Roberto Francisco Ávila González (April 2, 1924 – October 26, 2004) was a Major League Baseball second baseman and right-handed batter who played for the Cleveland Indians (1949-58), Baltimore Orioles (1959), Boston Red Sox (1959), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Tigres del México (1960). Born in Veracruz, Veracruz, México, he had a medium frame at 5' 10" and 175 lb. He was better known in his homeland and other Latin American countries as "Beto" and in the majors as "Bobby".

In 1954 Ávila won the AL batting crown, edging out Ted Williams and Minnie Miñoso with a .341 mark playing almost the entire season with a broken thumb^[1]. He also registered career highs in home runs (15), runs (112) and RBI (67).

In that same season, the Indians faced the New York Giants in the World Series, which matched the two leagues' champion bats, Ávila and Willie Mays; it was the third time that top batters in the majors played each other in the Series. Other matchups were Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb in 1909; Al Simmons and Chick Hafey in 1931.

Ávila was selected an All-Star in 1952, 1954 and 1955; he led the league in triples in 1952, and led AL second basemen in fielding percentage in 1953. He also appeared in the MVP Award ballot in 1951 and 1954.

In 11-season career, Ávila hit .281 with 80 homers, 467 RBI, 1296 hits, 725 runs, 185 doubles, 35 triples, and 78 stolen bases in 1300 games. Dealt three times in the last season of his career, he returned to Mexico in 1960 for one more season, batting .333 for the Tigres del México over 127 games before retiring as a player. After retiring he had a brief stint as politician and served as mayor of his home city of Veracruz. When his tenure as mayor ended, he was elected president of the Mexican Baseball League.

In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine^[2], sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Ávila, a Mexican, was the second baseman on Stein's Latin team.

Beto Ávila is still widely recognized as the player who catalyzed the development of Mexican baseball. He died in his homeland of complications from diabetes at the age of 79.

Quotation

• An adept bunter and daring baserunner, his soccer training paid off several times when he intentionally kicked the ball out of defenders' mitts while sliding. Cleveland manager Al Lopez said Ávila had "a fine swing, a sharp eye, a good spirit of competition ... and a world of confidence in himself." - Jane Charnin-Aker, at Baseball Library

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
• Boston Red Sox all-time roster

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Beto Ávila at:
  • Complete statistics at Baseball Reference
  • The Top 100 Greatest Indians Roster
  • 1954 Cleveland Indians
  • The Sporting News All-Time Latin American MLB Stars