Sandy Alomar Jr.
BBWAA Rookie of the Year 1990
The Sporting News Rookie of the Year 1990
Baseball Digest All-Star Rookie Catcher 1990
All-Star Selection 1990-92, 1996-98
All-Star MVP 1997
Golden Glove Winner 1990
Full Name: Santos Jr. (Velazquez) Alomar
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Height: 6-5 Weight: 200 lbs.
Born: Jun 18, 1966 in Salinas, P.R.
Major League Debut: Sep 30, 1988
PHOTO
GALLERY


CAREER BATTING STATISTICS
  BATTING
Year Team Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K OBP SLG OPS
1988 SD .000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000
1989 SD .211 7 19 1 4 1 0 1 6 3 3 .318 .421 .739
1990 CLE .290 132 445 60 129 26 2 9 66 25 46 .326 .418 .744
1991 CLE .217 51 184 10 40 9 0 0 7 8 24 .264 .266 .530
1992 CLE .251 89 299 22 75 16 0 2 26 13 32 .293 .324 .618
1993 CLE .270 64 215 24 58 7 1 6 32 11 28 .318 .395 .713
1994 CLE .288 80 292 44 84 15 1 14 43 25 31 .347 .490 .837
1995 CLE .300 66 203 32 61 6 0 10 35 7 26 .332 .478 .810
1996 CLE .263 127 418 53 110 23 0 11 50 19 42 .299 .397 .696
1997 CLE .324 125 451 63 146 37 0 21 83 19 48 .354 .545 .900
1998 CLE .235 117 409 45 96 26 2 6 44 18 45 .270 .352 .622
1999 CLE .307 37 137 19 42 13 0 6 25 4 23 .322 .533 .855
2000 CLE .289 97 356 44 103 16 2 7 42 16 41 .324 .404 .728
2001 CWS .245 70 220 17 54 8 1 4 21 12 17 .288 .345 .634
2002 COL .267 38 116 8 31 4 0 0 12 4 19 .292 .302 .593
2002 CWS .287 51 167 21 48 10 1 7 25 5 14 .309 .485 .794
2002 Total .279 89 283 29 79 14 1 7 37 9 33 .302 .410 .712
2003 CWS .268 75 194 22 52 12 0 5 26 4 17 .281 .407 .689
  AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K OBP SLG OPS
Totals .275 1227 4126 485 1133 229 10 109 543 193 457 .311 .414 .725


  BATTING BASERUNNING MISC
Year Team HBP GDP TB IBB SH SF SB CS SB% AB/HR AB/K
1988 SD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0.0 1.0
1989 SD 0 1 8 1 0 0 0 0 .000 19.0 6.3
1990 CLE 2 10 186 2 5 6 4 1 .800 49.4 9.7
1991 CLE 4 4 49 1 2 1 0 4 .000 0.0 7.7
1992 CLE 5 7 97 3 3 0 3 3 .500 149.5 9.3
1993 CLE 6 3 85 0 1 4 3 1 .750 35.8 7.7
1994 CLE 2 7 143 2 0 1 8 4 .667 20.9 9.4
1995 CLE 3 8 97 0 4 1 3 1 .750 20.3 7.8
1996 CLE 3 20 166 0 2 2 1 0 1.000 38.0 10.0
1997 CLE 3 16 246 2 6 1 0 2 .000 21.5 9.4
1998 CLE 3 15 144 0 5 3 0 3 .000 68.2 9.1
1999 CLE 0 1 73 0 1 2 0 1 .000 22.8 6.0
2000 CLE 4 9 144 1 4 4 2 2 .500 50.9 8.7
2001 CWS 2 6 76 1 3 2 1 2 .333 55.0 12.9
2002 COL 0 6 35 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0.0 6.1
2002 CWS 1 5 81 0 1 2 0 0 .000 23.9 11.9
2002 Total 1 11 116 0 1 2 0 0 .000 40.4 8.6
2003 CWS 0 4 79 0 5 1 0 0 .000 38.8 11.4
  HBP GDP TB IBB SH SF SB CS SB% AB/HR AB/K
Totals 38 122 1709 13 42 30 25 24 .510 37.9 9.0



CAREER FIELDING STATISTICS
Year Team POS G Ch PO A E DP FPCT RF ZR
1989 SD C 6 0 33 1 0 1 1.000 7.460 .000
1990 CLE C 129 0 686 45 14 6 .981 6.250 .000
1991 CLE C 46 0 280 18 4 5 .987 6.780 .000
1992 CLE C 88 0 477 39 2 5 .996 6.360 .000
1993 CLE C 64 0 342 25 6 4 .984 6.350 .000
1994 CLE C 78 0 453 40 2 0 .996 6.470 .000
1995 CLE C 61 0 364 22 2 3 .995 7.440 .000
1996 CLE C 124 15 724 48 9 6 .988 7.000 .867
1996 CLE 1B 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
1996 Total   125 15 724 48 9 6 .988 7.000 .867
1997 CLE C 119 2 742 41 12 11 .985 7.010 .500
1998 CLE C 111 13 713 42 6 7 .992 7.310 .692
1999 CLE C 35 4 257 10 7 2 .974 8.120 1.000
2000 CLE C 95 9 661 42 8 6 .989 7.740 1.000
2001 CWS C 69 4 367 19 4 5 .990 6.370 .750
2002 COL C 38 1 190 8 0 1 1.000 6.540 1.000
2002 CWS C 50 3 293 14 2 3 .994 6.840 1.000
2002 Total   88 4 483 22 2 4 .996 6.720 1.000
2003 CWS C 75 3 371 16 1 3 .997 6.820 1.000
  G Ch PO A E DP FPCT RF ZR
Totals 1200 54 6953 430 79 68 .989 6.880 .852


[Following trivia provided by Tom Cipolla]

Sandy Alomar Jr. is the only player in Major League history to hit a home run in a regular season game, an All-Star game, a Division Series, a Championship Series and the World Series all in one season, which he did in 1997.

[Biographical information by James G. Robinson and Stewart Wolpin, The Ball Players The Idea Logic Company, Inc.]

Signed by the San Diego Padres as a free agent to a minor-league contract on Oct. 21, 1983.

Alomar came up to the Padres in September 1988 for a cup of coffee after being named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. For a brief time, he teamed with his younger brother, Roberto, and his father, Sandy Jr., who was a Padres coach. In 1989 he was again named Minor League Player of the Year (this time both by Baseball America and The Sporting News) but sat on the San Diego bench at the end of the season as Benito Santiago's understudy. After months of trade rumors, the Padres decided that Santiago was going to be their catcher of the future and in December dealt their blue-chip catching prospect to the Cleveland Indians with Chris James and Carlos Baerga for slugger Joe Carter.

Alomar immediately fulfilled his promise in Cleveland, becoming the first rookie catcher to start the All-Star Game (where he displayed his big-game talent by collecting two hits and scoring the winning run for the AL) and only the third unanimous Rookie of the Year winner, following Carlton Fisk (1972) and Mark McGwire (1987). He also won a Gold Glove, the first Indian to be so honored since Rick Manning in 1976.

But his next three seasons -- despite two more All-Star starts -- were filled with injuries. In 1991, he missed eleven games with various hip and shoulder woes, and in 1992, Alomar tore cartilage in his knee while sliding into third base on August 16 and played just one more game the rest of the way. In 1993, he was slowed by a back injury over the first month of the season and was batting just .125 when he was placed on the disabled list May 2. After undergoing back surgery, Alomar was out of action until August 7.

The following seasons saw glimpses of Alomar's talent despite limited playing time. Another injury and the players' strike limited him to just eighty appearances in 1994, but he smacked a career-high 14 homers -- all against righties -- and opened the season by spoiling Randy Johnson's no-hit bid with an eighth-inning single in the first game ever played in Jacobs Field. Alomar hit .300 for the first time in 1995, but his chronic knee injury limited him to just 54 starts for the Indians.

1996 marked the first time since his rookie year that Alomar managed to avoid the disabled list for an entire season. Appearing in 127 games, he was named to his fourth All-Star team but hit only .232 in the second half, raising questions about his stamina. In 1997, those doubts were set aside. His mid-season 30-game hit streak fell one short of the Indians' record set by Nap Lajoie in 1906, and four short of Benito Santiago's major-league record for catchers, set in 1987.

After several injury-plagued seasons that threatened to forever delay a promising career, the senior of the two Alomar brothers finally broke through in 1997 with a star-making season. Not only did he hit .324, slamming 21 homers and knocking in 83 runs to lead all AL catchers, but he had a season-high 30-game hit streak and hit the game-winning two-run homer at the All-Star game played at his home park, Jacobs Field. If not for his own brittleness -- he made eight trips to the DL in the 1990s -- and the unparalleled defensive play of Texas' Ivan Rodriguez, Alomar might well have been considered the premier American League catcher of the decade.

Alomar topped off his career year with post-season heroics, swatting the game-tying homer off Mariano Rivera in Game Four of the ALDS (his second homer in the series) that helped put Cleveland into the ALCS. He also drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth in Game Four of the ALCS, and hit .367 with two homers and a series-high 10 RBIs in the Indians' seven-game World Series loss to the Florida Marlins.

Alomar fell back to earth in 1998 (.235, 6, 44) and bone chips in his left knee forced another visit to the DL in 1999. After undergoing his eighth knee surgery (seven on the left, one on the right) Alomar missed nearly four months of the season. Worst of all, it limited his chances to play alongside his brother Roberto, who had been signed as a free agent before the season began.