Richard Hidalgo

Richard Hidalgo’s career was notable for short bursts of remarkable performance. For the New York Mets, he once hit home runs in five consecutive games. For the Houston Astros, he had extra-base hits in 10 consecutive games. In September 2000 he recorded one of the greatest monthlong hitting performances ever, batting .477 for the Astros, a club mark that would last 17 years until bettered by José Altuve, a fellow Venezuelan.

The streaky hitting was reflected in Hidalgo’s yearly averages. He had some stellar campaigns, including a superb season in 2000 when he smacked 42 doubles and 44 home runs with 122 RBIs and a .314 batting average, all career highs. Just two seasons later, he hit only .235 with just 17 doubles and 15 homers. After that disappointing season, he suffered a gunshot wound to his left forearm during a botched carjacking in his homeland. He recovered from the injury to post solid numbers in 2003 before his production began a steady decline, though he still showed occasional pop at the plate.

In the outfield, Hidalgo displayed a strong right throwing arm, accumulating 81 outfield assists in 967 major-league games over nine seasons. While playing in the minors in Davenport, Iowa, he set a franchise record of 23 outfield assists for the Quad Cities River Bandits in 1994. Sixteen of those came in the first half of the season, after which few opposing runners tested the teenager’s arm. When the Quad-City Times newspaper selected an all-time team on the 60th anniversary of minor-league baseball in Davenport, Hidalgo was named to the outfield alongside Dante Bichette (1985) and Oscar Taveras (2011).1

His career was limited by serious knee trouble, for which he had surgery on his left kneecap, and a succession of nagging injuries, including to his hip and groin. He also suffered a hernia and even tonsillitis, as well as a scary bout with dengue fever.

Richard José Hidalgo (pronounced HUH-dahl-go) was born on June 28, 1975, in Caracas, but grew up in nearby Guarenas, Miranda, which has produced such major leaguers as Ozzie Guillen and Juan Rivera. (Hidalgo’s Venezuelan baseball club cites Guarenas as his birthplace.)2 While the state of Miranda is known for its agricultural output, including cacao, coffee, sugarcane, citrus, and vegetables,3 the city of Guarenas, population 200,000, has become a working-class bedroom community to Caracas. Many residents work in the national capital, about 27 miles to the west.

Hidalgo was raised by his mother, Basilia, who stayed at home to raise sons Richard, Pedro, Luis, and Joel, while his stepfather, Antonio, supported the family as best he could from a job at a gas station.4

“We were very poor, very poor, poor, poor,” Hidalgo recalled. “We didn’t have enough to eat. At lot of times, we just ate rice and butter. Sometimes bread or bananas. Hardly ever meat.”5

Hidalgo has said he dropped out of school after Grade 5. He signed a professional contract as a nondrafted free agent just four days after his 16th birthday. It was his ambition to escape poverty through baseball. As his salary increased as he moved up the Astros system, he had enough money to move his family from Guarenas to Valencia.

“Where we used to live, there were many people who were killed, a lot of violence, and sometimes we went hungry,” he said. “I grew up and saw all this, and that gave me more strength when I signed at 16 with Houston. It gave me more reason to work hard so I would be able to help my family and take them out of there.”6

After 51 games of rookie ball with the Gulf Coast Astros in Kissimmee, Florida, during which he hit .310 in 184 at-bats, Hidalgo spent the 1993 season in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League. He stole 21 bases but was caught 13 times. At just 18, he joined the River Bandits. At 6-feet-3, he was still lean, though in time the right-handed batter filled out his frame to 220 pounds. In Iowa, he became a star in the Astros system.

“It’s all business to Richard when he shows up at the park,” said River Bandits manager Steve Dillard. “He’s willing to work to get better and as long as he maintains that attitude, the sky is the limit for him.”7

One of the Bandits coaches was César Cedeño, a former Gold Glove outfielder for the Astros, whose responsibilities included ensuring that Spanish-speaking players such as Hidalgo had support on and off the field while playing and living in American communities.

“He has helped me a lot,” Hidalgo said. “He has showed me how to hold the ball differently and get it to the base better.”8

Two seasons of Double-A ball in Mississippi with the Jackson Generals of the Texas League earned Hidalgo a promotion up the ladder to the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs. The parent Astros called him up for 19 games at the end of the 1997 season. He batted .306 and knocked two homers. He started in two games of the National League Division Series, but was hitless in five at-bats. The Astros were swept in three games by the Atlanta Braves.

Hidalgo returned to Venezuela to play winter ball, only to be stricken with hemorrhagic dengue fever after being bitten by a mosquito. He suffered from severe joint and back pain, as well as vomiting, losing eight pounds during a 10-day recuperation in a Caracas hospital.

“My insides felt so bad,” he said. “I was weak, had a high fever. At one time I was thinking, ‘Oh god, I’m going to be dead.’”9

Back home in Venezuela, Hidalgo also met his biological father, known to him only by the nickname Quintin, who sought him out when Richard was a rising, and potentially wealthy, baseball star.10

At spring training in 1998, Astros manager Larry Dierker offered a candid assessment of the prospect. “Beautiful guy, great attitude,” he said. “Everybody loves him. … I think Richard can be an above-average guy, a guy that if he gets a regular job, needs to improve and could make the All-Star team a couple of times.” The manager considered Hidalgo to be a potentially premier player, though not a superstar.11

With Derek Bell solidly ensconced in right field, Hidalgo was platooned in center with Carl Everett. In May he recorded a four-RBI game with a double and a homer to defeat the Brewers in Milwaukee. He ended the month on the disabled list with a separated right shoulder after crashing into an outfield fence in unsuccessful pursuit of a Larry Walker grand slam. The injury needed surgery and he had a rehabilitation stint with New Orleans. He finished the season hitting .303 for the Astros.

A forgettable 1999 campaign (.227, 56 RBIs, 15 HRs) was followed by his breakout 2000 season, during which he enjoyed a 29-game span in which he hit .477 and scored 38 runs. His OPS (on-base average plus slugging average) in that time was 1.486. Only three players have ever had a better OPS month: Joe DiMaggio (1.487 in July 1937), Lou Gehrig (1.501 in June 1930), and Babe Ruth (five times).12 

Before the 2001 season, Hidalgo signed a four-year, $32 million contract, after which he struggled at the plate, batting just .275 and .235 in successive seasons.

On the evening of November 21, 2002, Hidalgo, back home in Venezuela, was sitting in his truck awaiting a friend when he was shot during an attempted carjacking. A 9mm bullet tore through his left forearm, injuring muscle though missing bones, ligaments and tendons. He drove himself to a hospital13 in Valencia, where he was treated before recuperating at home.14

The outfielder bounced back with solid numbers for the Astros in 2003 (.309, 28 homers) for which he was named the team’s most valuable player. After 58 games with Houston in 2004, he was hitting just .256 and, perhaps more worrisome, his power seemed to have evaporated, as he had just four homers. On June 17 he was traded to the Mets for right-handed pitchers Jeremy Griffiths and David Weathers.

“I know what he can do,” Mets manager Art Howe said. “He’s a run-producer, an outstanding right fielder. He hasn’t played on a regular basis. He’ll get that opportunity here. It’s a fresh start for him. I know he’s a good middle-of-the-order hitter.”15

The Mets intended for Hidalgo’s bat to offer protection for power hitters Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd. Hidalgo responded by hitting eight home runs in his first 16 games with the Mets, including setting a club record by hitting homers in five consecutive games. Three of those games included a July 4 long weekend Subway Series against the New York Yankees. The Mets swept the series, as Hidalgo homered off Mike Mussina, José Contreras, and Felix Heredia. While he hit just .228 for the Mets in 324 at-bats, Hidalgo’s 21 homers in a half-season were second-best on the club, trailing only center fielder Mike Cameron’s 30. Piazza hit 20 and Floyd 18.

A free agent at the end of the season, Hidalgo returned to Texas by signing with the Rangers. He ran a hot streak in May with 8 homers and 18 RBIs in 18 games before slumping badly at the plate.

A free agent at the end of the season, Hidalgo signed a minor-league contract with the Baltimore Orioles only to leave spring training in 2006 when his wife was hospitalized with an illness.16 He signed a minor-league contract with Astros in 2007 and played with the club in spring training but was released after refusing a minor-league assignment. He never returned to the majors after leaving the Rangers. His major-league career totals include a .269 batting average, 560 RBIs, and 171 homers. In the minors, he hit 62 homers in 2,615 at-bats with a .282 batting average.

The Long Island Ducks, an independent minor-league team, enjoyed Hidalgo’s services for 30 games in 2008, while he also played in two games for the Sultanes de Monterrey in the Mexican league in 2009.

Hidalgo was a year-round player, as he returned to his native land in winter to patrol the outfield for the Navegantes del Magallanes.

In the 1996-97 finals, he hit .600 with a slugging average of .900, including one home run and six RBIs. He was named series MVP as his Navigators claimed the championship over the Caracas Lions (Leones del Caracas). He was just 21.

The outfielder spent 16 seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League. He hit 76 doubles and 56 homers with 218 RBIs. He scored 239 runs. His 411 hits gave him a career league average of .278. In 2017 Hidalgo was inducted into the team’s hall of fame, known in Spanish as the Salón de la Fama de los Navegantes del Magallanes.17

Hidalgo settled in Florida, where he owned a house in Dr. Phillips, an affluent suburb of Orlando. He owned a second home nearby on farmland on which he raised ponies, horses, goats, and chickens. In 2008 neighbors objected to Hidalgo’s plans to build a baseball facility for youth, as well as for his own training, including batting cages. “It won’t be quiet anymore,” one resident complained to local television station WFTV. “This is country out here. We like it that way.” 18

After being rejected, Hidalgo revised his plans five years later after doubling the size of his farm to 9.13 acres. The new proposal included a baseball field, three batting cages, a gymnasium with bathrooms, and parking for a training facility to accommodate up to 10 athletes and three coaches for daytime training. He got an exemption from the property’s agricultural zoning from Orange County as long as he met 16 conditions. In the end, it appears the facility was never built. 

Hidalgo played a total of 16 seasons with Navegantes del Magallanes in Venezuela, and retired in the 2011-12 season as the franchise leader in home runs with 56. On October 30, 2011, Magallanes held a retirement ceremony for Hidalgo prior to its game against rivals Leones del Caracas, where the former outfielder was honored by his peers and the team’s front office. He said, “It’s hard to look at myself in the mirror and say it’s over.”19 

Since his retirement, Hidalgo has acted as hitting coach for Magallanes for several years.  In 2022 he joined the coaching staff for Tiburones de La Guaira along with manager Henry Blanco.

Hidalgo has three sons – Richard, Ricky, and Renny, who was signed on July 2, 2019, as an international free agent with the Miami Marlins. An outfielder, Renny was still playing in the Marlins’ minor-league system in 2024. In September 2023, Navegantes del Magallanes announced the signing of Renny Hidalgo for the Venezuelan Winter League.20 

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Sources

Thanks to Leonte Landino for supplying information about Richard Hidalgo’s more recent years.

Photo credit: Richard Hidalgo, Getty Images.

Notes

1 Steve Batterson, “Q-C All-Time Team Rich in Talent,” Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), June 28, 2020: B4.

2 “Clase 2017,” Sitio Oficial de los Navegantes del Magallanes, https://magallanesbbc.com.ve/salon.php. Accessed December 29, 2023.

3 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia, “Miranda,” Encyclopedia Britannica, July 2, 2015, https://www.britannica.com/place/Miranda-state-Venezuela. Accessed December 29, 2023.

4 Kathleen O’Brien, “Happy to Be Any Place but Home,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, February 27, 2005: 62.

5 O’Brien.

6 O’Brien.

7 Steve Batterson, “Hidalgo Has Given Bandits Big Assist,” Quad-City Times, August 21, 1994: 3S.

8 Batterson, “Hidalgo Has Given Bandits Big Assist.”

9 Mike Berardino, “Just Happy to Be Here,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Deerfield Beach, Florida), March 14, 1998: 19C.

10 O’Brien.

11 Berardino.

12 “A Good Month’s Work” [graphic], Boston Globe, September 10, 2023: C7.

13 O’Brien.

14 Jose de Jesus Ortiz, “Astros Richard Hidalgo Shot in Left Arm During Carjacking in Venezuela,” Houston Chronicle, November 22, 2002. www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-Richard-Hidalgo-shot-in-left-arm-during-2099084.php. Accessed December 26, 2023.

15 Joel Anderson, “Astros Trade Hidalgo to Mets for 2 Pitchers,” Victoria (Texas) Advocate, June 18, 2004: 2B.

16 Jeff Zrebiec, “Hidalgo Likely Won’t Return,” Baltimore Sun, March 7, 2006: C7.

17 “Clase 2017.”

18 “Neighbors Try to Stop Former Pro Baseball Star’s ‘Field of Dreams,’” wftv.com, January 29, 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20120813101959/https://www.wftv.com/news/news/neighbors-try-to-stop-former-pro-baseball-stars-fi/nJpBR/. Accessed December 30, 2023.

19 https://mendoza-inning10.blogspot.com/2011/10/richard-hidalgo-se-despidio-entre.html.

20 https://magallanesbbc.com.ve/2193_magallanes-firmo-al-prospecto-renny-hidalgo.