Luis Bienvenido Pujols Toribio (born November 18, 1955) is a Dominican former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player coach and manager. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

from to , most prominently as a member of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

where he helped the franchise win its first-ever National League Western Division title and postseason berth in . He also played for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

and the Texas Rangers. Although Pujols didn't produce impressive offensive statistics, he excelled defensively which enabled him to sustain a nine-year career as a back-up catcher. After his playing career, Pujols served as a major league coach before being named the interim manager for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

in 2002. He later became a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

manager for the Astros and the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

. Pujols is the cousin of St. Louis Cardinals

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Albert Pujols.

Career

Houston Astros

Seventeen-year-old Pujols signed with the

as an amateur free agent out of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

in . He batted .230 with five

home runs 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 ...

and 107

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

over five seasons in their

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

when he made his debut as a September call-up in . He got one hit in fifteen at-bats over the remainder of the season. More importantly, he caught four of eight attempted base stealers. He started the season in the minors, but was brought up mid-season around the time the Astros dealt starting catcher Joe Ferguson to the

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He platooned behind the plate with former first round draft pick Bruce Bochy, who was also called up at around the same time, for the remainder of the season. Pujols batted .131 with one home run and eleven RBIs. The Astros acquired Alan Ashby from the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

to assume the starting catcher job in . Bochy was given the back-up catcher job, and Pujols was reassigned to the triple A Charleston Charlies. In Charleston, he put together his finest season at any level, batting .249 with six home runs and 41 RBIs. He was called up to Houston in late August to again platoon with Bochy after Ashby injured himself in a game against the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

, and was lost for the season. He was the hero of his second game back in the majors. In a tight race for the

National League West The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was created for the 1969 season when the National League (baseball), National League (NL) expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montr ...

, Pujols hit a triple and a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, driving in two and scoring one run to lead his team to a 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also had a three RBI game against the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

on September 25. For the season, he batted .227 with eight RBIs as the Astros finished a game and a half back of the Cincinnati Reds. In , Pujols spent his first full season in the majors. He batted .199 with twenty RBIs for an Astro team that captured its first division crown in franchise history. Though both were hobbled with injuries, Pujols actually received the bulk of the playing time over Ashby in the 1980 National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. In thirteen plate appearances, he drew three walks and hit a triple off

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

r Steve Carlton. Following Carlton Fisk's departure from the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

via free agency, Pujols was rumored to be headed to Boston for Joe Rudi, but nothing ever materialized. Instead, he remained in Houston, and was on his way to his best season statistically when a players strike interrupted his season. On May 19, after hitting a triple against the St. Louis Cardinals' Bob Shirley, Pujols stole home for the only stolen base of his career. He batted .254 with one home run and eight RBIs in the first half, while batting .224 with six RBIs and no home runs in the second half. Still, the Astros won the NL West in the second half of the season to return to the post-season a second year in a row. Pujols came to bat seven times in the 1981 National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers without getting a hit. Pujols had a nightmare of a game on June 24, . With

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch (baseball), pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from Laminar flow, lamin ...

er Joe Niekro on the mound, he was charged with four passed balls and allowed two additional wild pitches. He'd had only two passed balls up to that point in the season, but ended up leading the majors with twenty in only 488 innings behind the plate by season's end (the Texas Rangers' Jim Sundberg had the second highest with sixteen in 1136.2 innings). Likewise, his hitting tapered off as well as the season progressed. After his batting average peaked at .276 on July 2, he batted just .161 the rest of the way. He did, however, have a career high four home runs.

Final years

He split the season between the Astros and Triple A Tucson Toros, and spent the entire season in Tucson until being dealt to the

for minor leaguer James Miner. He appeared in four games for the Royals that September, collecting one hit in five at-bats. He signed with the Texas Rangers for , and seemed in line to win the back-up catcher job until pulling a muscle in his right arm in Spring training. After appearing in one regular season game, a fractured shoulder cost him the entire season. He returned healthy the following Spring, but failed to make the club. He spent the season in the minors with the Rangers, and the season in the Montreal Expos' organization before retiring. He spent the season as a member of the West Palm Beach Tropics in the Senior Professional Baseball Association.

Coaching

When Felipe Alou had the interim tag removed from his managerial position with the Montreal Expos for the season, he asked Pujols to serve as his first base coach. He remained there through the season, moving into the bench coach position for . On July 20, he was fired and replaced by Jeff Cox. He managed the

' double A Eastern League affiliate, the Erie SeaWolves, to an 84-58 record in before becoming bench coach with the major league club for the season. He ended up becoming the Tigers' interim manager for most of the season after Phil Garner was fired six games into the season. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski hired Felipe Alou to be Pujols' bench coach for the remainder of the season. On June 25, history was made when the Tigers faced off against the Kansas City Royals, who were managed by Tony Peña. It was the first time two Dominican-born managers opposed each other in a major league game. An infamous incident in Pujols's year managing was when the Tigers somehow batted out of order. Pujols was released at the end of the 2002 season. Under Pujols, the Tigers posted a 55–100 record for a .355 winning percentage, the worst of any manager at that point in club history. The Tigers won only 43 games the following season. He ended up following Alou to the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, where he served as first base coach until Alou and his entire staff were fired at the end of the season. When Alou was named manager of the Dominican team in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

, Pujols joined him there as well. On December 10, , Luis Pujols was named manager of the Corpus Christi Hooks, Class double A farm team of the Houston Astros. On February 25, 2013, he became the Manager for the Delmarva Shorebirds, the lower level Single-A affiliate of the

. In February 2014 he was named the manager for the Frederick Keys, the advanced Single-A affiliate of the

References

External links

Luis Pujols
at Yahoo Sports! {{DEFAULTSORT:Pujols, Luis 1955 births Living people Cedar Rapids Astros players Charleston Charlies players Columbus Astros players Covington Astros players Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers managers Dominican Republic baseball coaches Dominican Republic expatriate baseball people in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Republic national baseball team people Dubuque Packers players Houston Astros players Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Royals players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 20th-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Minor league baseball managers Montreal Expos coaches Oklahoma City 89ers players Baseball players from Santiago de los Caballeros San Francisco Giants coaches Texas Rangers players Tigres del Licey players Tucson Toros players West Palm Beach Tropics players