Joaquin Andujar, fiery Dominican baseball icon, dead at 62
When Pedro Martinez dreamt about playing baseball in America, he dreamt about being Joaquin Andujar. That says something about the legacy Andujar is leaving.
Andujar, a former MLB pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics, died Tuesday at age 62, according to ESPN Deportes, after a long battle with diabetes.
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Andujar isn’t the biggest star to come from the Dominican Republic, the Latin American nation that provides MLB teams with plenty of star power nowadays.
But in the early ’80s, the number of Dominicans in MLB was much smaller. Andujar didn’t just come to the U.S. to follow his dreams. He pitched in the World Series twice — in 1982 and 1985 with the Cardinals. He was an All-Star four times. He won 20 games in back-to-back seasons (1984 and 1985).
To kids with big-league dreams in the Dominican, he was a hero.
“This is a big hit for the Dominican Republic,” Martinez said Tuesday on MLB Network. “Before I thought about baseball as a career, it was only a dream. Joaquin Andujar was in the middle of every dream that I had. He was one of the best pitchers that we ever had in the Dominican Republic, right along with Juan Marichal.”
Andujar won 127 games in his 13-year MLB career, not close to Hall of Famer Marichal’s 243, but the fact that Andujar is mentioned in the same breath, by Martinez of all people, speaks volumes about his influence.
In the states, Andujar will also be remembered for his fiery personality. He showed a lot of emotion on the pitcher’s mound, in good times and bad. Many baseball fans will recall Andujar pitching in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series for the Cardinals, who were getting blown out in the ninth inning. Andujar charged umpire Don Denkinger twice amid an argument about the strike zone.
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Denkinger had been in the middle of controversy after a missed call Game 6 that helped the Royals, so the Cardinals were no fans of his. Andujar was ejected. So was manager Whitey Herzog. That was his World Series low. But 1982 was the high. He won two games for the Cardinals in that World Series and three in the entire postseason, as they became champions.
It makes sense then that the two pieces of advice that Martinez remembers getting from Andujar were to remain aggressive and never stop pitching inside. Andujar was known in baseball circles as “One Tough Dominican.” And it was true.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
