Héctor López
| Héctor López | |||
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López in 1955.
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| Outfielder / Third baseman | |||
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Born: July 9, 1929 Colón, Panama |
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| MLB debut | |||
| May 12, 1955, for the Kansas City Athletics | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 30, 1966, for the New York Yankees | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .269 | ||
| Home runs | 136 | ||
| Runs batted in | 591 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Héctor Headley López Swainson (born July 9, 1929 (possibly April 8, 1932)) is a former left fielder and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees from 1955 to 1966. He is notable as the first black manager at the AAA baseball level, as the third outfielder on the Maris/Mantle Yankees, and as the Kansas City Athletics franchise hitting streak record holder. López was on World Series Championship teams for the Yankees in 1961 and 1962. In various seasons, he finished among the top 10 American League hitters in hits, runs batted in, runs scored, doubles, triples, slugging percentage, sacrifice flies, sacrifice hits, games played, times hit by pitch and at bats. He was also known for his hustle, his clutch hitting and poor fielding.
López was the second Panamanian-born major league baseball player and continues to be one of the country's most revered world champion athletes. Although Humberto Robinson (102 games played/5 seasons) debuted in the major leagues 22 days earlier than López, López (1,450 games played/12 seasons) was the first of the 49 major leaguers born in Panama to have an extensive career. He was the first Panamanian-born major leaguer to finish in the top 10 in any official statistical category (sacrifice hits, 1956); first to lead his league in any official statistic (sacrifice flies, 1958); first to play in the World Series (with the 1960 Yankees); and the first to win a World Championship (with the 1961 Yankees).
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