Enzo Octavio Hernández (12 February 1949 – 13 January 2013) was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

who played from 1971 through 1978 for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

. Hernández was born in Valle de Guanape,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. Listed at 5' 8", 155 lb., he batted and threw right handed. A typical ′′good field-no hit′′ shortstop, Hernández was initially signed by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in 1967, and later played in the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

' minor league system. After being traded along with Tom Phoebus, Fred Beene and Al Severinsen from the Orioles for Pat Dobson and Tom Dukes on December 1, 1970, he became the Padres regular shortstop for most of the period from 1971 to 1976,

stealing Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for som ...

20 or more bases four times. He also collected 595 assists In 1971, for the 5th highest total ever for a shortstop. On August 1, 1971, Hernández took part in one of eight recorded triple plays by the San Diego Padres franchise. In an eight-season career, Hernández was a .224 hitter with two

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s, 113

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the batt ...

, 241 runs, 522 hits, 66 doubles, 13

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, and 129 stolen bases in 714

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Baseball ...

. Hernández finished his Major League Baseball career with an 80% success rate on stolen bases. He also played from 1967 to 1979 with the Tiburones de La Guaira and Llaneros de Portuguesa of the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

. In besides, he spent time with five different minor league clubs in parts of four seasons spanning 1967–1978. Hernández died on January 13, 2013, aged 63, in El Tigre, Venezuela of an apparent suicide, after suffering a long illness. Citing a tweet from journalist Juan Guatache, the Venezuelan newspaper, ''El diario deportivo Líder'', added that the former player "in recent months had received treatment for a depressive condition and in the past December fell to health," without giving other details.

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1949 births 2013 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players Cocoa Astros players Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players Greensboro Patriots players Llaneros de Portuguesa players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Major League Baseball shortstops Miami Marlins (FSL) players Oklahoma City 89ers players Rochester Red Wings players People from Anzoátegui San Diego Padres players Suicides by firearm in Venezuela Tiburones de La Guaira players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States 2013 suicides {{Venezuela-baseball-shortstop-stub

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