Willie Montañez

Guillermo Montañez Naranjo (born April 1, 1948) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the California Angels (1966), Philadelphia Phillies (1970–1975, 1982), San Francisco Giants (1975–1976), Atlanta Braves (1976–1977), New York Mets (1978–1979), Texas Rangers (1979), San Diego Padres (1980), Montreal Expos (1980–1981), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1981-1982). He batted and threw left-handed.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Montañez and the second or maternal family name is Naranjo.
Willie Montañez
First baseman / Outfielder
Born: (1948-04-01) April 1, 1948
Cataño, Puerto Rico
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
April 12, 1966, for the California Angels
Last MLB appearance
October 2, 1982, for the Philadelphia Phillies
MLB statistics
Batting average.275
Home runs139
Runs batted in802
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Along with Tito Fuentes, Montañez was most noted for being one of MLB's two most flamboyant personalities during the 1970s, so much so that he was labeled a hot dog by detractors. He once commented, “I don't mind being called a hot dog, but it all depends on how people say it."[1]

Career

California Angels

Montañez was born in Cataño, Puerto Rico, and was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur in 1965. After one season with the Florida Rookie League Cardinals, he was selected by the California Angels in the 1965 Rule 5 draft, and made his major league debut with the Angels in their 1966 season opener as a pinch runner for Norm Siebern in the 14th inning. The Chicago White Sox won the game in the bottom of the inning before Montañez could log an at bat,[2] however, he did have two at bats without a hit with the Angels before being returned to the Cardinals on May 5.

Philadelphia Phillies

On October 7, 1969, the Cardinals traded Curt Flood, Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner and Tim McCarver to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Jerry Johnson and Cookie Rojas. When Curt Flood refused to report to his new team, the Cards sent Montañez and Jim Browning to the Phillies to complete the trade. He appeared in eighteen games with the Phillies in 1970, mostly in the outfield, and collected three runs batted in and scored three runs.

In 1971, Montañez was tabbed as the starting center fielder for the Phillies, and responded with a career-high 30 home runs (still a Phillies' rookie record),[3] 99 RBI, and a league-leading thirteen sacrifice flies. He finished second behind Atlanta Braves catcher Earl Williams in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

In 1972, Montañez led the National League in doubles (39), and tied for the league lead in outfield assists with fifteen. With Del Unser's arrival in Philadelphia in 1973, Montañez returned to his natural position at first base where he stayed for the remainder of his career.

Montañez batted over .300 for the first time in his career in 1974 (.304). Made expendable after the Phillies claimed Dick Allen off waivers from the Atlanta Braves one week earlier, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Garry Maddox on May 4, 1975.[4]

San Francisco Giants

Though he was batting .286 with the Phillies at the time of the trade, he ended the season with a .302 batting average for the second of his three consecutive seasons batting over .300. He also collected a career high 101 RBIs between his two teams, and emerged as one of the league's top fielding first basemen, leading the league first basemen in assists for the first of three times in his career (1975, 1976 & 1978).

Atlanta Braves

For the second season in a row, Montañez found himself changing teams in the middle of the season when the Giants sent him to the Braves with Jake Brown, Mike Eden and Craig Robinson for Darrell Evans and Marty Perez on June 13, 1976. As a result, Montañez played in an unusual 163 games. At the time of the trade, Montañez had appeared in sixty games for the Giants. He then appeared in 103 games for the Braves, bringing his total to 163 games in a 162-game season. He was named first baseman on The Sporting News NL All-Star team.

The Braves lost 101 games in 1977, and Montañez was selected as the team's sole representative at the 1977 All-Star Game. He went 0 for 2 in his only All-Star game.[5]

New York Mets

Montañez was dealt by the Braves to the New York Mets in the first four-team blockbuster deal in Major League Baseball history on December 8, 1977 that also involved the Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and a total of eleven players changing teams. The Mets also got from the Rangers Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson who was sent to New York to complete the transaction three months later on March 15, 1978. Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller were traded from the Rangers to the Braves. The Rangers received Al Oliver and Nelson Norman from the Pirates and Jon Matlack from the Mets. The Pirates acquired Bert Blyleven from the Rangers and John Milner from the Mets.[6][7]

Montañez found himself, again, on a last place team as the 1978 Mets narrowly avoided losing 100 games themselves. However, Montañez emerged as one of the few bright spots on the team, leading it with seventeen home runs and 96 RBIs.

Texas Rangers

Montañez's fortunes with the Mets turned around substantially in 1979. He was batting only .234 with five home runs and 47 RBIs when the Mets sent him to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. In 71 fewer games with the Rangers, he swatted eight home runs and batted .319. Following the season, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for Tucker Ashford, Joe Carroll and future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry.

Montreal Expos

The 1980 Montreal Expos were in a tight division race with the Philadelphia Phillies throughout the season. They completed a deadline deal for Montañez on August 31, 1980 for Tony Phillips and cash. In fourteen games with the Montreal Expos, Montañez batted .211 with one RBI.

Return to Philadelphia

On August 20, 1981, he was again involved in a trade with John Milner—this time going from the Montreal Expos to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was released by the Pirates on July 1, 1982. Ironically, Milner was released by the Expos four days later, and signed with the Pirates later in the month. Montañez signed with the Phillies for the remainder of the season, at the end of which he retired.

Montañez had a career .992 fielding percentage at first base, and led National League first basemen in assists in 1975, 1976 and 1978. From 1975 to 1978 he collected 349 RBIs.

Career Statistics
Years Games PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG FLD%
14 1632 6407 5843 645 1604 279 25 139 802 465 751 .275 .327 .402 .991

See also

References
  1. Durso, Joseph. "Montanez Gives Mets a Dash of Flash," The New York Times, Monday, June 12, 1978. Retrieved December 15, 2019
  2. "Chicago White Sox 3, California Angels 2". Retrieved 1966-04-12. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  3. Schlegel, John. "Powerful starts: Greatest homer tallies by rookies," MLB.com (July 11, 2014).
  4. Ralph Bernstein (1975-05-05). "Phillies Deal Montanez to Giants for Maddox". Lewiston Daily Sun. p. 18.
  5. "1977 MLB All-Star Game". Retrieved 1977-07-19. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. Durso, Joseph. "Matlack, Milner Go In Four‐Team Trade," The New York Times, Friday, December 9, 1977. Retrieved April 30, 2020
  7. Durso, Joseph. "Mets Get Ken Henderson, Outfielder, From Rangers," The New York Times, Thursday, March 16, 1978. Retrieved April 30, 2020
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