Batting average .281 Role Baseball player Name Bobby Avila | Runs batted in 467 Home runs 80 Inducted 1971 | |
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Died October 26, 2004, Veracruz, Mexico | ||
Baseball All Star Game 1954
Roberto Francisco Ávila González (April 2, 1924 – October 26, 2004) was a Mexican professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman for the Cleveland Indians (1949–58), Baltimore Orioles (1959), Boston Red Sox (1959), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Tigres del México (1960). Born in Veracruz City, Mexico to Maria Gonzalez and Jorge Avila, he had a medium frame at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 175 pounds (79 kg). He was better known in his homeland and other Latin American countries as "Beto" and in the majors as "Bobby".
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Major league career
In 1954 Ávila won the American League Batting Championship, edging out Ted Williams and Minnie Miñoso with a .341 batting average, while playing almost the entire season with a broken thumb.Though by today's standards, Williams (with.345) would have been the champion, but he had so many walks (136), he didn't have enough official at bats to qualify. To keep this from happening again, the rule was changed shortly thereafter to plate appearances rather than official at bats to qualify as batting champion. He also registered career highs in home runs (15), runs (112) and runs batted in (67).
In that same season, the Indians faced the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series, which matched the two leagues' champion bats, Ávila and Willie Mays; it was the third time that top batters in the majors played each other in the Series. Other matchups were Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb in 1909; Al Simmons and Chick Hafey in 1931. The next time the two batting champions faced off in the Series would be 2012, when the Giants' Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers met.
Ávila was selected an All-Star in 1952, 1954 and 1955; he was the American League's starting shortstop for the 1952 game. Avila led the league in triples in 1952, and led American League second basemen in fielding percentage in 1953. He also appeared in the MVP Award ballot in 1951 and 1954.
An adept bunter and daring baserunner, his soccer training paid off several times when he intentionally kicked the ball out of defenders' mitts while sliding.
Cleveland manager Al López said Ávila had "a fine swing, a sharp eye, a good spirit of competition ... and a world of confidence in himself."
Career statistics
In an 11-season career, Ávila hit .281 with 80 homers, 467 RBI, 1296 hits, 725 runs, 185 doubles, 35 triples, and 78 stolen bases in 1300 games. Dealt three times in the last season of his career, he returned to Mexico in 1960 for one more season, batting .333 for the Tigres del México over 127 games before retiring as a player.
After retiring he had a brief stint as a politician and served as mayor of his home city of Veracruz. When his tenure as mayor ended, he was elected president of the Mexican Baseball League. In an article in a 1976 issue of Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter", consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Ávila, a Mexican, was the second baseman on Stein's Latin team.
Beto Ávila is still widely recognized as the player who catalyzed the development of Mexican baseball, as Mexico's three previous MLB players had all grown up in Southern California. He died in his homeland of complications from diabetes at the age of 80.