Reggie Otero

Regino José Otero Gómez

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.
• Debut September 2, 1945
• Final Game September 29, 1945
• Born September 7, 1915 in Havana, Cuba
• Died October 21, 1988 in Hialeah, FL USA

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Biographical Information

Reggie Otero made his organized baseball debut in 1936 with the York White Roses/Trenton Senators club of the New York-Penn League where he hit a line of .243 AVG-0 HR-22 RBI. He also played for the International League's Albany Senators that year but only hit .111. The following year he returned to the Senators but still had trouble hitting .136-0-3. In 1938 he moved south to the St. Augustine Saints (FSL). There he had a line of .308-0-52.

Otero would play for the Greenville Spinners in 1939 and 1940. In his two seasons in the SALLY League he hit .325-2-57 and then .315-1-50. He moved back north in 1941 when he played for the Springfield Nationals of the Eastern League and hit .223-0-24. Otero played for the Springfield club's farm team, the Utica Braves of the Can-Am League, in 1942 where he led the league in batting with a .364 average 2 HR and 101 RBI. Inactive in 1943, Otero moved west in 1944, playing for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. At the end of the 1945 season he was called up to the Chicago Cubs, after hitting .344 with 23 RBI, following a .306-0-54 season.

Otero appeared in 14 games for the Cubs, and had 9 hits in 23 at bats, good for a .391 average with 5 RBI. This would be his only major league experience. He returned to the Angels for the 1946 and 1947 seasons. Otero could not continue to put up those numbers and only hit .273-1-46 and then .231-0-7 in the following year. After the 1947 season, he joined the Portsmouth Cubs of the Piedmont League where he would play for the next five years, also serving as manager in 1951-1952. In the league Otero hit over .300 four times with a high of .353 and had 4 home runs and 312 RBI. He joined the Springfield Cubs (IL) in 1953 and hit .171-0-4 before retiring from the minor leagues.

In his homeland, Otero played in 480 games in the Cuban Professional League for thirteen years from 1936 to 1953. He began his career with the amateur Club Acción Republicana before joining Habana (1936-1937), Santa Clara (1939-1940), Cienfuegos and Almendares (1945-1946), the Havana Reds of the Cuban National Federation before retrning to Cienfuegos where he played for seven years from 1947 to 1953. Otero hit .242 in the Cuban league with 499 hits in 2068 at bats with 177 RBI.

After his playing career ended, Otero managed the Havana Sugar Kings in 1954 through mid-1956. He also managed in the Cuban league and the Mexican League, but gained the most notoriety in the Venezuelan League. There he led the Industriales de Valencia to three titles (1955-1956, 1957-1958, 1958-1959) and the Leones del Caracas to four titles (1961-1962, 1963-1964, 1966-1967, 1967-1968). His seven championships are the most in the league's history. He also served as a Cincinnati Reds coach from 1959 to 1965 and was a member of the Cleveland Indians staff in 1966.

He was a scout for the Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers, signing Pedro Guerrero.

Otero died of a heart attack on October 21, 1988.