Luis Salazar
Posted by Andy on March 16, 2011
Here's an awful story about former major-league and current Braves coach Luis Salazar losing an eye after getting hit by a batted ball. It makes me sick to my stomach and I feel awful for Salazar and Brian McCann, who hit the ball (but of course cannot be blamed for the accident.)
Here's Salazar's 1988 Topps Traded card, taken from my blog about that set. Salazar's regular 1988 Topps card is here.
Salazar didn't have a particularly noteworthy career as a player, but he was involved in a number of interesting trades:
- November 29, 1973: Signed by the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent.
- July 8, 1974: Released by the Kansas City Royals.
- November 23, 1975: Signed as a Free Agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- August 5, 1980: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Rick Lancellotti to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later and Kurt Bevacqua. The San Diego Padres sentMark Lee (August 12, 1980) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
- December 6, 1984: Traded by the San Diego Padres with Ozzie Guillen, Tim Lollar and Bill Long to the Chicago White Sox for Kevin Kristan (minors), Todd Simmons (minors) and LaMarr Hoyt.
- December 19, 1986: Released by the Chicago White Sox.
- April 2, 1987: Signed as a Free Agent with the San Diego Padres.
- October 20, 1987: Granted Free Agency.
- February 20, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.
- March 23, 1989: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the San Diego Padres for Mike Brumley.
- August 30, 1989: Traded by the San Diego Padres with Marvell Wynne to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later, Darrin Jackson and Calvin Schiraldi. The Chicago Cubs sent Phil Stephenson (September 5, 1989) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.
There's Rick Lancellotti, who I recently mentioned. He was also traded with future manager Ozzie Guillen in a deal for a Cy Young winner.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:47 am
[...] like he is going to lose the eye. Luis Salazar Baseball-Reference Blog Blog Archive Still lucky to be alive. I have a bump on my nose from when I took one in 6th grade. It still [...]
March 16th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
I was at this game on my yearly Spring Training trip when this happened and was seated on the first base side when Luis got hit. He had absolutely no chance to get out of the way since McCann was way early on the pitch. He was out for 15 plus minutes and we all got concerned when medics brought oxygen down. He's so very lucky to be alive and he will recover from this. Terrible that this happened...just terrible. Thoughts go out to Luis and his family and also to Brian, who must just be feeling sick about this.
Luis is a tough guy though and he plans to return to managing in 4-6 weeks. Luis, hang in there...all of Braves nation has you in our thoughts and prayers.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Shades of Juan Encarnacion getting hit in the on-deck circle by an Aaron Miles foul ball. I still remember that one vividly, truly a sickening sight. Completely ended his career, and the Cardinals team doctor called it the worst injury to a player's face he's ever seen.
The really incredible thing is that this doesn't happen more often, when you think about how many foul balls are hit during the course of every season.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I recall that Gregg Jefferies one hit a Cardinals' coach in the eye with a batted ball, and if I recall correctly the coach was wearing eyeglasses, which shattered and entered his eye. I don't recall who the coach was or the extent of his injury. I believe it was during batting practice.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Salazar is the career leader in games played at third base for the Padres. Here's wishing him all the best.
March 17th, 2011 at 1:31 am
My favorite Luis Salazar moment was the triple he hit leading off the bottom of the 8th inning the Padres in Game 5 of the 1984 NLCS. It went for naught as Mellow Carmelo Martinez missed a suicide squeeze bunt attempt on the next pitch and Salazar was tagged out sliding in to homeplate. The Padres were ahead 6-3 at the time. That remained the final score and the Padres advanced to the World Series.
I know of a similar accident that caused blindness. In the 1980's and 1990's I played in over a hundred beer softball games at Phora Durbar, south of the Royal Palace in Kathmandu, Nepal. Sanjiv Singh was the best pitcher in Nepal. He threw an underhand high arc pitch that invariably found the strike zone. A good percentage (as high as 20%) of these pitches were above the legal limit of twelve feet above the ground. The rotating crew of umpires (whoever made the last out the previous inning for the batting team) rarely shouted "illegal pitch! too much arc!"
Three years ago Sanjiv was playing third base. The batter hit a fair ball line drive right at Sanjiv. Sanjiv was slow to raise his glove and the ball hit him in the eye. Sanjiv wound up blinded in one eye. What makes this story worse was the batter who hit the ball that blinded Sanjiv was his 18 year old son. Ouch!
Sanjiv was the best defensive fielding pitcher in Nepal. A batter rarely hit a ball up the middle that Sanjiv did not field. Sanjiv started many forceouts and doubleplays. Sanjiv is not a beer drinker. If a fluke accident like that could happen to Sanjiv it could happen to anybody. Ke garne. Jebon esta cha (what to do? life is like that).
I wish the best for Luis Salazar and Brian McCann. It is better that a 54 year old coach was blinded than say a 20 year old rookie. That is subjective and no, I do not want to play God. I am walking on thin ice there. I recall that Gil McDougald was badly shaken after hitting Herb Score with a line drive. McCann is an All-Star. He had the game winning three rbi double in last year's All-Star game. A month earlier he hit a home run into the second deck down the rightfield line in Dodger Stadium.
March 17th, 2011 at 1:47 am
I would be interested in your history & what you were doing in Nepal Yetijuice. Read a fair amount of Eastern/Buddhist philosophy, admire much of it greatly. Sometime Shambhala Center attendee in Midtown NYC who runs an arts festival in NYC.
March 17th, 2011 at 1:54 am
I saw Salazar play several games for the Tiger's in '88. He always seemed to have a good day when I saw him: get a couple of hits, make an outstanding defensive play, just something special every time. That was the last hurrah for the great Tigers team of '84 & he was a big part of why it happened.
March 17th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Cubs fans will remember that late 1989 trade fondly. Vance Law was the regular 3B that year and had on OPS+ of 80. In 26 games, Luis hit .325 and had on OPS+ of 116 as the Cubs won the NL East. He then hit .368 with a triple and a homer 5 games of the NLCS, lost to the Giants. I see he still plans to manage in the monor leagues this year, which I hope is true.
March 17th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Kind of random:
But Salazr batted so well in his first two years, especially compared to his career #s, I ran a check on 1st two years, minimum of 150 Gs, players who batted > .310.
Just 80 names on the list. Luis is 61st.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/season_finder.cgi?type=b#ajax_result_table::none
March 17th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Interesting note: Salazar also played all nine fielding positions over the course of his career.
March 17th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Howard- I don't see where he caught any games, unless it was in the minors. He played every position in the field except pitcher for the Tigers in '88 and 2nd base in '87 when he pitched a couple of games for the Padres. Still, that's a pretty impressive record of versatility.