Willie Montañez Marquee

b. April 1, 1948 · 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, Pittsburgh Pirates 1981–1982

He hit 30 home runs and drove in 99 for Philadelphia in 1971, finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, and led the National League with 39 doubles the following season. Fourteen seasons gave him 1,604 hits, 279 doubles, 139 home runs, 802 runs batted in and a .275 average.

He played first base with a flourish nobody else attempted — one-handed catches, a bat flip on every home run, a walk to the plate that took its time — and was resented for it in some clubhouses and loved in others. He was Puerto Rican, from Catano.

Nine clubs employed him and he was traded in the middle of three seasons. He was an All-Star in 1977 for Atlanta. The 1988 ballot gave him no votes at all.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	1	1977
Player of the Week	1	1976
The Sporting News All-Star	1	1976

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1966	CAL	8	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	.000
1970	PHI	18	25	3	6	0	0	0	3	1	4	0	.240
1971	PHI	158	599	78	153	27	6	30	99	67	105	4	.255
1972	PHI	147	531	60	131	39	3	13	64	58	108	1	.247
1973	PHI	146	552	69	145	16	5	11	65	46	80	2	.263
1974	PHI	143	527	55	160	33	1	7	79	32	57	3	.304
1975	PHI/SFG	156	602	61	182	34	2	10	101	49	62	6	.302
1976	ATL/SFG	163	650	74	206	29	2	11	84	36	47	2	.317
1977	ATL	136	544	70	156	31	1	20	68	35	60	1	.287
1978	NYM	159	609	66	156	32	0	17	96	60	92	9	.256
1979	NYM/TEX	147	554	55	142	25	0	13	71	33	62	0	.256
1980	MON/SDP	142	500	40	136	12	4	6	64	39	55	3	.272
1981	MON/PIT	55	100	8	21	0	1	1	6	5	11	0	.210
1982	PHI/PIT	54	48	4	10	1	0	0	2	4	6	0	.208
Career	—	1632	5843	645	1604	279	25	139	802	465	751	32	.275

On this day & linked events

1948

Born April 1, 1948

Catano, , P.R.

1966

Major-league debut: Willie Montañez

Willie Montañez made a major-league debut on April 12, 1966.

1982

Final major-league game: Willie Montañez

Willie Montañez played a final major-league game on October 2, 1982.

Image: United Press International, public domain