Playing career

San Francisco Giants

Minor leagues

At the age of 19, Mota signed as an amateur free agent with the New York Giants on February 21, 1957. He began his minor league career that season with the Class-D Michigan City White Caps of the Midwest League, where he hit .314 in 126 games. In 1958, he was promoted to the Class-B Danville Leafs of the Carolina League, where he hit .301 in 103 games.

Mota began 1959 with the Class A Springfield Giants of the Eastern League and was later promoted to the AAA Phoenix Giants of the Pacific Coast League. In 86 games combined, he hit .304. In 1960, he played in 141 games for the AA Rio Grande Valley Giants of the Texas League, hitting .307. In 1961, with the AAA Tacoma Giants, he hit .289 in 142 games.

Major leagues

After beginning 1962 with the El Paso Sun Kings, Mota made his Major League debut on April 16, 1962 for the now San Francisco Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he hit a flyball to centerfield in his first at-bat. His first hit was an RBI single off Jim Brosnan of the Cincinnati Reds on April 21, 1962. He had 13 hits in 74 at-bats for a .176 batting average in 47 games for the Giants.

On November 30, 1962, the Giants traded him to the Houston Colt .45's (with Dick LeMay) for infielder Joey Amalfitano.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Before he ever appeared in an official game with Houston, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Howie Goss and cash on April 4, 1963, and he quickly established himself as one of the league's premiere hitters. In six years with the Pirates, Mota appeared in 642 games and hit .297. His first career home run was hit off Chris Short of the Philadelphia Phillies on May 26, 1964.

Montreal Expos

On October 14, 1968, Mota was the second player selected in the expansion draft by the Montreal Expos. In 31 games, he hit .315.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On June 11, 1969 Mota was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers (along with Maury Wills) for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich. Once in L.A., Mota became the number one pinch hitter there and hit over .300 during the next five seasons.

On May 16, 1970, Mota hit the only batted ball in major league history to cause a fatality. In the bottom of the third against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, Mota fouled one off of Gaylord Perry along the first base line. The ball struck 14-year-old Alan Fish in the left temple. Four days later, Fish died of an inoperable head injury.

In 1973, Mota was selected to the National League All-Star team after leading the league in batting average. From 1974 through 1979, Mota was continuously called upon for late inning heroics, where he averaged 10 pinch hits for 6 straight seasons. The Dodgers appeared in the 1974, 1977, and 1978 World Series. In 1979, he established his place in the record books by becoming the all-time leader in Pinch Hits. He had a compact swing and often half-swung just to push the ball beyond the reach of the first baseman for a hit.

In 1981, Manny appeared in his fourth World Series, this time mostly as a coach but only to be activated later in the year for the stretch drive. Mota retired as a player from the Dodgers the following year. He left a career holding the all-time major league record for career pinch-hits (150), which has since been broken by Mark Sweeney and Lenny Harris, and an overall lifetime batting average of .304 and a .297 pinch-hitting average. His .315 batting average is second best (1,800 or more at bats) in Los Angeles Dodgers history, trailing only Mike Piazza.

Post-playing career

Mota served as a player-coach for the Dodgers during his final seasons as a player, and remained as a coach after retiring as a player. Mota again participated in a World Series as a coach for the Dodgers in 1988, making this a total of five World Series appearances.

Mota remained a Dodger coach until he hung up his uniform in 2013, though he remained part of the Dodgers organization.

In the off-season, Mota and his wife Margarita reside in the Dominican Republic, where they run the Manny Mota International Foundation. Established over 30 years ago, this humanitarian organization provides needed resources and other assistance to disadvantaged youth and their families in both the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Mota was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame on August 23, 2003, in pregame on field ceremony at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles.

Mota worked as a color commentator on the Fox Sports en Espanol television broadcast of the 2007 World Series and worked as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Dodgers on select PrimeTicket broadcasts. He retired as a full-time coach after the 2013 season and became a full-time broadcaster on the Spanish-language feeds of SportsNet LA.

Cultural references

As one of the all-time great pinch hitters and a Los Angeles staple in the 1970s, Mota was referenced in a joke in the movie Airplane! As we hear Ted Striker's inner-dialogue echo in his mind, it resembles a stadium public address and we hear him think "Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbón... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." Mota and Borbon never actually played on the same team.

Family

Two of Mota's sons, Andy and José, also played in the Major Leagues. Manny's youngest son, Tony, played extensively through the Minor Leagues and has also coached for the Dodgers organization. Manny, and his wife, Margarita, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mota's nephew, Santiago Taveras, is an educator and former deputy chancellor in New York City, and is the current principal of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]