Topps 1970 baseball card of former San Francisco Giant and Detroit Tiger infielder Cesar Gutierrez
CESAR’S SALAD DAY
By Tony “Le Tigre” Hayes
Cesar Gutierrez – IF – 1967, 1969 – # 17
SAN FRANCISCO–He Was a Giant?
This slight 5’9″, 150 pound infielder – who spent parts of two seasons swinging and missing as a Giant – was alternately nicknamed, “Bandito” (he was a nifty base stealer) and “Cocoa” (for an undying love of Hershey bars).
But “The Enigma” would have equally worked for Gutierrez — especially in reference to the right-handed hitter’s perplexing batting results in the Majors.
Though he was a minor league career .299 hitter and even won a Triple-A batting title as a Giants farmhand, the Venezuelan was an underachieving big league batsman, hitting a moribund .235 in 223 MLB contests.
Gutierrez was practically an automatic out.
That is… with the exception of one stunning performance by Gutierrez as a Detroit Tiger in 1970, when the normally feeble swinger set a modern day big league record for most hits in a game without recording an out.
He batted 7-for-7, in a 9-8, 12-inning Tigers win at Cleveland in the night-cap of a double header (6/21/70).
Cesar batted safely off all six Cleveland pitchers that day.
He collected two singles off the Tribe’s Rick Austin (in his MLB debut), mashed a double and single off Dennis Higgins, laced another single off Fred Lasher, stroked another single against Dick Ellsworth and capped his day with yet another single off the losing pitcher Phil Hennigan.
Astonishing Gutierrez’s six singles and one double that day, fell just one short of the grand total of hits Gutierrez amassed as a Giant when he batted .182 in 33 contests.
Why Was He a Giant?
With the sure-handed Hal Lanier holding down shortstop in SF, Gutierrez was the back up to begin the 1967 campaign. but didn’t hang around long – spending most of the season at Triple-A Phoenix.
Coincidently he thrived in the desert, winning the Pacific Coast League batting crown with a .322 average.
Before & After
After spending all of 1968 back in the minors, Gutierrez made the Giants big club on Opening Day in 1969, but failed to get his bat in gear once again.
The Giants cut ties with Gutierrez later that season, trading the then 26 -year -old to the Tigers to complete an earlier deal for rubber-armed reliever Don McMahon.
Gutierrez finally got his shot to play in the bigs in 1970 and was Detroit’s starting shortstop for most of the season. But save his one heavy volume hit day – Gutierrez did not impress at the plate (.243).
He failed to hit a home run and to make matters worse, Gutierrez had more errors (23) than he did RBI (22). After the Tigers’ disappointing fourth place finish, the Bengals closed the curtains on the Gutierrez experiment.
He Wasn’t Omar Vizquel… But
After starting his Giants career 0-for-10, Gutierrez delivered his first two big league hits off of former 20-game winner Chris Short of Philadelphia in a 9-1 loss at Candlestick Park (9/29/67).
Giants Footprint
Since Gutierrez’s magical day at the plate in 1970, only two players have stroked seven hits in a game. They each have ties to the Orange & Black.
In 1975, as a member of the Pirates, future Giant Rennie Stennett batted 7-for-7 in a regulation 9-inning game.
Then in 2017, current SF player Brandon Crawford batted 7-for-8 in a 12-inning game.
Tony the Tiger Hayes does the Giants features. Catch him at http://www.sportsradioservice.com.
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