Sandy Alomar, Sr. Had His Greatest Baseball Success with the California Angels

Former MLB player and coach Sandy Alomar, Sr. passed away today less than a week shy of his 82nd birthday.

Alomar is best remembered for being the father of six-time All-Star catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr. and Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar.

Yet the elder Alomar had a lengthy career in MLB as both a player and a coach. Alomar, Sr. played in the MLB for 15 seasons with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers. His big-league coaching career began in 1986 with the San Diego Padres where both of his sons made their MLB debut.

After five seasons in San Diego, Alomar joined the Cubs organization and spent most of the 1990s as a minor league manager eventually joining the big-league coaching staff in 2000. Alomar would spend the balance of the 2000's on the big-league coaching staffs of both the Colorado Rockies and the New York Mets. A native of Puerto Rico, Alomar also played, coached and managed the Puerto Rican national team.

Getting back to his playing career, Alomar, Sr.'s statistics were modest in comparison to his sons. In 1481 career games, Alomar collected 1168 hits for a lifetime batting average of .245 with 13 HR and 282 RBI. But he would enjoy his greatest success as a player during his tenure with the California Angels from the middle of the 1969 season through the middle of the 1974 season.

It was in an Angels uniform where Alomar, Sr. belted his first career HR after more than 900 career plate appearances leading off a game against Minnesota Twins pitcher Dick Woodson. In both 1970 and 1971, Alomar played all 162 games at second base leading the AL in plate appearances both seasons. Alomar would be named to the 1970 AL All-Star Team. But his best overall season came in 1971 when came to bat a league leading 689 times while hitting a career best .260 with 4 HR and 42 RBI. At one point, Alomar played in 648 consecutive games with the Angels until a broken leg following a collision with Jerry Hairston, Sr. ended his season in 1973.

Alomar would become an everyday player again during his tenure with the New York Yankees when they played in Shea Stadium in 1974 and in 1975. By the time the Bronx Bombers had returned to Yankee Stadium in 1976, Alomar was relegated to utility play with the emergence of Willie Randolph at second base. Despite limited play, he would be part of an AL championship team for the only time in his career.

While Sandy Alomar, Sr. may have been a bit player, he will always remain an Angel in the infield. R.I.P.