Rubén Amaro Jr.: Difference between revisions

Rubén Amaro, Jr. (born February 12, 1965, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is the General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

He is also a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from 1991 to 1998. He is the son of former infielder Rubén Amaro, Sr.. He was named General Manager of the Phillies on November 3, 2008, succeeding Pat Gillick.

Born and raised in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia, Amaro was a batboy for the Phillies from 1980–83 when his father, Ruben Sr., a former Gold Glove shortstop with the club, was first base coach. Ruben Sr. and Ruben Jr. are the only father-son combination to ever play for the Phillies.

His grandfather, Santos Amaro (El Canguro), immigrated to Mexico from Cuba at age 31 and became a legend there, the Babe Ruth of the Mexican League, playing for 17 seasons. In 1941, he was second in the Mexican League in RBIs, behind Josh Gibson. Both Santos Amaro and Ruben Amaro Sr., who grew up in Mexico, have been inducted into Mexico's baseball hall of fame.[3]

Amaro graduated from William Penn Charter School in 1983, where he played both baseball and soccer. He was such a good soccer player that there was an offer to play in Germany, but his mother "nixed it because of her feelings as a Jew about the Holocaust." He then graduated from Stanford University in 1987, where he earned a B.S. degree in human biology. He was a member of the Stanford team that won the NCAA 1987 College World Series. That year, as the team's leadoff hitter, he led Stanford in runs (77), triples (6), and stolen bases (38).[4]

Drafted by the California Angels in the 11th round of the 1987 amateur draft, he signed June 16, 1987.

In 1989 he began the season by batting .360 for Quad Cities of the Midwest League, and then ended it by hitting .382 for Midland of the Texas League. In 1990 he batted .317 between AA and AAA. He followed that by batting .326 in 1991 in AAA. In 3,117 games in the minor leagues, he batted .301 with a .399 on base percentage and 235 stolen bases.[5]

He debuted in the major leagues on June 8, 1991. On December 8, 1991, he was traded by the Angels with Kyle Abbott to the Philadelphia Phillies for Von Hayes.

In 1992 he was third in the NL, with 9 hit by pitch, despite having only 374 at bats. On November 2, 1993, he was traded by the Phillies to the Cleveland Indians for Heathcliff Slocumb.

Amaro made the Cleveland Indians World Series roster in 1995 over Dave Winfield. On November 9, 1995, he was released by the Indians.

On January 24, 1996, he was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays. On May 5, 1996, he was released by the Blue Jays, and the following day he signed as a free agent with the Phillies.

In 1996 he batted .313 for the Phillies, with a .380 on base percentage.

Amaro in total spent parts of eight seasons in the major leagues, five with Philadelphia. He appeared in 485 major league games, and batted .235 with 16 home runs and 100 RBIs. He batted .305 in tie games, and .385 in extra innings. Amaro played for both the 1993 NL Champion Phillies and the 1995 AL Champion Indians.

Amaro joined the Phillies front office immediately after his playing career ended in 1998, hired by then Phillies General Manager Ed Wade. He served as Assistant GM for the Phillies for 10 seasons before being named General Manager. His first seven were under Wade, followed by three seasons under Gillick.^[1]

As Assistant General Manager, Amaro was involved in 40-man roster and major league free agent contract negotiations, including those players eligible for salary arbitration. He also assisted Gillick in the decision- making process of major league players and staff, including trades, player movements, and hirings.[6]

On November 1, 2008, the day after the Philadelphia Phillies second Broad Street Parade, it was confirmed that Amaro would be the new General Manager as well as Senior Vice President of the Philadelphia Phillies.^[2] Amaro signed a three-year contract.[7]

Amaro, who is both Hispanic and Jewish,^[3] became the fourth minority General Manager currently working in Major League Baseball and the second Hispanic GM.

Amaro was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.^[4]

Amaro is co-founder of the Richie Ashburn Foundation, which provides free baseball camps for 1,100 underprivileged children in the Delaware Valley and awards grants for area schools and colleges. He also serves on the board for the Philadelphia chapter of the YMCA.

• List of second generation Major League Baseball players

• Murphy, David (2009-04-02). "Five questions with Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. that have nothing to do with baseball". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 2009-04-03.

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference