Welcome to Baseball History Podcast, featuring baseball biographies. I’m your announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 38 of the 2011 baseball season.
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of September.
September 22
1968 The Twins’ Cesar Tovar is the second major leaguer to play one inning at each position. In 1965, A’s Bert Campaneris became the first.
César Leonardo Tovar was born July 3, 1940, in Caracas, Venezuela.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, César Tovar was a fixture at the top of the Minnesota Twins lineup. The speedy, enthusiastic Venezuelan came up as a second baseman, but he could handle just about any position. He is perhaps best remembered today as one of the four players to play all nine positions during the course of a single big-league game.
At 15, Tovar became friends with another future Venezuelan big leaguer, Gustavo “Gus” Gil. They played sandlot ball together, and Gil noted, “César always played the game hard.” On New Year’s morning in 1959, Gabe Paul, general manager of the Cincinnati Redlegs, signed them both. Gil got a $2,000 bonus. Tovar got nothing.
Gabe Paul told the story himself in 1968. “I went to see Gus Gil in a morning workout. He insisted on bringing Tovar along. Gil was the man we wanted. I thought he was a great one. He wanted his buddy Tovar signed, too. César showed nothing, but I signed him to get Gil.”
In 1963 the big club in Cincinnati had a new second baseman: Pete Rose, who became National League Rookie of the Year. Bobby Klaus was at Triple-A San Diego and Gus Gil was at Double-A Macon. The organization sent Tovar on loan to the Twins; he played for their Triple-A farm team, Dallas-Fort Worth. There too, manager Jack McKeon had veteran Jim Snyder at second base, so Tovar became a utilityman for the first time, playing shortstop and the outfield while hitting .297. McKeon worried, “He has to be in the lineup and he has to be my leadoff man but where do I play him?” After seeing him in the outfield, the skipper said, “It’s amazing. He gets a great jump on the ball – as if he had always played out there.”
Tovar also made two good friends in 1963. One was Billy Martin, who was a minor-league instructor in spring training with the Twins that year and took César under his wing. Another was his roommate, Tony Oliva from Cuba, who became his teammate for seven-plus seasons in Minnesota.
Tovar returned to the Reds chain in 1964 and played for the minor league, San Diego team, which won the Pacific Coast League pennant. He hit .275 while playing third, short, second, and the outfield.
On December 4, 1964, the Twins traded to get Tovar back from Cincinnati. Scouting reports at the time labeled Tovar an “adequate” second baseman who was “not considered outstanding on the double-play pivot.” Minnesota was thinking about him at third base as well as second.
Manager Sam Mele gave Tovar a long look at second base during spring training in 1965. Former second baseman Billy Martin, then the Twins’ infield coach, became Tovar’s tutor again. Tovar made the Twins roster to open the 1965 season, becoming just the ninth Venezuelan to make the majors.
In his debut on Opening Day at Metropolitan Stadium, playing third base, Tovar went from goat to hero. He dropped a popup in the ninth inning, allowing the tying run to score – but in the 11th inning he came through with a two-out game-winning single.
Tovar appeared in just nine games with just 13 at-bats through mid-May. Near the end of the month, the Twins sent him down to Triple-A. After he performed well, hitting .328, the big club recalled him in September. He was not eligible for the postseason, but he never played in the minors again.
In April 1966 Tony Oliva said, “Tovar plays the game hard. He runs, he chases down ground balls, dives at the ball, steals bases. And he sure can hit.” The following seven seasons with Minnesota, 1966 through 1972, were the heart of Tovar’s big-league career. He averaged 153 games played per season over this period. As the table-setter for the likes of Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew, he averaged 166 hits and 92 runs scored a year. In 1970 he led the American League in doubles and triples..
Billy Martin, who became the Twins’ manager in 1969. In his 1981 book, Number 1, Billy said, “Tovar was my little leader. He was the guy who got everyone going. When I wanted him to push Leo [Cárdenas] a little bit or if Rod [Carew] was getting down and I needed someone to give him a boost, I’d get César to do it.”
Tovar did not walk as much as one would like in a leadoff hitter. His on-base percentage was .335 for his career, peaking at .356 in both 1970 and 1971. Yet despite his moderate walk totals, he often got on base another way – he was hit by a pitch 88 times in his career. As new Twins manager Bill Rigney put it in 1970, “He does not mind sticking an elbow out.”
Although Tovar was small, he was muscular and tough-bodied. He was also a very good contact hitter who struck out in only 7 percent of his plate appearances in the majors.
Tovar’s best season for stolen bases was 1969, with 45. Over his career he was successful 68 percent of the time when stealing, somewhat lower than ideal, especially in a leadoff hitter. Both he and Rod Carew had the skill and daring to steal home, though – in fact, they did it in the same inning against Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers on May 18, 1969. On August 23 at Metropolitan Stadium, Tovar also stole home on the front end of a triple steal. Billy Martin’s club was remarkably aggressive on the basepaths that year, pulling off that feat four times.
Tovar played all nine positions on September 22, 1968. The Twins were trailing the league-leading Detroit Tigers by 26 games at the time, and Calvin Griffith thought it would be a good promotional stunt. He started the game on the mound – his scoreless inning featured a strikeout of Reggie Jackson, plus a walk and a balk – then went behind the plate. He then moved counter-clockwise around the infield, followed by a trip across the outfield from left to right.
On November 30, 1972, the Twins traded Tovar to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Twins were willing to let him go because “his figures slipped some in 1972, partly due to a shoulder injury when he was hit by a pitch.” The Phillies wanted Tovar to play third base – a position he had not manned since 1968 – because they had traded Don Money. They weren’t sure if young Mike Schmidt was ready, and he did struggle in 1973, hitting just .196 before emerging as a Hall of Fame star. General manager Paul Owens also wanted Tovar on hand in case Mike Anderson couldn’t hold down the starting center-field job. Owens said, “Tovar gives us all kinds of things. He’s a team leader. He’s an outstanding base stealer, which will help Larry Bowa in his learning process. But most important, he gives us maneuverability.”
Tovar played 97 games for the Phillies in 1973, missing most of July after knee surgery. That December, the Texas Rangers purchased Tovar’s contract
Billy Martin was now the Ranger’s manager and had been clamoring to get him. Billy said, “I didn’t want him back just because I had him before. That’d be foolish sentiment. I wanted him because of his leadership and his hustle and his ability. He’s always played for me – given 100 percent – and I know he will. The little guy can beat you so many ways – his bat, his feet, his brains, his hustle.”
Tovar rebounded nicely in 1974, hitting.292 and playing mainly center field and left field. T here was also an amusing footnote to that season. According to Mike Shropshire’s 1996 book about the 1973-1975 Rangers, Seasons in Hell, there were rumors that Tovar had three wives in three different countries.
In 1975 Tovar played less in the field and served more as a designated hitter. Billy Martin was also fired in July.
On August 31, 1975, the Oakland A’s purchased Tovar. Although they already had a healthy lead in the American League West, owner Charlie Finley still wanted a player to help in the final month of the season. Tovar was on the postseason roster and appeared in two playoff games against the Red Sox, going 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
When Tovar returned to Oakland in 1976, he was a little-used reserve, going 8-for-45 in 29 games. He broke his wrist making a diving catch on May 31 and was not activated until mid-August – it took a complaint to Players’ Association director Marvin Miller to make it happen. On August 25 Finley – in a typical and quite possibly vengeful move – released the veteran.
On September 1 Tovar signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees. Again Billy Martin – who had landed with New York less than two weeks after Texas fired him – was behind the signing. The Yankees had been talking to the Rangers about acquiring Billy’s old favorite the previous year. He got into 13 games for the Bronx Bombers, going 6-for-39. He joined the club too late to be eligible for the postseason.
In December 1976 the Yankees released Tovar, and his big-league career came to an end.
For the next few years Tovar played baseball in Mexico and his home country of Venezuela. He also did some coaching and recommending of players to Major League teams.
César Tovar died on July 14, 1994 in Caracas, Venezuela at age 54 years.
A large part of this biography comes from the SABR Baseball Biography Project written by Rory Costello. It can be found online at http://bioproj.sabr.org
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Well, that’s it for today’s Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
