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BaseballLibrary.com
Copyright © 2002
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Andres Galarraga
Nickname(s): The Big Cat
Born: 1961

1B 1985- Expos, Cardinals, Rockies, Braves

Andres Galarraga's Teammates

  • All Star 1988, 93, 97-98, 00
  • Led League in ba 1993
  • Led League in hr 1996
  • Led League in rbi 1996-97
  • Led League in hits 1988
  • Gold Glove 1989-90

GamesAverageHRRBI
Career 1915.2913601272
League DS 10.25003
League CS 6.09514

Books and articles about Andres Galarraga

At the recommendation of Felipe Alou, Andres Galarraga was signed by the Expos as a 17-year old power prodigy. Given the first-base job for 1986, he had a terrible spring training (.107, no extra base hits) and was assigned to platoon with Jason Thompson. The platoon ended quickly as Galarraga caught fire early in the regular season. The Venezuelan native missed much of the 1986 season with a right knee injury and right rib cage pull, but gave better evidence of his skills in 1987 (.305, 13 HR, 90 RBI), finishing second in the NL in doubles. Capable of awesome power, Galarraga sacrificed some distance for batting average, but continued to post high strikeout numbers. He combined average and power in 1988, hitting .302 with 29 HR, leading in doubles (42) but also in strikeouts (153). He was nicknamed "Big Cat" for his defensive quickness at first base, which won him Gold Gloves in 1989 and 1990.

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Around the Web
» Galarraga Decides to Retire to Spare Mets Some Angst from nytimes.com (3/30/05)
» Notebook: Galarraga retires with 399 homers from nwsource.com
» Around the majors: 'Big Cat' retires 1 short of 400 from startribune.com
» Andres Galarraga from baseball-reference.com

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After 13 years in the Expos' organization, Galarraga was traded to St. Louis in November 1991 for right-hander Ken Hill. In the second game of the year he suffered a broken right wrist when he was hit by a pitch, an injury that would put him on the disabled list for 44 days. In 95 games, he batted just .243 with 10 home runs.

Following his lone season with the Cardinals, Galarraga signed a free-agent contract with the expansion Colorado Rockies, a move that would turn his fading career around. Taking advantage of the thin, mile-high air in Denver, Galarraga began posting some monstrous offensive numbers. In 1993, he hit a career-best .370 (the highest average by a right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio batted .381 in 1939) with 22 HR and 98 RBIs while becoming the first player on an expansion team as well as the first Venezuelan to win a batting title. Over the next several years he developed into one of the best RBI men baseball, driving in a combined 290 runs over 1996 and 1997. On May 31st, 1997 he launched a mammoth home run off Marlins' ace Kevin Brown, a grand slam that landed 20 rows deep in the upper deck at Florida's Pro Player Stadium and was alternately measured at 573 and 529 feet. It was the longest home run in the short history of both the Rockies and the stadium.

Looking to add a World Series ring to his career accomplishments, Galarraga signed with the perennial National League power Braves in November 1997. In his first season in Atlanta, Galarraga proved he could still produce big-time power numbers in lower altitudes, hitting .305 with 44 HR and 121 RBI's.

Galarraga sat out entire 1999 season after he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer. Many believed that his career was finished, but the "Big Cat" made a full recovery and even played in the 2000 All-Star Game before the home fans at Turner Field in Atlanta. He finished off his comeback campaign with a .302 average, 28 HR and 100 RBI's.

With the Braves lukewarm on re-signing the 39-year-old slugger, Galarraga signed a free-agent contract to play for the Texas Rangers in December 2000. (ME)


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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» July 30, 1978: The Expos crush the Braves 19–0, collecting 28 hits and an National League-record-tying eight home runs. Andre Dawson, Larry Parrish, Dave Cash, and Dawson again homer in the 4th inning; Parrish has a single and three consecutive home runs in the game, only the 3rd major leaguer to do it. Not till Andres Galarraga in 1995 will a hitter bang homers in three consecutive innings. The 58 bases breaks an 85-year-old record held by the Reds. Woodie Fryman conducts the win over Mickey Mahler.

» November 25, 1991: The Expos trade 1B Andres Galarraga to the Cardinals in exchange for P Ken Hill.

» August 15, 1992: Expos P Mark Gardner becomes the first NL pitcher since 1954 to hit three batters in a single inning, as he hits the Cardinals’ Ray Lankford, Andres Galarraga and Luis Alicea. The Cardinals win, 6-4.

» November 16, 1992: The Rockies sign free agent 1B Andres Galarraga who rejoins Don Baylor, his hitting coach with the Cards. Galarraga is coming off his second injury-plagued year, having missed 44 days of the season after being hit on the wrist by a Wally Whitehurst pitch in the 3rd game of the season

» April 5, 1993: At Shea Stadium, the Colorado Rockies make their NL debut, losing to the Mets by a score of 3-0. Andres Galarraga gets a pair of hits for Colorado but is thrown out in the 9th trying to stretch a single. David Nied takes the loss, giving up a homer to Bobby Bonilla.

» June 15, 1993: After baseball owners have an all day meeting in Denver to discuss, among other things, bench-clearing brawls, they arrive at Mile High Stadium for the 7th inning, and witness two fights and four ejections. After a Ramon Martinez brushback pitch, Andres Galarraga singles and breaks for second clipping 2B Jody Reed with his spikes. Martinez then plunks Charlie Hayes, who charges the mound, and the brawling starts. Rocks reliever Keith Shephard, a former boxer, throws at Cory Snyder in the 8th, then gestures him to come on. Brawl two and two more ejections. The Dodgers win, 12–4.

» September 21, 1993: The Rockies win their 63rd game of the year, beating the Padres, 15–4. Colorado (63-90) is now slightly ahead of the expansion Marlins (62-89). Andres Galarraga is 4-for-6 to raise his average to .381 but must get 502 plate appearances to beat the idle Tony Gwynn for the battling title.

» October 2, 1993: At Atlanta, Greg Maddux limits the Rockies to four hits, winning 10–1. One of the hits is by Andres Galarraga, and it comes on his 502nd trip to the plate, just qualifying him for the National League batting title at .370.

» April 29, 1994: Colorado 1B Andres Galarraga sets a new National League record by driving in his 30th run of the month in the Rockies' 6-5 victory over Chicago. The previous league mark of 29 was held by Dale Murphy and Ron Cey.

» June 25, 1995: Colorado 1B Andres Galarraga hits home runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings against the Padres to tie the ML record: he's the 4th major leaguer to clout 4-baggers in three consecutive innings. Galarraga's seven RBIs lead the Rockies to an 11-3 win.

» July 3, 1995: Colorado downs Houston by a score of 15-10 at Coors Field. The Rockies' attack is led by 1B Andres Galarraga, who strokes three singles, a double, and two home runs, while driving home five runs and scoring 4. The victory moves Colorado one game ahead of the idle Dodgers for 1st place in the National League West.

» August 18, 1995: In a slugfest at new Coors Field, the Cubs defeat the Rockies by a score of 26-7. A two 1/2 hour rain delay interrupted the contest which takes more than six hours to play. OF Luis Gonzalez drives home six runs for Chicago while Sammy Sosa goes 4-for-4, with four RBIs and four runs scored. Several ML records are tied by the Cubs: nine teammates each score two or more runs (Scott Servais and Sosa score 4, while Mark Grace plates 3); 14 Cubs hit safely, and 26 RBIs (ties the National League mark) are collected. The Cubs now have scored 20 or more runs 39 times, extending their ML record. Kevin Foster pitches the first three innings for Chicago, allowing only a Andres Galarraga homer before departing to rest with the Cubs up 9–1. Anthony Young picks up an easy win with one 1/3 innings of relief.

» August 29, 1995: Pittsburgh's Paul Wagner hurls a 1-hitter in defeating Colorado, 4-0. He fans 11 and walks 3, and allows just a single to Andres Galarraga in raising his record to 3-13.

» September 19, 1995: San Diego pummels Colorado, 15-4, as 3B Ken Caminiti drives home eight runs with four hits, including a pair of homers, again from each side of the plate. Caminiti has now hit a pair of homers, right and left-handed, in three of his last four games. He's the only major leaguer to ever to do it three times in a month. Jody Reed has four hits and four runs for the Pads. Andres Galarraga connects for his 30th homer, giving the Rockies four players with 30+ homers. This matches the 1977 Dodgers.

» May 4, 1996: The Rockies bang out 21 hits, including a pair of three-run homers by Andres Galarraga, to hook the Marlins 17–5. The Rockies score seven runs in the first inning when they cash in three of their five home runs. Galarraga drives in seven runs for the day.

» June 27, 1996: The Rockies pound the Dodgers, 13-1, as Andres Galarraga leads the way with a double, two homers, and a team-record eight runs driven in.

» July 23, 1996: In the pitchers' hell known as Coors Field, the Rockies take a pair from the Mets, outslugging them 10–7 and 11–10. The two games feature 59 hits, including eight home runs, off 17 pitchers. In the first inning of the nitecap, Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga, and Vinny Castilla hit consecutive homers off Pete Harnisch. Galarraga hits another in the 3rd, one of his six hits for the day.

» August 10, 1996: The Rockies jump to a 7–0 lead over the Braves, then need back to back homers in the 10th to win, 9–7. Andres Galarraga, with his 2nd homer, and Vinny Castilla homer off Mark Wohlers for the victory. Galarraga now leads the National League in RBIs with 107.

» August 28, 1996: Vinny Castilla reaches the 100-RBI plateau, joining teammates Andres Galarraga, Ellis Burks, and Dante Bichette. Not since the Cubs and Phillies of 1929 has a team had four players reach the mark.

» September 29, 1996: The Rockies beat the Giants, 12–3, as Andres Galarraga has three hits, three runs and three RBIs. He finishes the season with 150 ribbies, the first to reach that mark since Tommy Davis in 1962, and his 47 homers leads the NL. Dante Bichette collects his 141st RBI giving the Rockies two players with 140+ ribbies, the first time two teammates have topped the mark since the 1950 Red Sox. Vinny Castilla hits his 40th homer, joining Ellis Burks and Galarraga as the 2nd team (Braves) to have three teammates reach that mark.

» May 26, 1997: Andres Galarraga hits a 469-foot two-run homer and Vinny Castilla chips in with a solo shot as the Colorado Rockies overcome a 6-run deficit to beat the Cardinals, 9–7. Galarraga has four RBIs and his moon shot, off Mark Petkovsek, is the third-longest homer in the three-season history of Coors Field.

» May 29, 1997: In Florida, Rockies' OF Ellis Burks hits a 2-run double to cap a three-run rally in the ninth inning and help Colorado beat Florida, 6-5. Colorado trails 4-0 in the 6th, before Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, and Dante Bichette hit consecutive homers off Alex Fernandez.

» May 31, 1997: In Miami, Andres Galarraga golfs a 529-foot grand slam, the longest home run ever at Pro Player Stadium, then gets ejected four innings later. His homer gives the Colorado Rockies a 7-0 lead over the Marlins, and they eventually win, 8–4. Galarraga has three home runs in the past three games against Florida that traveled 1,435 feet, an average of 478 feet. He hit a 455-foot homer Thursday and a 451-foot homer Friday. The longest previous homer at the stadium was 482 feet by Pete Incaviglia of the Phillies off Al Leiter on May 1, 1996.

» June 2, 1997: In St. Louis, Andres Galarraga poles his fifth home run in seven games and knocks in four runs as Colorado beats the Cards, 11–7. Galarraga's opposite-field, three-run blast in the fifth is taped at 426 feet and gives the Rockies a 6-0 lead. Cardinals starter Danny Jackson (1-1) walks the first two batters before Galarraga unloads.

» July 29, 1997: Pedro Martinez strikes out 13 Rockies, including Andres Galarraga four times, in Montreal's, 3–0 win. Martinez gives up just three hits in going all the way.

» September 16, 1997: In Miami, Florida's Bobby Bonilla fouls off six two-strike pitches before blasting a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Marlins a dramatic 9–6 win. For Bonilla, it is his 8th career slam. Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, and Vinny Castilla homer for Colorado, which sets an NL record with 223 homers this year.

» November 20, 1997: The Braves sign Rockies free agent 1B Andres Galarraga to a 3-year contract.

» May 8, 1998: A bit behind McGwire is Andres Galarraga, who clubs his 300th home run in the Braves 3–2 loss to the Padres. Tony Gwynn homers off Tom Glavine.

» June 2, 1998: Atlanta P Dennis Martinez hurls a 12–hit shutout as the Braves defeat the Brewers, 9–0. It is the 243rd victory of Martinez's career, as he ties Juan Marichal's record for most wins by a Latin American pitcher. 1B Andres Galarraga hits a pair of homers and drives in five runs for Atlanta.

» October 11, 1998: Atlanta stays alive by scoring six runs in the 7th inning of an 8–3 win over San Diego in Game four of the NLCS. Andres Galarraga's grand slam is the big blow of the inning.

» April 3, 2000: The Braves defeat the Rockies, 2-0. Andres Galarraga homers in his 1st game back after missing the entire 1999 season following cancer surgery.

» May 21, 2000: The Braves defeat the Padres, 12-6, as 1B Andres Galarraga goes 5-for-5, including a double. OF Brian Jordan has four hits for Atlanta, including two home runs, and drives in seven runs.

» December 8, 2000: The Rangers sign free agent 1B Andres Galarraga to a contract.

» July 24, 2001: The Rangers send 1B Andres Galarraga to the Giants for minor leaguer OF Chris Magruder, P Erasmo Ramirez, and P Todd Ozias.