Jesús Manuel Marcano Trillo (born December 25, 1950), nicknamed "Indio", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, most prominently with the Chicago Cubs where he established himself as an All-Star player, and then with the Philadelphia Phillies where he was an integral member of the 1980 World Series winning team.
A four-time All-Star with a strong throwing arm, Trillo was known as one of the best fielding second basemen of his era, winning three Gold Glove Awards during his career (1979, 1981, 1982). In 1982, he set a Major League record for second basemen when he fielded 479 consecutive chances without an error. He also played for the Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds. After his playing career he worked as a minor league coach for several major league organizations.
In 1983, the Phillies selected Trillo as the second baseman for their Centennial Team, commemorating the best players of the first 100 years in franchise history. He was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007 and in 2020, he was selected for enshrinement on the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.
Baseball career
Early life
Trillo was born on December 25, 1950 in Caripito in northeastern Venezuela, where his father worked in the oil industry. In 1969, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. Trillo was involved in a pair of controversies about his roster eligibility for the 1973 postseason. MLB strictly enforced a rule that only players on a major league roster on August 31 were eligible for the postseason. After José Morales' contract was sold to the Montreal Expos on September 18 and Bill North severely sprained an ankle, the A's received approval from their American League Championship Series opponent the Baltimore Orioles to allow the additions to their roster of both Trillo and Allan Lewis. A's owner Charlie Finley submitted the same request to the New York Mets, his team's 1973 World Series opponent, but New York only approved Lewis. When Mike Andrews committed two errors in a four-run twelfth inning of Oakland's Game 2 defeat, Finley attempted to have Andrews waived onto the disabled list in order to activate Trillo.
thumb|right|175px|Trillo playing for the Cubs in 1988.
Chicago Cubs
On October 23, , Trillo was traded along with Darold Knowles and Bob Locker to the Chicago Cubs for Billy Williams. In his first full season in the Major Leagues, Trillo had a career-high 70 runs batted in, and he finished third in the 1975 National League Rookie of the Year Award balloting behind John Montefusco and Gary Carter. With the Cubs, Trillo developed a reputation for his impressive defensive skills and, coalesced with Cubs' shortstop Iván DeJesús into one of the best double play combinations in baseball. He led National League second basemen in assists for four consecutive seasons from 1975 to 1978. In 1978 Trillo led National League second basemen in double plays turned.
Philadelphia Phillies
Trillo was reunited with his former minor league manager in Philadelphia when Dallas Green replaced Danny Ozark as the Phillies' manager on August 31, 1979. He won his first Gold Glove Award in 1979 and became an integral member of the Phillies defense. In , Trillo hit for over a .300 batting average until the middle of September, finishing the season with a career-high .292 average as the Phillies won the National League Eastern Division title. Along with his defensive talents, he won the 1980 Silver Slugger Award for second basemen, which is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position.
In the 1980 National League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, he posted a .381 batting average with four runs batted in, and teamed up with Bake McBride in the decisive Game 5 to relay a throw to home plate, cutting off Luis Pujols attempting to score from first base on a double by Craig Reynolds. Trillo's performance earned him the League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award. In the 1980 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, Trillo once again made his mark in Game 5 by making another relay throw to cut off Darrell Porter trying to score in the sixth inning. He then hit a single with two outs in the ninth inning to drive home the winning run.
1981 was another good year for Trillo as he was selected as a reserve for the National League All-Star team, and won his second Gold Glove Award and his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award however, the Phillies dropped to third place in the National League Eastern Division. He was voted to be the starting second baseman for the National League in the 1982 All-Star Game.
Trillo played 89 consecutive games overall before he committed an error, falling two games short of the Major League record 91-game errorless streak for second basemen set by Joe Morgan in the 1977 and 1978 seasons. During his streak, Trillo handled 479 consecutive chances without an error, breaking the previous Major League record of 458 set by Jerry Adair over the 1964 and 1965 seasons. His record was broken by Ryne Sandberg in 1990. Trillo committed only 5 errors during the 1982 season, setting a new National League record for second baseman with a .9937 fielding percentage. This record was also broken by Sandberg in 1990. In 1983, he made his second consecutive start as the All-Star second baseman, this time for the American League. At the end of the season Trillo became a free agent and signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants. During his three seasons with the Cubs, Trillo played all the infield positions while serving as a utility player and helped to mentor younger Cubs players such as Ryne Sandberg and Shawon Dunston. He led National League second basemen four times in assists, three times in range factor and twice in putouts. In the 1972-1973 season, he played a large role in helping the Leones win the league championship and advance to the 1973 Caribbean Series where they eventually lost to the Tigres del Licey from the Dominican Republic.
In 1983, he was named to the Philadelphia Phillies Centennial Team as its second baseman. In 2020, he was selected for enshrinement on the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.