Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera (November 10, 1981 – April 8, 2025) was a Dominican professional baseball player. He was mainly a

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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

, and

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 ...

. Blanco played one season in the Major Leagues for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

but had more success playing in Japan for several teams. He died in April 2025 in the

Jet Set nightclub roof collapse On 8 April 2025, the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic collapsed during a live performance by merengue musician Rubby Pérez. The structural failure occurred at approximately 12:44 a.m. AST, resulting in 23 ...

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Career

Blanco signed with 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 ...

as a 16-year old and began in the team's farm system as a third baseman. In December 2002, he was traded to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

as a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

, completing an earlier trade that sent

Todd Walker Todd Arthur Walker (born May 25, 1973) is an American former professional baseball infielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1996 to 2007. Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Walker played college baseba ...

to Boston. Injuries, including Tommy John surgery, slowed Blanco's climb through the minors, but by 2004, playing in High A Potomac and Double A Chattanooga, Blanco was showing enough promise to play for the World Team in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

in Houston. Blanco was picked up by the Nationals as a

Rule 5 Draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

in the offseason and made the big league club's opening day roster in 2005. He collected his first MLB hit on April 8 and hit his only big league home run on May 22. Blanco only played sporadically and ended his first and only MLB season with a .177 average. Blanco bounced around the Washington minor league system in 2006-07 and then landed with the Double-A

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

in the

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

organization in 2008, batting .323 with 23 home runs and 88 RBIs. After the 2008 season, Blanco played in the

Dominican Winter League The Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League ( or LIDOM) is a professional baseball Winter league baseball, winter league consisting of six teams spread across the Dominican Republic; it is the highest level of professional baseball played ...

for the

Estrellas Orientales Estrellas Orientales (English: Eastern Stars), also known as Estrellas de Oriente, is a baseball team in the Dominican Winter League. Based in San Pedro de Macorís, the team has historically struggled, winning championships only in 1936, 1954, ...

. He then signed with

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) in Japan. Blanco finished his first season in NPB with 39 home runs and 110 RBIs, both leading in

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

, along with a .275 batting average. He also received a Central League Performance Award for inter-league games (11 home runs and 24 RBIs) and won the home run derby before the all-star game, in which he played as the Central League first baseman. Blanco played eight seasons in the NPB for Chunichi,

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, and

Orix , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

, slugging 181 home runs and 542 RBI, including career highs of 41 and 136 for Yokohama in 2013. He retired after another brief stint in the Dominican League in 2017. File:CD-Tony-Blanco.jpg, Blanco with the

Hanshin Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball stadium located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on 1 August 1924. It was ...

File:Tony Blanco square (cropped).jpg, Blanco with the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

at the Hanshin Naruohama Baseball Ground Blanco's son, Tony Jr., plays in 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

minor league system.

Death

Blanco died on April 8, 2025, from injuries sustained in the

in Santo Domingo. He was 44. Fellow Dominican baseball player

Octavio Dotel Octavio Eduardo Dotel Diaz (November 25, 1973 – April 8, 2025) was a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for 13 major league teams, the second-most of any player in history. ...

was also killed in the incident.Former MLB Pitcher Dies Following Dominican Night Club Collapse: Reports
/ref> Blanco died saving his friend Esteban Germán.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Tony 1980 births 2025 deaths Augusta GreenJackets players Chattanooga Lookouts players Chunichi Dragons players Deaths in the Jet Set nightclub roof collapse Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Japan Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Summer League Red Sox players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Hagerstown Suns players Harrisburg Senators players Jet Set nightclub roof collapse Lowell Spinners players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball third basemen New Orleans Zephyrs players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Orix Buffaloes players People from San Juan de la Maguana Baseball players from San Juan Province (Dominican Republic) Sarasota Red Sox players Tulsa Drillers players Washington Nationals players Yokohama DeNA BayStars players