Carlos Hernández

Baseball has always been a game of figures, scenarios, and probabilities. While more than 19,000 men have worn a major-league uniform since 1876, tiny Donora, Pennsylvania, has somehow given us two of the greatest players of all time: Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. Five Hall of Famers were born on May 14, despite each of the calendar’s 365 days having an identical chance.1 The DiMaggio and Alou families could stock an entire outfield without asking cousins to don a glove, but even those clans fall short of the Delahantys, who somehow produced five big leaguers at the turn of the nineteenth century.

And three ballplayers shared not just a name – Carlos Hernández – but also a birthplace, Venezuela. Two were active at the same time, with the third debuting the season after the first duo retired. The eldest of the trio, Carlos Alberto Hernández Almeida, was born on May 24, 1967, in San Félix, the old town of Ciudad Guyana, the largest city in the state of Bolívar. He enjoyed a decade in the major leagues as a catcher with the Dodgers, the Padres, and the Cardinals, earning a reputation as a defensive stalwart and beloved teammate.

Reggie Otero, a scout for the Dodgers who enjoyed a cup of coffee with the 1945 Cubs, discovered Hernández in Venezuela. On October 10, 1984, he signed with Los Angeles as an amateur free agent a few months after his 17th birthday. In hindsight, the day may have proved prophetic: It was the day the San Diego Padres won the second game of the World Series. The franchise would wait 14 long years to return to the fall classic, this time with Hernández in uniform. Hernández described his first baseball memory, as “fun … having fun out on the streets with my friends. In Little League, I played third, short. … I never caught as a youth.”2 He idolized Antonio “Tony” Armas, with whom he shared a Caracas clubhouse for seven consecutive years.3

Hernández also appeared in four games for the Leones of Caracas alongside another teenage prospect, Omar Vizquel, who would become the all-time Venezuelan leader in major-league games played, at-bats, and hits.4 Sadly, Gonzalo Márquez, who signed Hernández to Caracas, died in December 1984. A true legend, Márquez played 20 consecutive seasons for the Leones (except for the 1975-1976 campaign with Magallanes) along with 76 games with the Cubs and Athletics.5

In the spring of 1985, the Dodgers assigned Hernández to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League and played him at the corner infield spots; none of the four catchers on the roster would reach the majors. Hernández was “just playing around, in the bullpen. … They saw my natural technique, lacking instruction. … My life changed; never had I even entertained the thought of catching. Manager Joe (José) Alvarez and batting coach Leo Posada (uncle of Jorge) saw me and asked me to don the catcher’s gear. I was hit by balls … quite honestly, fear … so I took the equipment home and called my dad. He said, ‘It’s up to you.’ I asked my roommates and had one pitch, another one swing and miss so I could see the trajectory of the ball and lose the fear. Next day, I said, ‘Joe, I’m ready! Give me a chance to show you the ball won’t hit my chest. From there onwards, the rest is history. I fell in love with the position and even now, as a broadcaster, I imagine myself catching those games.”

Hernández returned to the rookie team in 1986 as the main backstop, appearing in 39 games behind the plate and producing 64 hits in 205 at-bats. “More than my arm, the team saw the love that I’d devoted to the position … almost as if I’d caught for a long time.” After taking the prior winter off, Hernández again wore Leones’ colors, appearing in 14 games and hitting .400 but more importantly having a front-row view of Venezuelan catching pioneer Baudillo “Bo” Díaz as the club won the league championship. Díaz, the first Venezuelan-born catcher to play in the major leagues, was highly regarded in the country. The two-time major-league All-Star (once in each league) held the Venezuelan league record for home runs in a season (20, in 1979-1980) until Alex Cabrera bested him in 2013-2014, and owns a distinction that may never be equaled: He caught no-hitters 14 years apart by father and son, Urbano Lugo senior (1973) and junior (1987).6

Hernández enjoyed the West Coast sunshine in 1987 with Bakersfield of the advanced Class-A California League. He backed up Luis López, who was a notch higher in the prospect chart and had a stronger bat. Forty-eight games familiarized him with the pitching staff, many of whom would join him on subsequent ballclubs. Eager to get more work, he came back to Caracas and appeared in 20 games; the franchise repeated atop the circuit.

Bakersfield remained home for the 1988 campaign, with Hernández hitting .309 in 92 contests, but the team struggled to a .500 record as many of his former teammates jumped to the Double-A level. Hernández managed a .976 fielding percentage. He was called up to Albuquerque of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for four games during which he went 1-for-8. Eager to continue polishing his skills, he appeared in 30 games with Caracas, hitting .234. One of his teammates, a right-handed pitcher who spent 13 years in the Venezuelan League but did not reach the majors, shared his name, making for a peculiar battery pairing Abbott and Costello would have loved. Hernández recalled a time when “I caught, Carlos pitched, and another Carlos Hernández was at the plate” though it may have been Carlos Quintana, whose maternal last name is also Hernández.

Having performed at the Single-A level, Hernández was slotted as the main backstop for the San Antonio Missions (Double-A Texas League) in 1989. He played in 99 games (95 on the field) and hit an even .300 to earn another Triple-A promotion, this time for 16 at-bats (three hits, two walks). He continued his hot bat with the Leones, batting .287 in 53 games as the marquee franchise won another championship.

The Dodgers had won two World Series titles in the 1980s, besting the Yankees in 1981 and the Athletics in 1988. Though Steve Sax, Fernando Valenzuela, and Pedro Guerrero were on both teams, only Mike Scioscia was a regular for the two-time champions. By 1990, Tommy Lasorda’s trusted lieutenant had appeared in over 1,000 career games behind the plate and second-stringer Rick Dempsey was a 40-year-old veteran. The franchise had some young backstops in its farm system, including Mike Piazza, who would enjoy a Hall of Fame career. Hernández had competition, but he ensured that the Dodgers noticed by averaging .315 in 52 games with Albuquerque while backing up Darrin Fletcher, who caught 103 games and hit .291.

On April 20, 1990, when the Dodgers hosted the Astros, Lasorda gave Scioscia the night off, giving the 22-year old Hernández his initial taste of the big leagues. Penciled in as the seventh hitter, he shepherded veteran Tim Belcher through seven innings against a Houston ballclub mixing up-and-coming stars (Craig Biggio and Ken Caminiti) with on-their-way out 1980s stalwarts (Glenn Davis, Bill Doran). Belcher threw 103 pitches but allowed round-trippers to Franklin Stubbs and Davis. Hernández came to the plate three times; his first hit, a double off Jim Deshaies, was sandwiched between a fly out to right field and a groundball to shortstop. Alfredo Griffin drove him home on a single to center field which was thrown wild by Eric Yielding back to the infield for an unearned run. Hernández carries the ball with him in hopes DeShaies will sign it but acknowledges, “I always forget! I remember hitting well in Triple A. … I was looking for a lefty who threw changeups. … I thought, ‘Wow! I have to look for my pitch.’”

Hernández thus became the fourth Venezuelan to catch a major-league baseball game. While many of his countrymen regard him as the second, behind Díaz, two others briefly squatted behind the plate before him: César Tóvar, who appeared in every position for the 1968 Minnesota Twins, and Toby Hernández, whose entire major-league career comprised five defensive innings and two at-bats for the 1984 Toronto Blue Jays.

Hernández wore number 41 as assigned but would inherit number 26 from Alejandro Peña, a number he had used in Venezuela. He would appear in nine more games (10 total), garnering 20 plate appearances, scoring two runs, and reaching base safely on three singles after the initial double. He scored another run and drove in a single teammate, raising no eyebrows with the lumber. His defensive numbers were better: He was errorless with one stolen base allowed, four caught-stealing runners, two wild pitches, and one passed ball against his record. His catcher’s ERA was 3.27, almost half a run better than the Dodgers’ full-year mark, but the club ended in second place behind eventual World Series champion Cincinnati.

Hernández has warm memories of Scioscia, who was not concerned about the youngster usurping his position. “When I made it to the majors, the first one to give me tips was (Mike) Scioscia. He knew me from the time I signed and always invited me to train. He nicknamed me ‘El Torito’ (the little bull) since I was not tall but stocky and liked to hit the weights. I learned how to become tough by watching him, blocking the plate. He was not only a teammate but also a mentor. He would say: ‘Carlos, go check out the video. … What do you think about that pitch, why was a sinker ball called, etc.’ He was an immense influence; he taught me to be calm, just like he always was, and to observe.”

The Dodgers kept Hernández at Albuquerque to start 1991 but he had nothing left to prove at Triple A. He hit .345 with the Dukes, a team laden with young talent: John Wetteland, Henry Rodríguez, José Offerman, Raúl Mondesí, Eric Karros, and Tom Goodwin all logged time in New Mexico before making their mark in the big leagues. The Dodgers called him up in the summer for a five-game stint; he got into three contests as a late-inning defensive substitution, pinch-hit without taking the field in San Diego, and started a game in Montréal. His five appearances yielded one sacrifice fly and one hit by pitch. September brought another call-up as the Dodgers and Braves fought for the National League West crown and Hernández appeared in nine games as a defensive substitution before starting on the last day of the season. The game may have been inconsequential: Atlanta had already clinched the division and Los Angeles played most of its prospects. However, the lineup was filled with his Albuquerque teammates: the future of Los Angeles. Hernández led five pitchers to a complete-game shutout of San Francisco in Candlestick Park, giving the Dodgers brass confidence to entrust him as the main backup option for Scioscia. The franchise blessed his continued participation in the winter circuit and Hernández produced a .290 average for the Leones.

The 1992 Dodgers stumbled to a last-place finish, losing 99 games, the worst tally for the franchise since the 1908 Superbas. The club was in the difficult stages of the rebuild, with a collection of past-their-prime players no longer performing while the younger crew was not quite ready for prime time. Karros provided some pop, hammering 20 home runs while winning the Rookie of the Year Award. Hernández started 47 games (and played in 22 others), and enjoyed two eight-game hitting streaks. Pitchers had a 3.82 ERA with him behind the plate, almost three-quarters of a run higher than with Scioscia. With no October plans, he sought the extra practice of Caribbean baseball and played in 45 games for Caracas, again sharing duties with Henry Blanco.

Los Angeles was a full 18 games better in 1993, reaching .500 after the abysmal prior season. Scioscia had retired; the Piazza era officially began as the one-time 62nd-round pick took the National League by storm, terrorizing pitchers with power (35 round-trippers) and contact (.318 batting average) en route to a unanimous Rookie of the Year Award. Hernández received 102 plate appearances and contributed a .253 average. The Dodgers took full advantage of their catchers’ vigor as the tandem caught all 162 games (no other player appeared behind the plate) and the team boasted of the senior circuit’s third best ERA. For the first time since 1985, Hernández sat out the Venezuelan league campaign.

While dark clouds circled the spring of 1994 as the player strike loomed, Los Angeles entered the season with great expectations. Another prospect, Mondesí, was ready to take over the right-field position and provide Karros and Piazza with some lineup protection. The juggernaut Braves had moved to the redesigned Eastern Division, removing the biggest obstacle to the Dodgers’ advancement. While the team underperformed and managed to finish only two games above .500, that was sufficient in the mediocre NL West. Piazza played in 107 games and avoided the sophomore jinx, producing an OPS of .910 and guiding the hurlers to a 3.96 catcher’s ERA. Hernández’s season had started on the disabled list due to a lower back sprain and he was unable to get into a groove; his offensive production fell to .219/.231/.344 and he caught a few blowouts (a 5-13 loss vs. Colorado and a 4-16 defeat vs. Houston). The back pain was a harbinger for the rest of his career, as the discomfort would never cease and ultimately sap him of power and agility. Hungry for more baseball, Hernández played in a career-high 55 games for Caracas during the winter, hitting .218 as the team won yet another title; this would be his last crown.

The 1995 season was bittersweet for Hernández. Its start was delayed by the ongoing strike until future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s injunction against the owners paved the way for the game’s return. Once again backing up Piazza, Hernández suffered through his worst season by managing a minuscule .149 average in 103 plate appearances. Los Angeles was once again the cream of the West, but had fierce competition from the Colorado Rockies, who reached the postseason as the wild card in only their third year. The Reds swept the Dodgers in the NLDS with Piazza playing every single inning; Hernández was thus deprived of playoff baseball in the grandest of stages. He rejoined Caracas and provided a solid bat (.277 average) along with his customary dependable glove during the 1995-1996 Venezuelan league season.

Riding high from his winter foray, Hernández entered 1996 again as the backup to Piazza but found himself losing playing time to veteran Tom Prince, who had been acquired the prior year. His back was again problematic and he played in only 13 games, his lowest tally since his 1990 call-up. His season was effectively shut down on May 16 after he caught a 4-2 Dodgers victory over the Phillies. He singled in four at-bats, unaware that he would never again wear the team’s blue-and-whites. He shook off the doldrums with a robust .282 performance in 38 games for the 1996-1997 Caracas club.

Having been granted free agency after the 1996 World Series, Hernández quickly found a new club a scant two-hour drive from Chavez Ravine. The defending division champion Padres had distributed catching duties among John Flaherty, Brad Ausmus, and Brian Johnson but had parted ways with the latter two. Hernández responded with his finest offensive season (percentage-wise), slashing .313/.328/.448 and gunning down 43 percent of would-be thieves, 11 percentage points above the 1997 league average, despite missing almost a month with a calf injury. In the offseason, San Diego traded Flaherty to Tampa Bay for Andy Sheets and Brian Boehringer, promoting Hernández to starting catcher for the first time in his big-league career. He wore number 9 in honor of Posada, a number he still keeps “even to play bocce ball.”

In 1998 the team rode a career season from Greg Vaughn (50 home runs, third in the league behind Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa), solid numbers from Wally Joyner and Tony Gwynn, and dominating performances from Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby, and Trevor Hoffman to the franchise’s second Word Series appearance. Only Gwynn remained from the 1984 team and the uniforms were no longer mustard brown, but magic was in the air and 2.56 million of the San Diego faithful passed the Qualcomm Stadium (née Jack Murphy) turnstiles to cheer the Padres. Hernández proved durable, playing in a career-high 129 games and contributing 9 home runs and 52 RBIs. He fielded at a .992 clip, good for fifth in the NL (behind Javier López, Scott Servais, and former teammates Johnson and Ausmus), while placing second in range factor per nine innings and fifth in catcher’s ERA (minimum plate appearances caught).7

He thrived in the postseason, going 5-for-12 in the LDS against the Astros and appearing in all four games. The 1998 NLCS pitted Hernández against fellow Venezuelan Eddie Pérez, the Braves’ standout backup catcher who enjoyed his finest offensive season. Although they did not start the same games, both enjoyed significant playing time, as Hernández appeared in all six contests while Pérez did so in three. Hernández collected six hits in 18 at-bats, bringing his average to .367 in the postseason, tops on the team. The New York Yankees, who won a franchise-record 114 games in the regular season, dispatched the Padres in stunning fashion, with Hernández going hitless in his two starts but swatting a single in Game Two (entering for Greg Myers) and Game Three (entering for Jim Leyritz). His 2-for-10 performance was disappointing but also in line with the team’s showing.

The 1999 Padres could not sustain the momentum, dropping to fourth place on a 74-88 record. The club lost vocal ace Brown and on-field cheerleader Caminiti to free agency, creating massive holes in the dugout, with an even bigger loss behind the plate once training camp began. “Baseball breaks our heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring … and leaves you to face fall all alone.” Although the late Commissioner Bart Giamatti was referring to the game’s synchronicity with the four seasons, his evocation of misfortune was flipped for Hernández, whose 1999 season crumbled not in the fall, like the Padres’ title hopes the prior year, but rather in the spring.

No strangers to tragedy, the Greeks gave us the myth of Achilles, whose body was invulnerable except for his now-namesake heel. Many athletes have succumbed to the drastic injury to the calcaneal tendon, with rehabilitation ranging from six months to a year and success not being guaranteed. Decreased explosiveness in movement is likely, and basketball players dread the damage; Kobe Bryant was never the same after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon at age 34, and Kevin Durant ruptured his during the 2019 NBA finals.8 In baseball, Ryan Howard saw his career forever changed on the last play of the 2011 NLDS.9

For a catcher, who spends half the game squatting and stretching the ligaments, the injury can cause chronic discomfort. Hernández spent the entire year in the disabled list while rehabilitating his injury and played 16 games with the Leones during the Venezuelan Winter League, backing up Henry Blanco. He returned to the majors on Opening Day 2000, catching all nine innings of the Padres’ 2-1 loss to the Mets. He collected two singles and even attempted to steal a base; his former teammate Piazza gunned him down with Rey Ordóñez applying the tag: “That must have been a missed hit-and-run … but maybe I let Mike throw me out, since he was my friend.”

Hernández played in 58 of San Diego’s first 103 games before being traded at the deadline to the Cardinals with prospect Nate Tebbs, who would not reach the majors. The Padres were moving in a younger direction, having entrusted catching duties to Ben Davis and Wiki González; in return, they received Heathcliff Slocumb, who would retire at year’s end, and prospect Ben Johnson, who would break into the big leagues in 2005. Years later, Cardinals and Padres fans were treated to an intriguing “what if” scenario, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Albert Pujols, then a minor leaguer at Peoria, was considered as part of the deal, before the Cardinals decided to part with Johnson instead.10

Hernández joined a St. Louis team on its way to the postseason and played well, hitting .275 while starting 15 games to backup starter Mike Matheny. The trade proved to be fortuitous as Matheny sliced his finger with a hunting knife and missed the postseason.11 Pressed into full-time duty, Hernández delivered three hits in the NLDS against Atlanta and a further four versus the Mets in the NLCS. Although the Redbirds did not reach the World Series, Hernández finished his career by appearing in all eight of his team’s playoff games. 

Hernández hung up his spikes with a .253/.298/.354 slash line (an OPS+ of 76) in 488 regular-season games. He cherished the postseason, hitting .299 (20-for-67) in 22 games. For the better part of his career, he played through two herniated discs; “I had gone home before reporting to Caracas and was fielding groundballs and always felt pain in my back, despite therapy and exercise. Surgery (in 2000) effectively ended my career. … I needed cortisone twice a week during my time with St. Louis. Although I’d had knee and shoulder surgeries, and the 1999 Achilles’ surgery … the back was the big thing.” He numbered Quilvio Veras, Plácido Polanco, Pedro and Ramón Martínez, José Offerman, José Hernández, Pedro Astacio, and José Vizcaíno among his favorite teammates, with a special mention for Mariano Duncan, who “helped my wife and me when we made it to the majors.”

At the end of the 2020 season, Hernández ranked 17th among Venezuelan players in games Tóvar, Pablo Sandoval, and Eduardo Escobar all caught at least one and played more games than Hernández but were predominantly fielders at other positions. Upon his retirement, he was second on the list –behind only pioneer Díaz – but has since been surpassed by the healthy crop of Venezuelan backstops he inspired. He was surprisingly effective against Hall of Famer Tom Glavine (11-for-30, two home runs, 1.024 OPS) and Greg Maddux (5-for-10, 1.145 OPS) but could not figure out Chan Ho Park (1-for-14) or Darryl Kile (1-for-13).

After a winter of rest, Hernández returned to Venezuela for one last winter campaign, once again backing up Blanco for Caracas. In his 15 seasons, all with the league’s most storied franchise, he played in 433 games with batting (.257) and slugging (.349) numbers similar to those of his major-league career. The postseason added a further 114 games with a .255 average, winning titles in 1986-1987, 1987-1988, 1989-1990, and 1994-1995. The last one holds a special place in his memory, as Caracas had to defeat both Maracaibo (Zulia) and Magallanes. “We had to win two games to get to the Caribbean Series and Omar Daal had to pitch both.”

In 2004 Hernández ventured across the border from his second home in San Diego, managing the Toros of Tijuana to the Mexican Baseball League playoffs.12 The 16-team league, not to be confused with the Mexican Pacific League which plays during the fall and winter, serves as a summer league on par with the International League and the Pacific Coast League. However, its teams are not affiliated with specific major-league franchises.13

His curiosity piqued, Hernández answered the call of the Caracas ballclub in the winter of 2006. Although the franchise had won both the Venezuelan title and the Caribbean Series the prior winter, it stumbled out of the gate to an 11-21 mark. Skipper Carlos Subero was fired on November 21 and Hernández steered the ship for the last 30 games (18-12). The team made the postseason but did not win the league.14 He remained at the helm for the 2007-2008, but the team’s 29-34 register prevented it from joining the playoffs.

Hernández returned to the Padres organization in 2005, serving as the club’s bullpen catcher and Latin American instructor/roving catcher instructor.15 Arizona poached him from the Padres, and he spent three years as the Diamondbacks’ catching coordinator. However, his ties to San Diego were strong and he would soon share his baseball wisdom in a new capacity.

The franchise, acknowledging its large Latin fan base, decided to complement its bilingual radio narration with Spanish television broadcasts via FoxDeportes and tapped Hernández as a color analyst, the 2021 season marked his 10th in the role.16

Hernández moonlights as one-half of the Spanish-language radio broadcast team with Eduardo Ortega on XEMO 860 AM. He remains a beloved figure in San Diego thanks to the magical 1998 Padres season. Despite no longer wearing the tools of ignorance, he finds it hard to rid himself of the mindset. “My mentors were John Roseboro, Roy Campanella, Scioscia, Kevin Kennedy. … Kevin said, ‘Catchers don’t cry.’” He has grown accustomed to the role behind the microphone, acknowledging that “baseball has changed a lot, especially in game situations … how to tie a close game. … It’s difficult for me, at 52, to reset my mind; I’d prefer people to focus on how to win today’s game. I am happy since I have been able to learn a different aspect of my life.”

Hernández is poignant when describing the state of baseball in his native Venezuela. The nation’s major-league output has been directly correlated with its economic well-being. As the Chávez (and now Maduro) regime implements its socio-economic ideas, the siren song of major-league baseball offers a respite: “The country is suffering from all sides … and one of its hopes is for its sons to become baseball players. People are doing what they can to seek a better future. It’s the only opportunity for their children, whereas once they could have other options via education. Baseball has always been our number-one sport; what better way for a kid to support his family than through baseball. To me, that’s the main reason we’re having so many big-league ballplayers.”

Hernández does not solely reflect on the maudlin reality; he also seeks solace in what it could have been. “My dream was always to open up an academy in my hometown. We (my contemporaries) never thought of living in the United States; we always thought of returning like the Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. … Having played in the majors meant I was indebted to many people and to give the youth a good baseball school. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to fulfill that, and it’ll forever be a pain in my soul.”

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Acknowledgments

• Vanessa Domínguez, coordinator of business communications for the San Diego Padres, for connecting me to Carlos Hernández
• Carlos Hernández for graciously agreeing to a phone interview
• Pete Palmer and Jim Wheeler for detailed disabled list records

Photo credit: Carlos Hernández, Getty Images

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied extensively on Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Bill Francis, “May Day: More Hall of Famers Born on May 14 Than Any Other Day,” https://baseballhall.org/discover/hofers-born-on-may-14.

2 Carlos Hernández, telephone interview, August 1, 2019. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations directly attributed to Carlos Hernández come from this interview.

3 http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/tem_equ.php?EQ=LEO&TE=1984-85.

4 As of the conclusion of the 2020 season.

5 http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=marqgon001.

6 http://museodebeisbol.com/salon_fama_venezolano/detalles/2006/baudilio-jos-daz.

7 Qualifying requirements: 0.67 Gm and Chances/Team Game (fielding). https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1998-fielding-leaders.shtml.

8 James O’Connell, “As Kevin Durant Waits for the Worst, Here’s How NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL Players Returned from Torn Achilles,” New York Daily News, June 11, 2019. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/ny-sports-basketball-kevin-durant-achilles-injury-20190611-bmob63p66rgdzakj2ggshy4n5i-story.html.

9 Associated Press, “Ryan Howard Has Torn Achilles,” October 10, 2011. https://www.espn.com/mlb/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7078557/2011-nlds-philadelphia-phillies-1b-ryan-howard-torn-left-achilles-tendon.

10 Derrick Goold, “A Scout, a Backup Catcher, and the Trade That Would Have Changed Cardinals History,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 22, 2019. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/goold-a-scout-a-backup-catcher-pujols-the-trade-that/article_575051b8-1cd4-5a32-9c5f-021fddb42cdd.html#1.

11 Craig Barnes, “Matheny Injury Leaves Painful Memories,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 1, 2001. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2001-04-01-0103250400-story.html.

12 https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=89861b95.

13 https://www.milb.com/mexican/about/equipos.

14 http://www.leones.com/historia.php.

15 http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/sd/y2005/m11/d28/c1273165.jsp.

16 https://www.gaslampball.com/2012/3/27/2906971/sources-former-padres-catcher-carlos-hernandez-to-be-color-analyst.