Alejandro Eloy Carrasquel Aparicio (July 24, 1912 – August 19, 1969) was a Venezuelan pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for the Washington Senators and the Chicago White Sox over a span of eight seasons from 1939 to 1949. Nicknamed Patón ("Bigfoot") in Venezuela, he was listed at , , and batted and threw right handed.

Carrasquel became the first Venezuelan-born player to ever appear in the majors

Baseball career

Born in Caracas, Carrasquel had a fine fastball, which he complemented with an effective knuckleball and a decent curve. He started his major league career with the Senators of the American League on April 23, 1939.

In his second game, on April 30, Carrasquel earned his first save at Yankee Stadium. He was called in to relieve in the eighth inning, with two outs and the bases loaded, and Washington trying to preserve a 3–2 lead. Carrasquel got the third out by retiring Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon, then retired Red Ruffing, Frankie Crosetti and Red Rolfe in order in the ninth to preserve the Senators victory.

A month later, on May 30, Carrasquel hit his only career home run,

In the 1940s, Carrasquel posted positive win–loss records in six consecutive seasons for lousy Senators teams that usually finished below .500. He had a 6–2 record (.750) in both 1940 and 1941, while the Senators went 64-90 and 70–84, respectively. In 1942 he went 7–7 (.500); Washington, 60–91. The Senators actually finished over .500 at 84–69.

Three days later, on May 3, Carrasquel made his third relief appearance and picked up his first win as well as the first by a Venezuelan pitcher in Major League Baseball history when the Senators defeated the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park. Washington rallied from a six-run deficit in the sixth, scoring seven runs over the final three innings of the game, en route to an 11–10 road victory. Carrasquel pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to secure the historic win.

Carrasquel made his first big league start on May 14 against the visiting Boston Red Sox at Griffith Stadium. Carrasquel engaged in an 11-inning pitching duel with Lefty Grove and the score tied at 2–2, until the Red Sox chased him with three runs in the top of the 12th, while the Senators’ rally in the bottom of the inning against Grove and two relievers fell one run short, as the Sox prevailed, 5–4. Besides, in the 7th inning Carrasquel recorded the first hit by a Venezuelan player in the major leagues when he singled off Grove. Incidentally, Carrasquel faced a Red Sox starting lineup that had other future Hall of Famers: Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, and the aforementioned Grove. On August 13, he won a rematch with the Red Sox at Fenway Park, earning his sixth win of the season in a 6–3, complete game effort.

Although World War II was officially over and baseball's finest players were back in their familiar ranks, tranquility no longer had a place in the majors. The new Mexican League, headed by millionaire Jorge Pasquel, had lured a cluster of big leaguers. On January 2, 1946, the Chicago White Sox bought Carrasquel's contract from the Senators. He rejected the deal and fled to play in Mexico, signing a three-year contract – the first shot in the cross-border disputes that would dominate baseball even more than the return of the war veterans. “Pasquel paid me $3,000 cash [bonus], to sign a three-year contract calling for $10,000 a year,” Carrasquel said, in an interview three years later. “I took it, for in addition to the $33,000 I was to receive in Mexico, I also was free to pitch winter baseball”, he added, according to historian Lou Hernandez.

Sources

See also

  • List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela
  • SABR Biography Project