Dodgers News: Manny Mota Officially a Latino Baseball Hall of Famer
Manny Mota, who has been associated with the Dodgers as a player, coach, and ambassador for 53 of his 84 years, will probably never be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. But he is a Hall of Famer.
Dodger great Manny Mota becomes a Latino Baseball Hall of Famer.
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— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) November 30, 2022
From Cary Osborne’s report on Dodger Insider:
Dodger great Manny Mota already considered himself part of Hall of Fames of the symbolic type.
“The first one is the I’m in my family’s Hall of Fame, also in the Dominican fans’ Hall of Fame, and the LA fans,” Mota said. “Number 1, I’m in the good Lord’s Hall of Fame.”
Now Mota has joined his first baseball Hall of Fame. On Wednesday, Mota received his Latino Baseball Hall of Fame (Salon de la Fama del Beísbol Latino) award at Dodger Stadium. He was interviewed by his friend and legendary Spanish broadcaster Jaime Jarrín — the interview serving as his induction speech. The Latino Baseball Hall of Fame will air the interview as part of their December virtual ceremony.
Mota, who hails from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, played 20 seasons in the big leagues, the last 13 with the Dodgers. He’s spent the 40 years since his retirement coaching and m within the L.A. organization. When he retired from playing, he was the all-time leader in career pinch hits with 150 — he currently sits in third place on the list, behind former Dodgers Lenny Harris and Mark Sweeney.
Mota was rarely a starter, and for the last eight years of his career he was almost exclusively a pinch-hitter. His career batting average was .304, and his .315 average with Los Angeles is second best only to Mike Piazza among L.A. Dodgers with at least 1,000 plate appearances. (We could drop it down to 250 plate appearances and only Freddie Freeman and Manny Ramirez sneak in between Mota and Piazza.)
Congratulations to Manny Mota on this prestigious award, and kudos to the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame for honoring him while he’s around to appreciate it.
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