Fernando Viña | |||
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Second baseman | |||
Born: Sacramento, California |
April 16, 1969 |||
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MLB debut | |||
April 10, 1993, for the Seattle Mariners | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
May 11, 2004, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .282 | ||
Home runs | 40 | ||
Runs batted in | 343 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Fernando Viña (pronounced VEEN-ya) (born April 16, 1969) is a retired Cuban-American Major League Baseball second baseman and former MLB analyst for ESPN. His parents Andres and Olga immigrated from Cuba in the 1960s. From 1993 through 2005, Viña played for the Seattle Mariners (1993), New York Mets (1994), Milwaukee Brewers (1995-1999), St. Louis Cardinals (2000-2003), and Detroit Tigers (2004).
A National League All-Star in 1998, Viña was a two-time Gold Glove winner (2001-2002). He was limited to 29 games for the Tigers: a serious leg injury ended his first season with Detroit, and Viña missed the entire 2005 season because of a strained right hamstring and patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Many believe Viña concealed the extent of prior injuries from the Tigers in order to obtain a lucrative contract from them, but his signing was the first of several major acquisitions that led to the Tigers' resurrection to a playoff contender.