José Pagán | |||
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![]() Pagán in 1963
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Shortstop / Third baseman | |||
Born: Barceloneta, Puerto Rico |
May 5, 1935|||
Died: June 7, 2011 Sebring, Florida, U.S. |
(aged 76)|||
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MLB debut | |||
August 4, 1959, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
August 15, 1973, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .250 | ||
Home runs | 52 | ||
Runs batted in | 372 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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José Antonio Pagán Rodríguez (May 5, 1935 – June 7, 2011) was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player, an infielder and outfielder with three National League teams for fifteen seasons.
Pagán made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants on August 8, 1959. He played for the Giants until 1965, then was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In his last season in 1973, he played his final games with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pagán's best full season statistically came with the Giants in 1962, when he hit .259 and drove in a career high 57 runs. He had 73 runs scored that year, which also was a career high, while collecting 150 hits for the only time in his career. Despite playing part-time for the Pirates from 1966–1970, Pagán batted in the .260s twice and the .280s twice out of those five years, only hitting under .264 in 1968 when he only had 163 at bats. During that time instead of playing short-stop, he played mostly third base and left field, but also was used as a key "spare part" for the team, playing games at every position in the infield, even one at catcher in 1967 for one inning.
Pagán appeared in two World Series in his career; first at the age of 27 with the Giants, when he was on the losing side of the 1962 against the New York Yankees. Despite the loss, he hit .368 with a home run in the seven-game series. With the Pirates in 1971, after losing the NLCS in 1970, he won his only world series and became a hero of the deciding game. In game seven of the 1971 World Series between the Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles, Pagán hit a double in the top of the eighth inning which scored Willie Stargell which proved to be the game's (and series') winning run.