Román Mejías Gómez (August 9, 1925 – February 22, 2023) was a Cuban

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

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 c ...

. He played in

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) ...

(MLB) in and from –

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

, Houston Colt .45s and

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) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

. He also played one season in Japan, in , for the Sankei Atoms. Listed as standing tall and weighing , he threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Biography

Mejías was born to Manuel Mejías and Felipa Gómez in Manuelita Sugar Mill in the Las Villas province of Cuba; the MLB widely and consistently printed his birthplace as

Abreus, Cuba Abreus () is a municipality and town in the Cienfuegos Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1840. History Abreus was founded as San Segundo de los Abreu in 1840 by Trinidadian landowners during an economic boom of slave-labor sugar cane plantat ...

. He had two younger sisters, Esperosa and Santa. When he was 17, he married Nicolasa Montero and the couple had two children, Rafaela and José. Mejías died in

Menifee, California Menifee is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and part of the Los Angeles Combined Statistical Area. The city is centrally located in Southern California in the Menifee Valley. It is almost north of Temecula and just north ...

, on February 22, 2023, at the age of 97.

Major League career

Pittsburgh Pirates

Mejías began his professional career in the Pirates' farm system in 1953. He spent his entire

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

campaign of 1955 on the Pittsburgh roster, appearing in 71

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

, 39 as a starting outfielder. But he batted only .216 with three

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 is ...

and was sent to the top level of minor league baseball for all of 1956 and part of . Recalled by the Pirates in late May 1957, Mejías backed up the regular Pittsburgh outfield (

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering sy ...

Bob Skinner Robert Ralph Skinner (born October 3, 1931) is an American former professional baseball outfielder / first baseman, manager, coach, and scout, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for three National League (NL) teams. In all, Skinner spent ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Bill Virdon William Charles Virdon (June 9, 1931 – November 23, 2021) was an American professional baseball outfielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). Virdon played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 t ...

and

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early dea ...

), hitting a more robust .275. In and , he was the Bucs' fourth outfielder, hitting three home runs in a game against

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1958, but then was assigned to Triple-A for most of and , appearing in only seven total games and going hitless in two

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 during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

Houston Colt .45s

On October 10, 1961, he was selected in the 11th round by Houston in the 1961 National League expansion draft, and was the starting right fielder in the Colt .45s' first Major League game on April 10, 1962. Batting third in Houston's lineup, Mejías had three hits in five at bats, with three

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

and six

runs batted in 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 ba ...

. He hit the first home run in Houston's Major League history, a three-run homer off Don Cardwell in the third

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

, and then followed with another three-run blast in the eighth off

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather d ...

Al Lary, as the Colt .45s routed the visiting

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

, 11–2.1962-04-10 box score
from

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

Mejías held the Colts' starting right fielder job all season, appearing in a career-high 146 games, and led Houston in hits (162), home runs (24), runs batted in (76), batting average (.286), stolen bases (12) and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player ...

(.485).

Boston Red Sox

On November 26, he was traded to the Red Sox for defending

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

batting champion

Pete Runnels James Edward "Pete" Runnels (January 28, 1928 – May 20, 1991) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder for the Washington Senators (1951–57), Boston Red Sox (1958–62 ...

. In , Mejías was Boston's opening day center fielder, but batted only .150 in 113 at bats during April and May. He did not get above .200 until June 22, and by then the often-injured Gary Geiger had taken over as the Bosox' center fielder. Mejías recovered to hit .227 with 11 home runs, but he was relegated to a reserve on the 1964 Red Sox, playing behind left fielder

Tony Conigliaro Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1967, 1969–1970, 1975) and California ...

(a 19-year-old rookie), center fielder

Carl Yastrzemski Carl Michael Yastrzemski ( ; nicknamed "Yaz"; born August 22, 1939) is an American former Major League Baseball player. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year Major League career with the Bost ...

and right fielder Lee Thomas. He then was assigned to the Red Sox' Triple-A

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Divi ...

affiliate, where he was a playing coach in 1965 before decamping for Japan, where he batted .288 with no home runs in 30 games in 1966, his last professional season. In 627 big-league games, Mejías collected 449 hits, with 57 doubles, 12

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 54 home runs. He batted .254. As a minor leaguer, he hit .299 in 806 games played.

References

External links

The Román Mejías Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mejias, Roman 1925 births 2023 deaths Batavia Clippers players Boston Red Sox players Columbus Jets players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Japan Hollywood Stars players Houston Colt .45s players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Pittsburgh Pirates players Sankei Atoms players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Waco Pirates players People from Cienfuegos Province