .225. Although he possessed an above-average glove, the Reds were not sure he'd ever hit enough to play regularly in the majors. Consequently, he would spend the next three seasons at AAA, playing for Havana and the Jersey City Jerseys, where he would continue to struggle with his bat while being blocked in the majors by superior Reds' second basemen in All Stars Johnny Temple, Billy Martin, and Don Blasingame. Rojas would finally go north with the Reds at the beginning of the 1962 season and would make his major league debut on April 10. However he would continue to show little at the plate, hitting .221 with only 2 extra base hits in 78 at bats, and would be sent down to the AAA Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers for the remainder of the season.
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