Tony Alomar

Antonio Alomar Conde

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 172 lb.

• Born December 11, 1932 in Santurce Puerto Rico
• Died February 12, 1972 in Batavia, NY USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tony Alomar played four seasons in AAA but never made the majors. He is the brother of Sandy Alomar Sr., Rafael Alomar and Demetrio Alomar and the uncle of Roberto Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr.; Sandy Sr. credited him as a top model for playing ball.

Alomar was on the Puerto Rican national team that won Bronze in the 1952 Amateur World Series. He signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a great pro debut with the 1956 Fresno Cardinals, hitting .356/.413/.479 with 20 triples, 26 steals and 114 runs in 128 games, fielding .921 at 3B. He led Cards farmhands in triples (six ahead of #2 Harry Keister), tied Bob Sadowski for 7th in steals and was 7th in runs. In the California League, he was 4th in hits, second to Dick Whitman in average, led in triples (5 ahead of Whitman) and was 3rd in stolen bases. He led the entire minors in triples, one ahead of Bob Johnson. He would never post numbers that impressive again.

His second year in the US, Tony was already the starting shortstop for the AAA Rochester Red Wings, hitting .274/.306/.360 and fielding .949 (he also backed up Frank Verdi at 3B). The 1957 Cardinals had Al Dark at short and did not call up Alomar. With the 1958 Omaha Cardinals, Lee Tate was the shortstop, while Alomar became a backup 2B-OF, playing behind Ron Plaza at second. He hit .272/.329/.272 in 169 plate appearances in his second AAA campaign. He also eked out a .225/.250/.306 line spending part of the year with Rochester.

He split short with Sadowski for Omaha in '59, batting .265/.309/.303 and fielding .950. He split 1960 between the Baltimore Orioles' Vancouver Mounties affiliate (.229/.271/.271 in 83 G, backing up Wayne Causey at short) and the Kansas City Athletics' Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers farm team (.255/.278/.266 in 37 G). That winter, he hit 3 triples for the Santurce Crabbers to tie Donn Clendenon and Ozzie Virgil Sr. for the Puerto Rican League lead. Dropping down to A ball in 1961, he hit .269/.299/.347 for the Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides, fielding .940 at short.

Moving to the Mexican League, he produced at a .221/.274/.291 clip for the 1962 Veracruz Eagle, starting at short. He improved to .262/.288/.348 in a repeat engagement there in 1963. He closed out his career in 1964 with Veracruz (6-for-26, two walks, a double) and the Puerto Mexico Portenos (.271 in 51 G).

He then settled in Rochester, where his wife was from, to work at Tobin Packing Company; he said being away from his family for too long led him to quit baseball. He was shot during a Puerto Rican citizens' dance and died at age 39 as a result of his wounds.