Richard José Hidalgo (born June 28, 1975) is a Venezuelan former professional

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He played with 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 ...

(1997–2004),

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

(2004), and the Texas Rangers (2005) of

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). He batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

Career

Hidalgo was signed as a 16-year-old by the Houston Astros from its Venezuela academy. After hitting .306 and .303 in his first two seasons, his numbers came down with a .227

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

, although he showed some power with 15

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in 383

at-bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

. He required season-ending surgery to treat a congenital knee condition. Hidalgo blossomed in 2000, when he hit .314 with 44 home runs and 122

RBIs 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 ...

. That season Hidalgo set the Astros'

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any hit (baseball), base hit on which the batting (baseball), batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error (base ...

streak record, matched in 2017 by

Alex Bregman Alexander David Bregman (born March 30, 1994) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros. As a high school sophomore at Albu ...

, at 10 games. In April of 2000 Hidalgo hit the first home run as an Astro in Enron field and later In September 2000 Hidalgo set an Astros record of .476 average that was surpassed by

Jose Altuve Jose Carlos Altuve (; born May 6, 1990) is a Venezuelan professional baseball second baseman for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Having played for the Astros since 2011, he is the longest-tenured current member of the team, an ...

in 2018. He signed a 4-year $32 million contract after that season. On November 22, 2002, Hidalgo was shot in the left forearm during a carjacking in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In 2003, he returned to good form both at the plate and in the field. He posted numbers of .309, 28, 88, collected three homers in a game, and led the majors outfielders in assists with 22, while committing only four

errors An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

. Despite being named National League player of the month for April 2004, Hidalgo struggled at the plate and was benched by manager,

Jimy Williams James Francis Williams (October 4, 1943 – January 26, 2024) was an American professional baseball infielder, Coach (baseball), coach and Manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966 ...

, by May. The Astros then traded him to the

for David Weathers and Jeremy Griffiths. He set a Mets record by homering in 5 consecutive games. Hidalgo hit .239 with 25 homers and 82 RBIs for the season. Hidalgo, a free agent, signed with the Texas Rangers for the 2005 season. In 2006, he signed a minor league contract with 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 ...

, but left the team before the season started, when his wife became ill. Hidalgo requested to be released from his contract, allowing to him to go to Japan where he would have a starting role. In the 2006 off-season, 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 ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

reportedly showed interest in signing Hidalgo. In January 2007, the Astros signed him again, this time to a minor league contract. This second tenure was short-lived, as Hidalgo was released by the Astros on March 25, 2007, after refusing a minor league assignment. Hidalgo was a Major League .269 lifetime hitter with 171 home runs and 560 RBIs in 987 games. Defensively, he recorded a .987

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

playing at all three outfield positions. On April 10, 2007, Hidalgo joined the

Long Island Ducks The Long Island Ducks are an American professional minor league baseball team based on Long Island in Central Islip, New York. The Ducks compete in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), an independent "par ...

. Before

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, however, he announced his retirement from professional baseball. On July 8, 2008, Hidalgo signed with the Ducks again but left the team during the last week of August. In early 2008, Hidalgo's attempt to create a so-called "field of dreams" on his

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

property was voted down by residents of his neighborhood. Hidalgo has three sons who live with his wife in Florida.

References

External links

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Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidalgo, Richard 1975 births Living people Asheville Tourists players Gulf Coast Astros players Houston Astros players Jackson Generals (Texas League) players Long Island Ducks players Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Major League Baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball right fielders Navegantes del Magallanes players New Orleans Zephyrs players New York Mets players Baseball players from Caracas Quad Cities River Bandits players Sultanes de Monterrey players Texas Rangers players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Mexico Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States

Career

See also

References

External links