Manny Mota
Encyclopedia
Manuel Rafael Mota Geronimo, more commonly known as Manny Mota (born on February 18, 1938, in Santo Domingo
, Dominican Republic
) was a Major League Baseball
Outfielder
for the San Francisco Giants
, Pittsburgh Pirates
, Montreal Expos
and most notably the Los Angeles Dodgers
, best known for his pinch hitting abilities. He has been listed as a coach
for the Dodgers since , making the season the 32nd consecutive year in which Mota has coached for the team. He is thus the longest-tenured coach in Dodger history, and his 32 consecutive years as a coach with the same team is the second-longest such streak in MLB annals to Nick Altrock
, who spent 42 straight seasons listed as a coach for the old Washington Senators
.
, the Giants traded him to the Houston Colt .45's for infielder
Joey Amalfitano
(who later was Mota's 16-year colleague as a Dodgers coach). But before he ever appeared in an official game with Houston, he was dealt to the Pirates for OF Howie Goss
and cash on April 4, , and he quickly established himself as one of the league's premiere hitters. In the following years with the Pirates, Mota had over a .300 hitting average.
In , Mota was the first player selected in the National League
expansion draft
by the Montreal Expos. Later that same year, Mota returned to the West Coast via a trade with the Dodgers. Once in L.A., Mota became the number one pinch hitter there and hit over .300 during the next five seasons.
In 1973, Mota was selected to the National League All-Star
team after leading the league in batting average. From 1974 through 1979, Mota was continuously called upon for late inning heroics, where he averaged 10 pinch hits for 6 straight seasons. The Dodgers appeared in the 1974, 1977, and 1978 World Series
. In 1979, Mota established his place in the record books by becoming the all-time leader in Pinch Hits. He had a compact swing and often half-swung just to push the ball beyond the reach of the first baseman for a hit.
In 1981, Manny appeared in his fourth World Series, this time mostly as a coach but only to be activated later in the year for the stretch drive. Mota retired as a player from the Dodgers the following year. Mota left a career holding the all-time major league record for career pinch-hits (150), which has since been broken by Mark Sweeney
and Lenny Harris
, and an overall lifetime batting average of .304 and a .297 pinch-hitting average. His .315 batting average is second best (1,800 or more at bats) in Los Angeles Dodgers history, trailing only Mike Piazza
.
More than 40 years after joining the Dodgers, Mota remains an active part of both the coaching staff and his community. In the off-season, Mota and his wife Margarita reside in the Dominican Republic, where they run the Manny Mota International Foundation. Established over 30 years ago, this humanitarian organization provides needed resources and other assistance to disadvantaged youth and their families in both the Dominican Republic and the United States.
Mota was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
Hall of Fame on August 23, 2003, in pregame on field ceremony at Dodger Stadium
, Los Angeles, CA.
Mota worked as a color commentator on the Fox Sports en Espanol television broadcast of the 2007 World Series
.
As we hear Ted Striker's inner-dialogue echo in his mind, it resembles a stadium public address and we hear him think "Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbón
... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." Curiously, Mota and Borbon never actually played on the same team.
and José, also played in the Major Leagues.
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
) was a Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
Outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
for the San Francisco Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
, Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
and most notably the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
, best known for his pinch hitting abilities. He has been listed as a coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
for the Dodgers since , making the season the 32nd consecutive year in which Mota has coached for the team. He is thus the longest-tenured coach in Dodger history, and his 32 consecutive years as a coach with the same team is the second-longest such streak in MLB annals to Nick Altrock
Nick Altrock
Nicholas Altrock was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Altrock was one of the better pitchers in baseball for a brief period from to with the Chicago White Sox...
, who spent 42 straight seasons listed as a coach for the old Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
.
Playing career
At the age of 19, Mota demonstrated his hitting abilities when he first played in the minor leagues with the Giants, then based in New York. At the end of his rookie 1962 season1962 in baseball
The 1962 season is perhaps most notable for the dismal 40–120 record of the New York Mets, the third-worst winning percentage and the record for most games lost since 1900.-Major League Baseball:...
, the Giants traded him to the Houston Colt .45's for infielder
Infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.-Standard arrangement of positions:In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles...
Joey Amalfitano
Joey Amalfitano
John Joseph Amalfitano is a former utility infielder, manager and coach in Major League Baseball . He played a combined ten seasons with the New York/San Francisco Giants , Houston Colt .45s and Chicago Cubs . He managed the Cubs from 1979 to 1981...
(who later was Mota's 16-year colleague as a Dodgers coach). But before he ever appeared in an official game with Houston, he was dealt to the Pirates for OF Howie Goss
Howie Goss
Howard Wayne Goss was an American professional baseball player who appeared in two seasons in the Major Leagues as an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Colt .45s ....
and cash on April 4, , and he quickly established himself as one of the league's premiere hitters. In the following years with the Pirates, Mota had over a .300 hitting average.
In , Mota was the first player selected in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
expansion draft
Expansion draft
An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion draft...
by the Montreal Expos. Later that same year, Mota returned to the West Coast via a trade with the Dodgers. Once in L.A., Mota became the number one pinch hitter there and hit over .300 during the next five seasons.
In 1973, Mota was selected to the National League All-Star
1973 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1973 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 44th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was played on July 24, 1973 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, home of the...
team after leading the league in batting average. From 1974 through 1979, Mota was continuously called upon for late inning heroics, where he averaged 10 pinch hits for 6 straight seasons. The Dodgers appeared in the 1974, 1977, and 1978 World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
. In 1979, Mota established his place in the record books by becoming the all-time leader in Pinch Hits. He had a compact swing and often half-swung just to push the ball beyond the reach of the first baseman for a hit.
In 1981, Manny appeared in his fourth World Series, this time mostly as a coach but only to be activated later in the year for the stretch drive. Mota retired as a player from the Dodgers the following year. Mota left a career holding the all-time major league record for career pinch-hits (150), which has since been broken by Mark Sweeney
Mark Sweeney
Mark Patrick Sweeney is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball. He is best known for his skill as a pinch hitter, where he ranks second in career pinch hits with 175 and first in career pinch hit runs batted in with 102....
and Lenny Harris
Lenny Harris
Leonard Anthony Harris is a former Major League Baseball utility infielder who is currently the hitting instructor for the Great Lakes Loons. He is best known for holding the record for the most pinch hits in a major league career...
, and an overall lifetime batting average of .304 and a .297 pinch-hitting average. His .315 batting average is second best (1,800 or more at bats) in Los Angeles Dodgers history, trailing only Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza
Michael Joseph "Mike" Piazza ; born September 4, 1968) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher. He played in his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and the Oakland Athletics....
.
Post-playing career
Mota served as a player-coach for the Dodgers during his final seasons as a player, and remained as a coach after retiring as a player. Mota again participated in a World Series as a coach for the Dodgers in 1988, making this a total of five World Series appearances.More than 40 years after joining the Dodgers, Mota remains an active part of both the coaching staff and his community. In the off-season, Mota and his wife Margarita reside in the Dominican Republic, where they run the Manny Mota International Foundation. Established over 30 years ago, this humanitarian organization provides needed resources and other assistance to disadvantaged youth and their families in both the Dominican Republic and the United States.
Mota was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame, Inc., was founded in San Francisco, California, in June 1999 by its founder Mr.Gabriel "Tito" Avila, Jr., as a way to honor the greatest Hispanic baseball players of all time. The organization is a not-for-profit institution...
Hall of Fame on August 23, 2003, in pregame on field ceremony at Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
, Los Angeles, CA.
Mota worked as a color commentator on the Fox Sports en Espanol television broadcast of the 2007 World Series
2007 World Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsThe Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason...
.
Cultural references
As one of the all-time great pinch hitters and a Los Angeles staple in the 1970s, Mota was referenced in a joke in the movie Airplane!Airplane!
Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
As we hear Ted Striker's inner-dialogue echo in his mind, it resembles a stadium public address and we hear him think "Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbón
Pedro Borbón
Spudro spärde Von Dolan is a former pitcher. He played Major League Baseball for 12 seasons for four teams, including 10 seasons for the Cincinnati Reds , playing on two World Series winning teams...
... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." Curiously, Mota and Borbon never actually played on the same team.
Family
Two of Mota's sons, AndyAndy Mota
Andrés Alberto Mota Matos is a former Major League Baseball player. He was initially drafted in the sixth round of the 1985 amateur draft by the Kansas City Royals, but did not sign. In 1987 he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the twelfth round...
and José, also played in the Major Leagues.