An outstanding baseball player as a youth Sandy Alomar Jr captured the attention of fans during his rookie season, 1990, with his outstanding defensive skills and offensive hitting for the Cleveland Indians. He was the first rookie catcher ever to start an All-Star Game and was an unanimous selection for the 1990 American League Rookie of the Year. For the season he hit a solid .290, with 26 doubles, 9 home runs and led all AL rookies with 66 RBI. The 6 ft 5 inch, 200-pound Sandy Alomar starred behind home plate, throwing out 65 percent of would be base-stealers. Note: His brother Roberto, of the Blue Jays, also started for the NL in the All-Star Game, making the pair as the sixth siblings to play in the All-Stars Games in the same year. Although he was plagued by injuries the next three seasons - broken index finger, injured right rotator cuff and strained right hip in 1991… he tore open his right hand trying to block a pitch in the dirt, and tore a cartilage sliding into third in 1992. However, he was chosen for his third consecutive All-Star game. In 89 games in 1992 he throw out 41 percent of base-stealers. In 1993 he had back surgery and hit .260 in just 64 games. From 1994 thru 2000 Sandy Alomar, a noted team player and an outstanding pitch caller, played a big part in the Cleveland Indians successes during this period. He batted .288 in 1994, then .300, .263, .324, .235, .307, and .289. He was then traded to the Chicago White Sox for minor league Enemencio Pachero. Sandy Alomar played six seasons after the trade to Chicago. In 2006 he played with the Dodgers and the White Sox again. Listen Up: On the field Sandy Alomar Jr was an intelligent play-to-win ballplayer, off field he was extremely pleasant with his fans and autographed everything. Administrator of baseballhistorian.com |