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| Baseballers of Lesser Note: Luis Sojo; The 2nd Edition | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 19 2011, 02:49 PM (949 Views) | |
| Scrooge McSuck | May 19 2011, 02:49 PM Post #1 |
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I'll get you next time, toilet!
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Baseballers of a Lesser Note: Luis Sojo After getting my feet wet with my first attempt at doing a (P)BBOLN, I was hankering to do another, to get more of a feel for things, and this time it was time to dip into the Yankees past. It seems impossible to find a player on the Yankees that wasn't a hugely successful, a multi-time All-star, or Hall of Famer, but if you look hard enough, there's always one right under your nose, which brings us to today's subject.... Posted Image Major League Service With... Toronto Blue Jays (1990, 1993) California Angels (1991-1992) Seattle Mariners (1994-1996) New York Yankees (1996-1999, 2000-2001, 2003) Pittsburh Pirates (2000) Career Stats: 13 Seasons; .261 avg., 36 HR, 261 RBI What Can You Tell Us About Him? Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sojo was an undrafted free agent, originally signed by the Toronto Blue Jays. Sojo's versatlity proved valuable throughout his career, notching time around all the infield positions, other than catcher, and even time spent in the outfield, if necessary. Never much of a threat to hit home runs or steal a base, Sojo was a very competant, and impatient, batter at the plate, never striking out much, but never taking many walks either, and ran the bases well for someone who wasn't the most athleticly gifted person to play the game. Sojo made his Major League debut with Toronto in the Summer of 1990, but was soon traded to California following the season. Sojo would be traded back to Toronto, for former All-Star Kelly Gruber, and was part of the 1993 World Series Championship team. From there, he spent time with the Seattle Mariners, lead by an impressive lineup and ace Randy Johnson, bringing Seattle out of obscurity and into playoff contenders for the first time in history. Sojo's numbers tailed off considerably in 1996, batting barely over .200 before being put on waivers by Seattle, and eventually picked up by the Yankees, and soon, he became a Yankee legend, just by being a reliable bat, glove, and surprise hero to the Yankee faithful. What Were His Notable Accomplishments? Other than the glamour of having 5 World Series rings, 4 of them thanks to the dominance of the Yankees towards the end of the Millennium, Sojo had his time in the sun where he just wasn't "one of those guys" that just won a ring by merely being on the 25-man roster. In 1995, with the AL West division on the line, and the game tied 1-1 in the Bottom of the 7th, Sojo emptied the bases against former All-Star Mark Langston, putting the Mariners up for good en route to a 9-1 victory and their first playoff birth. While the memory of the '95 Mariners is more about beating the Yankees in a classic ALDS and giving the Mariners new life in Seattle, it all might not have happened if Sojo's broken-bat double didn't land fair. Speaking of those New York Yankees teams, Sojo started the 2000 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but found his way back into Yankee pinstripes just after the Trading Deadline, and undoubtably had his greatest moment in Game 5 of the 2000 World Series. With two outs, and two runners on in the Top of 9th of a 2-2 game, Sojo came to bat against Mets ace, Al Leiter, who's pitch count was well into the 100's at this point. Sojo, never known to be a patient hitter, swung at the first pitch, singling up the middle, and scoring the go ahead runs, clinching the Yankees third World Series in a row, and fourth in five years. What Happened To Him? Sojo resigned with the Yankees for the 2001 campaign, but saw limited action, appearing in just 39 games, mostly as a defensive replacement or pinch hitter, and batting only .165. Sojo retired following the season and began coaching the Yankees Double-A team, the Norwich Navigators, and led the team to a Championship in his only year as manager. Sojo made a surprise return to the Majors in 2003, signing with the Yankees, but only appeared in 3 games, totalling 4 at bats. After the 2003 season, Sojo retired for good, and joined the Yankees coaching staff as third base coach, before moving on to manage the Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League, as well as coaching the Venezuelan squad in the WBC. Despite being dismissed of after the 2009 season, Sojo returned to managing the Tampa Yankees for the 2011 season. Scrooge's Note: I was doing my damndest to try and do this on Clay Bellinger. For those unfamiliar, Bellinger spent 11 seasons in the minors before being called up by the Yankees in 1999, and split time between the Majors and AAA for the next few seasons, and being part of all three World Series clubs while a member of the team. But I can't for the life of me recall any moments from his career, other than that, and felt it would be too stretching, but I'll always remember him as one of those guys who didn't give up and finally got his time in the sun. |
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| torturedsoulv1 | May 19 2011, 06:08 PM Post #2 |
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true maharajah Jinder Mahal
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as you may know from my various posts on the baseball page, I am a huge Yankees fan But I would have thought he played longer with the Mariners than he did with the Yankees. Guess I was wrong |
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| Scrooge McSuck | May 19 2011, 06:16 PM Post #3 |
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I'll get you next time, toilet!
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Out of all his stops, it's the one with California I didn't know about. I think I remember myself actually being quite happy when he came back in 2000. Much more than, say, claiming JOSE CANSECO off of waivers from Tampa Bay. I want to say Joe Torre wasn't pleased with that aquisition, and Canseco didn't see a whole hell of a lot of playing time, either. |
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| Erick Von Erich | May 20 2011, 07:38 AM Post #4 |
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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I always thought Sojo had debuted in the 80's-- like around 86 or so. Didn't realize his career had started a few years later. Not sure why, but I always got him mixed up with Alvaro Espinoza. Oh...I'm working on a former Yankee for my next (P)BBOLN. Yes, you inspired me to dust that off. |
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| Scrooge McSuck | May 20 2011, 11:28 AM Post #5 |
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I'll get you next time, toilet!
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YAY! It's time for the real deal to come out of retirement and show up the copy-cat. :P |
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| torturedsoulv1 | Jul 10 2011, 04:17 PM Post #6 |
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true maharajah Jinder Mahal
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I was at a wake today (for a friend's mom) and a priest actually told a story about Luis Sojo Didn't know this but Sojo's father was blind. The day after his father died, he played instead of being with his family When the press asked him why afterwards, he said it was because his father was blind and the one thing his father had always wished for was that he could see his son play baseball/ Luis believed his dad in his passing could now see his son play and did not want to deny him that for one more day. |
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| Scrooge McSuck | Jul 10 2011, 04:19 PM Post #7 |
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I'll get you next time, toilet!
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That reminds me... that same season, I think Scott Borsius and Paul O'Neill also lost their fathers. O'Neill's died the night before or early morning of Game 4 of the World Series (I want to say in 1999), so you can almost see how emotional he was once the game was over. I say almost because O'Neill had two expressions: concentration and frustration. The latter lead to some comical out-bursts in the dug out, but you have to respect someone who yells at himself for striking out on a bad pitch. |
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5:31 PM Jul 10