Sandy Alomar Jnr

Chicago White Sox

By John M Milner

• Catcher for the Cleveland Indians.
• Real name is Santos Velazquez Alomar, Jr.
• Nickname Sandino.
• Born on June 18, 1966.
• Is married to Christie (nee Solis) and has two children: Marcus Xavier (born Feb 14, 1990) and Marissa Daniele (born October 25, 1992).
• Resides in Westlake, Ohio.
• Brother of Baltimore Oriole Second Baseman, Roberto Alomar and son of former major league infielder, Sandy Alomar Sr., who was later a coach with the Padres and is currently the manager of the Fort Myers (Fla.) Cubs, a Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate.
• Teamed with brother Robbie on ten occasions in professional baseball: four times in the minors and for six games in September 1989 with the Padres.
• Signed with the Padres organization on October 21, 1983 at age 17.
• Was traded on December 6, 1989 to Cleveland with OF Chris James and 3B Carlos Baerga in exchange for OF Joe Carter.
• Was American League Rookie of the Year in 1990.
• Time Spent on the Disabled List: May 15-June 17, 1991, July 29, 1991 to end of season, two weeks in May 1992, May 1st through August 7, 1993, April 24 to May 11, 1994 (torn webbing between two fingers on his left hand), April 19- June 29, 1995 (sore knees).
• Was voted Man of the Year by the Baseball Writers of America Association (Cleveland Chapter).
• Was named to the All-Star team from 1990-1992 and 1996-97.
• Hit a home run off Shawn Estes in the 1997 All-Star Game and was voted MVP. He was the first Indian ever to win All-Star MVP and the first player ever to win All-Star MVP in his home park.
• Scored the game-winning hit against New York as the Indians clinched the American League Central Division on September 23, 1997.
• 1997 saw a career high in almost every offensive category. Led all AL catchers with .324 average, 37 doubles, 21 Home Runs and 83 RBIs.
• He hit an 8th-inning home run in Game 4 of the Division series against New York.
• His hit in the 9th inning won Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Orioles.
• Alomar scored 19 RBIs in the 1997 post-season, a new record for a single post-season.
• He, along with Seattle's Randy Johnston and Cleveland's Kenny Lofton, was ejected after a bench-clearing brawl that occurred when Johnston threw at Lofton's head on two consecutive pitches in early 1998.
• He has signed with the Indians through 1999 (with a club option for the year 2000)
• Was on the disabled list for the 7th time in his major league career, from May 11th - September 6th, 1999 due to left knee surgery. He originally hurt his knee blocking a wild pitch by Dave Burba on May 10th vs. Baltimore.
• Alomar underwent athroscopic surgery on May 21 in Cleveland by Dr. Louis Keppler, who removed a bone chip that had been causing Alomar's knee to lock up.
• Had three rehab assignments. The first was with the AA Akron Aeros from July 5-19. He was limited to just eight games. He then went to AAA Buffalo where he went 9-33 (.273) with the Bisons.
• On August 28th, he flew to San Francisco to see noted knee specialist Dr. RIchard Stedman, who diagnosed Alomar with a bone edima (bruise). He fitted Alomar with a knee brace, which allowed Sandy to play the rest of the season without pain.
• His third rehab assignment came on September 3-6 with Akron. He went 4-9 with a home run and two RBI.
• He was activated from the 60-day disabled list on September 6th. He appeared in 15 games between his reactivation and the end of the regular season and went 16-55 (.291) with three home runs and nine RBI.
• During the entire season, Alomar appeared in 37 games (all but two of them being starts).
• He is currently 4th in franchise history in games caught with 855. Jim Hegan (1941-1955) is first with 1491 games caught.
• Went 2-14 (.143) with 1 RBI in the Divisional Series against Boston, where he caught all five games.
• His knee injury plagued his playing ability, as he threw out just 4 of 31 base-stealers in 1999.
• The Indians picked up Alomar's 2000 Club Option on November 2nd.
• In 1998, he introduced Sandy Alomar's All Star Steak Sauce, available at local Cleveland supermarkets (I swear I am NOT making this up!)
• Alomar arrived in camp during Spring Training 2000 thirteen pounds lighter, hoping that would help to take stress off his knees
• Sandy played 97 games for the Indians, hitting 7 home runs and 42 RBI with an average of .289
• was on the disabled list from April 20-May 8 with a pulled right hamstring
• A free agent after the 2000 season, Alomar signed a two-year worth $5.4 million with the Chicago White Sox in December. The Royals, Twins, Dodgers and Blue Jays had expressed interest in signing Alomar.

JOHN M's Opinion: With a rash of injuries that plagued his early career, Sandy Alomar Jr. seemed doomed to be "Roberto's brother". However, playing healthy since 1996 and helped by a strong performance in the 1997 Post-season, Sandy has know carved a niche for himself. Perhaps soon, Robbie will be known as "Sandy's brother".

TYPO's Opinion:   Grrrr!!!  Loyalty counts for nothing today.  When I heard that the Indians were offer such a pathetic deal to Sandy I was appalled.  After years of managing the Indians pitchers, and being such a good team player, even bring along a new catcher he is thrown out!  I am glad that he has gone to the White Sox, and this year I might be running for a different team.  I will seem strange but if the Indians and the White Sox are having a game it will be a difficult choice for me.  I know that he is getting older, but he is not past it YET! He still has good value, as it appears the The Royals, Twins, Dodgers, Blue Jays and White Sox can see.  I hope that he will thrive in a new environment, and secret wish that the White Sox trade for Robbie!

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[Roberto Alomar] [Sandy Alomar Jnr] [Bartolo Colon] [Chipper Jones] [David Justice] [Javy Lopez] [Greg Maddux] [Chad Ogea] [Andy Pettitte] [Jorge Posada] [Ivan Rodriguez] [Larry Walker] [John Wetteland] [Jaret Wright]

Please note that I am not any of these players, nor I am associated with any of them (I wish!!!).  Just a fan like the rest of you :)    I would also like to thank everyone that has emailed me regarding my pages, it is great hearing from other fans, and some of you have been daft enough to stay in contact!  Of course the biggest thanks for all goes to John for taking the time to research and write these pages, and really do all the work for me!  I just take all the credit... well unless he does it wrong!  THANX

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