(Born October 15, 1967) -- The Buffalo Bisons have had some fine infielders pass through their downtown ballpark over the years. Carlos Garcia was one of them.
Carlos Jesus Garcia Guerrero (full name) was born in Venezuela, and signed with the Pirates in 1987. It took him a while, but he reached Buffalo in the middle of the 1990 season.
Garcia hung around for a while, getting better as the games passed. By 1992, the shortstop was a standout, hitting .303 with 13 homers. The problem was that the Pirates already had a shortstop in Jay Bell.
So Garcia simply moved to second. He played 141 games for the Pirates in 1993, a career high. Garcia spent three more years in Pittsburgh getting more than 400 at-bats each season. He later moved on to the Blue Jays, Angels and Padres.
Since retiring, he’s stayed in baseball. Garcia has done some coaching in the majors and some managing in the minors. He was placed in the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
--- Budd Bailey
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