Marty Perez
Martin Roman Perez (born February 28, 1946) is a former shortstop and second baseman for the California Angels (1969–70), Atlanta Braves (1971–76), San Francisco Giants (1976), New York Yankees (1977) and Oakland Athletics (1977–78).
| Marty Perez | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Shortstop / Second baseman | |||
| Born: February 28, 1946 Visalia, California | |||
| |||
| MLB debut | |||
| September 9, 1969, for the California Angels | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 16, 1978, for the Oakland Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .246 | ||
| Home runs | 22 | ||
| Runs batted in | 241 | ||
| Teams | |||
| |||
He was born in Visalia, California, of Indigenous Mexican ancestry, to Martin and Dora (Garcia) Perez. Martin Sr. was born in Aguascaliente, Mexico. Dora's father, identified in records as Mission Indian, attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California. Dora's mother was a Yaqui curandera, or traditional healer, from Altar, Sonora, Mexico. The family had close ties to the family of Mike Garcia, the pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, and both referred to each other as cousins.
Minor League career
Perez played football, basketball and baseball for Redwood High School, signed with the California Angels as an amateur free agent after graduation, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He was an infielder in the minor leagues from 1964-69 (Idaho Falls, Quad Cities, San Jose, El Paso, Hawaii).
He led Texas League shortstops in assists with 363 and in double plays with 72 at El Paso in 1968. He led Pacific Coast League shortstops in double plays with 79 in 1969, and played on the Hawaii team that won the PCL Southern Division Championship in 1970.
Major League career
Perez was called up to the majors as relief shortstop for Jim Fregosi in September 1969, and in October 1970 was traded to Atlanta.[1]
Perez, 5 feet 10 inches and 160 pounds, was the Braves' starting shortstop from 1971–73 and their starting second baseman the following two seasons. In 1971, he helped the club break the all-time Braves' record for double plays in a season with 180.
In 1976, he was the Giants' most-used second baseman, appearing in 89 games there after his June 13 acquisition in a trade that included future Giants' slugger Darrell Evans. He led all National League second basemen in fielding percentage in 1974. In March 1977, Perez was acquired by the defending AL champion New York Yankees to shore up their middle-infield and possibly compete for the starting shortstop position. Soon after, however, the Yankees traded for Bucky Dent to play shortstop, and Perez' days with the team were numbered.
In 10 seasons, he played in 931 games and had 3,131 at bats, 313 runs, 771 hits, 180 doubles, 22 triples, 22 home runs, 241 RBI, 11 stolen bases, 245 walks, a .246 batting average, .301 on-base percentage, .316 slugging percentage, 989 total bases, 56 sacrifice hits, 20 sacrifice flies and 10 intentional walks.
Post-baseball
Perez is married and has two adult daughters. He lives in the Atlanta area and owns Marty Perez Insurance in Lithonia, Georgia.