Taveras signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent January 8, 1968, and made his major league debut on September 25, 1971 as a pinch runner for Willie Stargell in the fifteenth inning of an extra inning marathon with the New York Mets (won 2-1 by the Mets in the bottom of the 15th). After only four appearances, mostly as a late inning defensive replacement in 1972, and spending the entire 1973 season in the minors, Taveras made the Pirates for good in 1974. On August 5, 1977, he hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the second inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Cincinnati.

Eleven games into the 1979 season, Taveras was traded to the New York Mets for Tim Foli and minor leaguer Greg Field on April 19. During his first season with the Mets, he hit his only career home run that actually went over the wall against Mike LaCoss. Coincidentally, it too was in Cincinnati. Taveras managed to play in 164 regular season games that year.

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