Antonio Pulido

Antonio Pulido Leal

• Throws Right

• Born June 13, 1951 in Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz Mexico

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Antonio Pulido retired as the Mexican League's career saves leader.

Pulido debuted in 1979 with the Puebla Parrots, going 5-3 with a 2.48 ERA in 20 games; he made half of his eight career starts that year. In 1980, he went 4-0 with a save and a 1.18 ERA in 11 games for Puebla. Moving to the Campeche Pirates, Antonio went 9-5 with 27 saves and a 2.04 ERA, allowing no homers in 106 innings. He led the Mexican Leaue in saves, only three shy of Aurelio Lopez's then-league record of 30.

In 1982, the 31-year-old struggled at 4-10, 4.10 with 9 saves in 45 games (4 starts) for Campeche and the Mexico City Tigers. He split '83 between two clubs, going 7-5 with 10 saves and a 2.13 ERA. He set the Mexican Pacific League single-season save record in 1983-1984. In 1984, the right-hander was 4-2 with 23 saves and a 2.22 ERA for the Mexico City Red Devils, serving up only one homer in 65 innings. He led the league in saves for the second time.

Antonio remained with Mexico City in 1985 (4-6, 3.88, a league-best 20 saves) and 1986 (5-4, 17 Sv, 5.87), his longest stretch with any one team in a wandering career path. Despite his lofty ERA in 1986, he was still second in the league in saves. In 1987, he went 2-3 with 21 saves and a 1.93 ERA for the Monterrey Sultans to take his fourth and final save title. He split 1988 between the Plataneros de Tabasco and Charros de Jalisco, going a combined 5-3 with 15 saves and a 2.93 ERA.

The veteran hurler pitched for the Monterrey Industrials and Campeche in 1989, going 3-6 with 19 saves and a 4.18 ERA. He finished second in saves behind Salomé Barojas. In 1990, he was a dominant closer for Campeche at 3-4, 2.06 with 25 saves. He was second in saves, trailing Jeff Perry. At age 40, Pulido struggled for the 1991 Pirates and San Luis Potosi Cactus Pear Growers, with a record of 3-8, 5.80 and 8 saves. He tossed three shutout innings for the Cafeteros de Cordoba in 1992 and had saves in two of his three outings. He ended up in 1993 with the Petroleros de Minatitlán, giving up four runs in nine innings.

Overall, Pulido was 58-59 with 197 saves and a 3.06 ERA in 522 games in the LMB, with just 35 homers in 837 2/3 innings. He retired as the league's all-time save leader, 45 ahead of Barojas. He still was the all-time leader 7 years later, though Miguel Alicea had come within 10. Sixto Báez and Isidro Márquez had passed him by 2008.

In the Mexican Pacific League, Antonio had gone 28-17 with a 2.26 ERA and 70 saves in 11 seasons and retired among that circuit's top five in career saves as well.

Pulido made it onto the 2011 Salón de la Fama balloting, but his 41 votes tied him for last with Luis Fernando Méndez.

Sources

• Salon de la Fama
• The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros