Ozzie Virgil Sr., First Dominican-Born Major Leaguer, Dies at 92

Baseball|Ozzie Virgil Sr., First Dominican-Born Major Leaguer, Dies astatine 92

Ozzie Virgil Sr., who became nan first Dominican autochthonal successful awesome convention shot erstwhile he played 3rd guidelines for nan New York Giants successful 1956, and who took nan section 2 years later arsenic nan Detroit Tigers’ first Black player, died connected Sunday astatine his location successful Monte Cristi, a metropolis adjacent nan Dominican Republic’s separator pinch Haiti. He was 92.

His boy Ozzie Virgil Jr., who is besides a erstwhile awesome convention shot player, said nan origin was pancreatitis.

Playing successful nan awesome leagues for each aliases portion of 9 seasons, mostly astatine 3rd base, Virgil was an outstanding fielder, but he was a anemic hitter and struggled to get into his teams’ starting lineups. He was later a coach and a scout.

But Virgil was successful nan vanguard of nan hundreds of Dominicans who would subordinate nan awesome leagues, including nan Hall of Fame pitchers Juan Marichal, who was Virgil’s teammate pinch nan Giants, and Pedro Martinez, arsenic good arsenic nan outfielder Vladimir Guerrero Sr.