March 12, 1971. It's a day that holds great historical meaning to this site. For on that day, Raúl Ramón Mondesí Avelino came into the world. Our lives would never be the same.
As you've probably noticed, this site, which was started in 2006, is named in honor of the former Pirate outfielder. But it's not for his 99 at-bats or his .283 average in 26 games as a Bucco. It's for the sole reason of telling future generations about Mondesi's incredibly awesome scheme to get out of his Pirates contract just a month after he signed it.
I originally gave Raul this bio in an early post, Pittsburgh Pirates: The Last Stop , from June 26, 2006:
Signed as a free agent in 2004, appeared in 26 games before the infamous Mario Guerrero extortion threats started. These threats distracted Mondesi so much that he couldn't commit to the Pirates, so they let him go only a month into the season. Thankfully, once the Pirates let Mondesi go, he somehow was able to get his life in order in the span of nine days to sign with the Angels.
Post-Pirate career: He ticked off the Angels enough to cut him after playing in only 8 games. Atlanta took a chance in 2005, apparently ignorant to the fact that he just screwed over 2 MLB teams. He tomahawk chopped for 41 games, and his baseball tombstone was finalized.
Today, the 1994 NL Rookie of the Year (who earned $66,470,000 in his career, by the way) spends his days back home in the Dominican Republic.
Since his career ended in 2005, his most notable moments were being fined for stealing electricity, being elected to to a seat in the Dominican Republic's Chamber of Deputies in 2006, and switching sides to the Dominican Revolutionary Party in 2007. All great moments, yet they'll forever pale in comparison to his wondrous 2004 campaign, at least in my mind.
So let's all have a piece of cake for Raul, 37 years young today. And thanks to several readers who for some reason knew of this occasion and emailed me a reminder.
Raul Mondesi [Wikipedia]
Pittsburgh Pirates: The Last Stop [Mondesi's House]
2 comments:
Happy B-day, Raul....punk ass that you are.
I was at the game for Raul's one and only PNC Park homer as a Bucco - Opening series against the Phillies.
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