Manny Jiménez

Mention brothers from the Dominican Republic who were major-league outfielders in the 1960s, and most people will understandably think of Felipe, Matty, and Jesús Alou. But Manny and Elvio Jiménez also fit the description. While Elvio appeared in just one game, Manny Jiménez spent all or parts of seven seasons (1962-1964, 1966-1969) with the Kansas City Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Cubs.

A left-handed hitter, Jiménez was the first Dominican to homer three times in a big-league game. Nicknamed “El Mulo” (The Mule) because of his strength and the way he kicked up his front leg at bat, the moniker also hinted at his stubborn nature. “In view of his extraordinary natural gifts, El Mulo ought to have been a superstar,” opined the Listin Diario newspaper. “But his temperament and behavior brought him problems with all his teams and managers.”1

Manuel Emilio Jiménez Rivera was born on November 19, 1936, in San Pedro de Macorís.2 He was one of 10 children, five boys and five girls, from the marriage of Ventura Jiménez and Fidelina Rivera. Ventura worked at Ingenio Santa Fe, one of the town’s signature sugar mills.

As a boy, Manny often skipped class at Liceo José Joaquín Pérez to play baseball, earning beatings from his dad when he was caught.3 After the eighth grade, he quit school altogether to assist his father. Jiménez continued to play baseball, though. On one neighborhood club, he teamed with his brother Elvio and another future big-leaguer, Pedro González.4

Jiménez described himself as a 1955 batting champion on a questionnaire.5 But he disappeared shortly thereafter. “In those days, you feared that he had been killed, or assassinated,” his son Manuel Jr. explained in 2022 – such things were common during Generalissimo Rafael L. Trujillo’s reign. “But he returned a month later with a car.”6 Jiménez had been drafted by Aviación Militar, the Dominican Air Force baseball team run by Trujillo’s son, Ramfis. He remained enlisted from January 2, 1956, until February 8, 1957.7

The players were paid well, and they were expected to produce. Future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal recalled, “If we played in the morning, we practiced in the afternoon. If we practiced in the morning, we played in the afternoon.”8 Matty Alou and Manny Mota were on the squad when it traveled to Mexico for a tournament. Although most historians characterize the elder Trujillo as a brutal dictator, Manuel Jiménez Jr. recalled his father saying, “Trujillo took care of my family.”9

According to Jiménez’s contract card from The Sporting News, he signed with the Port Arthur Redlegs, a Class B Cincinnati affiliate, following his discharge. He was optioned to the Class C Central Mexican League and began his professional career with the Indios de Ciudad Juarez. Despite batting .444 (4-for-9) in three games, Jiménez was released on May 13, 1957. Why isn’t clear, but Indios manager Syd Cohen and several players were cut loose later to reduce costs.10

Jiménez made his Dominican Winter League debut with the San Pedro de Macorís-based Estrellas Orientales in 1957-58. He earned the Rookie of the Year award by batting .298 in 33 games. The Estrellas were defeated in the championship series, but Jiménez hit .389 with his first professional homer.

During the winter season, Milwaukee Braves scout Ted McGrew signed four Estrellas players, including two who became San Pedro de Macorís’s first major-leaguers: Amado Samuel and Jiménez. 11 Although Jiménez received only half of the $1,000 bonus he was promised, he insisted later that his $600 per month starting salary in the United States left him with no hard feelings.12

Jiménez by nature batted and threw right-handed, but the Braves made him a switch-hitter.13 That winter, he broke up Águilas Cibaeñas southpaw Bob Smith’s bid for a no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. “I had gotten him out three times, hitting right-handed,” Smith recalled. “He turned around and hit left-handed his fourth time up against me, and darned if he did not get a single.”14 Eventually, Jiménez became exclusively a lefty swinger.15

In 1958, the Braves assigned Jimenez to the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Braves of the Class C Northern League, where he earned All-Star honors.16 He tied a record by collecting four of his league-leading 31 doubles in a single contest.17 He also hit safely in 21 consecutive games.18 But Jiménez’s season ended on August 16 when he tore ligaments in his ankle sliding into home plate.19 His .340 average in 105 games won the batting title, and he produced 15 homers and 71 RBIs.

After 33 winter appearances for the Estrellas, Jiménez was promoted to the Class A South Atlantic League, where he became a 1959 All-Star. In 128 games, he paced the Jacksonville (Florida) Braves in batting (.288) and doubles (22).20

Jiménez topped the 1959-60 Estrellas with a .326 regular-season average, plus .310 in the playoffs. Also notable: he was hit by 16 pitches in 69 contests, a trend that would continue. The Estrellas fell in the finals again as Leones del Escogido pitcher Stan Williams won MVP honors. “I do not remember anybody getting four hits off me in the majors, or the minors,” Williams said after retiring. “But there was a guy in the Dominican named Manny Jiménez. He got five hits against me in one game, and a home run.”21

Cincinnati Reds manager Fred Hutchinson described an argument that he witnessed that winter between Jiménez – listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds – and Escogido’s 6-foot-7, 255-pound first baseman, Frank Howard. “The big fellow called time, picked Jiménez up by the uniform, walked him over to the other bench and put him down, informing anyone interested – ‘You better put this fellow somewhere to cool off.’”22

Jiménez advanced to the Sacramento (California) Solons of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 1960 and hit .271 without a homer in 67 games before he was demoted to the Double-A Texas League. He improved to .359 in 54 contests with the Austin Senators, and often proclaimed, “I am the best heeter (sic) in the world; the strongest man, too!”23

In 1960-61, Jiménez topped the Dominican League with a .904 OPS and set a circuit record by going 103 straight at-bats without striking out.24 Overall, he fanned just three times in 147 at-bats, with 31 walks. His modest total of four homers tied for the league lead.

Jiménez returned to the PCL in 1961 and learned a lot from Vancouver Mounties manager Billy Hitchcock.25 In one game against Seattle, Jiménez hammered three homers with Braves farm director John Mullen in attendance. Although Mullen maintained that Milwaukee would not call him up, he praised Jiménez as “a real major league prospect” and said, “We want him to have a big season in Vancouver and he’ll be ready for 1962.”26 Through 111 games, Jiménez ranked second in the league in batting (.325), homers (17) and RBIs (76).27 But his season ended on August 10 when an inside fastball from Salt Lake City’s Jim Weaver fractured his left forearm.28 It was the 17th time Jiménez had been hit by a pitch – 10 more than any other PCL hitter.

“He’s got a lot of guts,” Hitchcock raved, noting that Tacoma Giants’ pitchers had knocked Jiménez down repeatedly. “He kept climbing out of the dirt to murder them. They’re not going to scare this kid.”29

Jiménez stroked two hits in his season debut with the Estrellas after his cast was removed.30 But the circuit’s schedule was not completed because of ongoing unrest following the May 30 assassination of Rafael Trujillo.

On December 15, 1961, the Braves traded Jiménez, third baseman Ed Charles, and catcher Joe Azcue to the Kansas City Athletics for former 18-game winner Bob Shaw and infielder Lou Klimchock. Milwaukee GM John McHale said Jiménez was the player with whom he was most reluctant to part.31

In January, The Sporting News reported Jiménez’s signing by a Venezuelan Winter League club – along with his release two weeks later.32 Jiménez explained that he never reported because of the circuit’s poor quality of pitching. Instead, he described, “I take it easy and get fat.”33

Indeed, Jiménez arrived at spring training weighing 225 pounds – a full 40 above his listed 185.34 “I ran and worked him until his tongue hang out,” said Kansas City manager Hank Bauer.35 “I started him doing pushups after every workout. I used to do them with him. Manny got to where he’d look for me every day. I used to pat him on the back. He was the kind you had to encourage.”36

On April 10, 1962, Jiménez sat on the bench as the Athletics beat Twins lefty Jack Kralick on Opening Day. That afternoon in San Francisco, Amado Samuel played two innings of shortstop for the Braves to become the first big leaguer from San Pedro de Macorís. The following day at Municipal Stadium, Jiménez started in left field and went 3-for-4 against Minnesota ace Camilo Pascual.

On April 26 in Detroit, Jiménez hit his first two homers – solo shots off Tigers reliever Sam Jones. One night later, he made his first start against a southpaw and took the Orioles’ Art Quirk deep. Jiménez claimed the left field job full time.

Bauer acknowledged that Jiménez’s reputation as a poor defender preceded him. “Our scouts told us he was a bad outfielder, but that hasn’t hurt us in left field so far. Our scouts also informed us that Jimenez can hit, and that is what I was interested in,” Bauer said.37 “He’s got all the confidence in the world at bat, and that’s 90 percent of the battle.”38

Jiménez, nicknamed “Mayonnaise” by his teammates, won the opener of a May 20 doubleheader at Washington, 1-0, with a ninth-inning homer off Claude Osteen. “He swings at bad pitches like Yogi Berra. Probably his biggest weakness could be the ball down the middle,” Bauer observed. “He lifts his right leg up like Mel Ott did.”39

Through June 7, Jimenez’s .350 batting average topped the majors. Two days later, he still led the American League, though his overall mark trailed National League leader Felipe Alou. With Dominicans pacing both major leagues for the first time, journalist Bienvenido Rojas recalled that many of the country’s citizens clipped the leaderboards from the El Caribe newspaper to preserve in scrapbooks like they were the Lord’s Prayer.40

When All-Star voting results were announced, however, AL players had elected Angels slugger Leon Wagner to start in the outfield alongside Yankees standouts Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. New York manager Ralph Houk – the AL skipper – picked his reserves based on the players’ second choices: Rocky Colavito, Lee Thomas, and Jim Landis.41 “I am disappointed, of course, but I am not angry at anybody,” Jiménez said.42

Jiménez went 0-for-6 in Kansas City’s final game of the first half, allowing Boston’s Pete Runnels to enter the break as the AL batting leader by a single point. That same day, an observation from Houk appeared in print: “Jiménez looks like a pretty good hitter, but we found out he’ll bite at anything from the letters up. He’ll bite at all high pitches.”43 After producing nine homers in his first 120 at-bats, Jiménez connected just once in his next 224. “I don’t pay Manny Jiménez to hit singles,” remarked Athletics owner Charlie Finley. “That Jiménez is a smart Cuban (sic) and he’s going for a better average.” The owner shared his advice to Bauer. “You get him in your office and get another Cuban to interpret and bang your fist on the desk – and we’ll see what happens.”44

“I told [Jiménez] Finley pays more money for homers than he does for singles,” Bauer said. “He said, ‘I try. I try.’”45 After July 27, the date Finley’s critical comments were published, Jiménez homered just once in 135 at-bats while hitting .207. “I lose my swing. I lose everything,” he recalled later. “I get mad. I wanna quit. I wanna go home. But the other players cooled me. They said I be crazy to quit.”46 Despite leading the AL batting race as late as August 1, Jiménez started fewer than half of Kansas City’s final 50 games.

Jiménez finished with a .301 average and 11 homers in 139 appearances and made the Topps All-Rookie team along with teammate Ed Charles. They were feted at the Waldorf Astoria New York on October 25, and their 1963 Topps baseball cards featured trophies.47

The Dominican League canceled its 1962-63 campaign, so Jiménez traveled to Puerto Rico to play for the Senadores de San Juan. The club released him after losing contact with him when he returned home to visit his family.48

Jiménez reported to West Palm Beach, Florida, for spring training in 1963, apparently unaware that the Athletics camp had moved to Bradenton. After he was fined for arriving one week late. Jiménez protested, saying he had been forced to take up arms in the Dominican revolution. After sneaking away from the fight, he had spent two days walking to the airport.49

Under new manager Eddie Lopat, Jiménez started just 13 of Kansas City’s first 37 games. On May 22, he was demoted to the PCL’s Portland (Oregon) Beavers, where he remained for nearly three months, other than a two-week callup in late June. In Triple A, Jiménez hit .350 with 16 homers in 66 contests. After George Alusik broke his wrist on August 10, Jiménez returned to the Athletics and started most of the remaining games. In 60 big-league appearances during 1963, he batted .280 without a home run.

The Dominican League played a full schedule in 1963-64, but a sprained ankle limited Jiménez to 30 games, in which he hit .225.50

When Jiménez was late for spring training again in 1964, he claimed that gunmen often fired on taxis heading towards the airport as part of the Dominican Republic’s ongoing turmoil. But Lopat said, “I don’t see any bullet holes in you. I don’t even see any scratches.”51 The Athletics fined Jiménez $200. After the season began, he homered in five of his first 62 regular-season at-bats – including two pinch-hit blasts, and his only big-league grand slam – but his batting average was just .210. The Athletics optioned him to the PCL on June 8. “I quit. I will not report,” Jiménez said. “I think I’m a better ballplayer than others they have on this club.”52 As it happened, he made two plate appearances for the Dallas Rangers before Kansas City recalled him on June 19.

On the Fourth of July in Baltimore, Jiménez hit a sharp, opposite-field single off the Orioles’ Robin Roberts in the top of the first.53 Leading off the third inning, he took the future Hall of Famer deep and, two innings later, he victimized Roberts again with a man aboard. When Jiménez added a tie-breaking two-run shot off reliever Dick Hall in the seventh, he became the first Dominican to homer three times in a major-league game.54 Although his number three spot in the batting order came up again in the ninth inning, Jiménez had already been replaced by a superior defender, José Tartabull, so he missed a chance to match the single-game major-league record of four homers. (The game ended after nine innings, tied 6-6, because of a previously agreed-upon curfew to accommodate a postgame concert and fireworks.55)

Before July was over, though, Jiménez was bothered by a sore back.56 In 204 at-bats overall, he batted .225 with 12 homers – just one after July 13. On October 4, his brother Elvio went 2-for-6 for the Yankees in his only big-league game.

Jiménez appeared in only 13 contests for the Estrellas that offseason. On November 3, 1964, he was showing off his .22 caliber pistol when it accidentally discharged.57 The bullet tore through his throwing hand – missing tendons and vital tissues – before striking his brother Juan in the chest. Elvio applied first aid and took them both to the hospital.58

The Athletics dropped Jiménez from their major-league roster. He opened the 1965 season with Kansas City’s new PCL affiliate, Vancouver, but Mounties skipper Bob Hofman described him as an “unsettling influence.”59 Not long before that report appeared, Jiménez had exchanged punches with a teammate during batting practice. He was sent to the Orioles’ Triple-A farm club in the International League, the Rochester (New York) Red Wings, on May 25. The Athletics retained Jiménez’s rights, while the Orioles paid the bulk of his salary.60 Jiménez batted .296 with 13 homers in 96 games with Rochester. Although the Dominican League did not play a full campaign for the third time in five years, he suited up briefly in a condensed version of the circuit.61

In 1966, Jiménez was invited to Athletics spring training as a non-roster player. “[New manager] Al [Dark wants to take a look at Manny, so we’re going to bring him to camp,” explained Lopat, who had become Kansas City’s GM. “If he hustles and does his job, he has a chance to make the team, but we are not going to put up with any of that stuff he has given us in the past.”62 Third baseman Ed Charles said, “I think Manny has learned a few things after last season. He can make a lot of money if he’ll get busy and go to work. There’s not a better hitter on our club.”63

Jiménez made the team with a strong spring, and he was expected to start on Opening Day in Minnesota. He hadn’t signed his contract, though, and wanted $10,000, not the $8,000 that the A’s were offering. During negotiations with Finley in the trainer’s room at Metropolitan Stadium, Jiménez refused to budge, so he was scratched from the lineup two hours before the first pitch.64 On his way to join the Athletics’ Double-A affiliate in Mobile, Alabama, Jiménez stopped in Kansas City, where a message from Finley awaited him at the airport.65 Jiménez returned to Minnesota and assured reporters, “I get what I want.”66

The victory was short-lived, however. Jiménez batted just .114 (4-for-35) before he was waived on May 13 when the Athletics reduced their active roster to 25 players. He spent the remainder of the season in the IL, on loan to the Detroit Tigers organization.67 In 110 games with the Syracuse Chiefs, he hit .288 and acknowledged, “I had to take big cut in salary.”68

On November 29, 1966, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Jiménez in the minor-league draft. The December 17 edition of The Sporting News reported that, despite Jiménez’s .338 (27-for-80) batting average, the Estrellas wanted the Dominican League circuit to suspend him because of disciplinary problems.69 Jiménez had delivered a post-game pummeling to a heckling spectator.70 He appeared in 42 of the Estrellas’ 58 regular season games and batted .296.

During spring training 1967, Jiménez said it was nice to be with a new team. Unlike his previous employers, Jiménez explained that Pirates manager Harry Walker corrected his mistakes one-on-one and told him it was okay to hit to the opposite field.71 “[Jiménez] is not only here to try to make the Pirate squad,” Walker said. “He’s got four years in the majors to his credit. One more will put him in line for the pension plan. This will mean $50,000 to $60,000 to him if he lives to be 70.”72

Jiménez couldn’t avoid controversy, though. After he was ruled out on a close play at first base during an exhibition, he called umpire Lee Weyer a “blind SOB.” The arbiter sent a report to the NL office, but league president Warren Giles declined to discipline Jiménez, who was still technically a minor-leaguer.73 Jiménez made Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster and went 2-for-6 with a homer in early-season pinch-hitting duty. When the Pirates reduced their roster to 25 players on May 10, though, they kept George Spriggs instead.74

Back in the IL with Pittsburgh’s Columbus (Ohio) Jets affiliate, Jiménez played right field and Elvio Jiménez manned left – the only time the brothers were professional teammates. Elvio batted .340 to lead the circuit, while Manny swatted .331 in 46 contests to earn a June 25 return to the Pirates. Before his promotion, he was ejected from a June 12 game in Columbus for trying to enter the stands to confront a fan.75

In Jiménez’s first game back in the majors, he started in left field and homered at Cincinnati, but he soon returned to pinch-hitting. On July 28 in Houston, Jiménez was playfully slapping his roommate, rookie Manny Sanguillén, in the Pirates’ dugout when veteran pitcher Juan Pizarro told him to stop. Undaunted, Jiménez waived a towel in the youngster’s face. Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente described what happened next: “Pizarro thought Jiménez hit Sanguillén with the towel and Juan said something to Jiménez. Jiménez threw a ball at Pizarro, who swung at Jiménez.”76 The other Pirates quickly broke it up but, when Jiménez walked to the water cooler a few moments later, he opened a cut above Pizarro’s eye with a left hook. Teammates separated the combatants again, and Jiménez and Pizarro were fined $150 apiece by interim manager Danny Murtaugh – who had replaced Walker 11 days earlier.77 In 50 appearances for the Pirates, Jiménez hit .250 in 56 at-bats.

The Estrellas traded Jiménez to the Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas before the 1967-68 Dominican League campaign started. The Águilas worked closely with the Pirates, so his teammates included Sanguillén and other Pittsburgh prospects like Dock Ellis and Bob Robertson. Jiménez ranked second on the club in RBIs during the regular season. The Águilas lost in the semifinals, though, despite his two homers in five playoff games.

Jiménez spent the entire 1968 season with the Pirates, but he made just 77 plate appearances despite batting .303. In two years with Pittsburgh, he started only nine games, and he was dropped from the club’s 40-man roster that fall.78 In describing the Bucs’ decision to promote Elvio Jiménez that same week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, “He is a butcher in the field. It must run in the family.”79 After batting .310 in 39 winter ball games for the Águilas, Manny Jiménez was traded to the Chicago Cubs for reliever Chuck Hartenstein and infielder Ron Campbell on January 15.

In 1969, Jiménez began the season in the PCL with the Tacoma Cubs, but he was summoned to the majors on April 25. For Chicago, he went 1-for-6 as a pinch-hitter before he was returned to Tacoma on June 10. Although Jiménez was still receiving his major-league salary, his unhappiness about being demoted caused Tacoma manager Whitey Lockman to release him two days later.80 Jimenez’s professional baseball career in the United States was over. In 429 big-league games, he batted .272 with 26 homers and a .966 fielding percentage.

Jiménez joined the Broncos de Reynosa of the Mexican League for 50 games in 1970 and batted .304.81 That performance was bracketed by his final appearances in his native country – batting .190 in 23 games for the 1969-70 Águilas, then returning to the Estrellas in 1970-71 and hitting .238 in 21 at-bats. In 390 Dominican League contests, Jiménez batted .286 with 11 home runs and a .360 on-base percentage. In 30 playoff games, he batted .337 with three homers.

On January 1, 1967, Jiménez married Giovanna Suazo in San Pedro de Macorís. By 1975, they had settled in New York City, where they raised their five children –sons Miguel and Manuel Jr., and daughters Wanda, Ingrid, and Ramona – about two miles west of Yankee Stadium in the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan.

For decades, Jiménez worked at Jersey Fashion, commuting to the New Jersey-based factory to sew buttons and zippers onto coats. While Elvio Jiménez became a longtime scout following his playing days, Manny declined offers to remain in baseball. “My father was very bitter about how he was treated,” Manuel Jr. explained. “My father had his ego, which he never put aside.”82

In 1994, Jiménez was inducted into the Dominican Republic’s Sports Hall of Fame. (Elvio Jiménez joined him in 2000.) Major leaguers from San Pedro de Macorís already included an MVP (George Bell), 20-game winner (Joaquín Andújar), batting champion (Rico Carty), World Series hero (Pedro Guerrero), and Gold Glover (Tony Fernández). Standouts like Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano, and Robinson Canó carried the town’s torch into the 21st century.

Jiménez was 81 when he died in New York on December 11, 2017, from a heart attack.83 He was laid to rest at the Cementerio Municipal in San Pedro de Macorís.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Manny Jiménez’s daughter, Wanda Jiménez, and son, Manuel Emilio Jiménez Jr. (telephone interviews with the author on January 27 and January 28, 2022, respectively) and to his nephew, Elvio Jiménez Jr. (telephone interview with the author, January 23, 2022).

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and fact-checked by David Kritzler.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com, www.retrosheet.org and https://sabr.org/bioproject.

Manny Jiménez’s Dominican League statistics are from https://stats.winterballdata.com/home (subscription service, last accessed February 17, 2022).

Notes

1 “El Mulo Jiménez,” Listin Diario (Dominican Republic), December 19, 2017.

2 Although many sources list 1938 as Manny Jiménez’s birth year, his daughter Wanda Jiménez confirmed that he was born in 1936 in an e-mail to the author on January 28, 2022.

3 Bill Nunn Jr., “Change of Pace,” New Pittsburgh Courier, June 30, 1962: 19.

4 Mark Kurlansky, The Eastern Stars, (New York: Riverhead Books, 2010): 83.

5 Manny Jiménez, Publicity questionnaire for William J. Weiss, October 15, 1962.

6 Manuel Emilio Jiménez Jr., Telephone interview with Malcolm Allen, January 28, 2022. (Hereafter Manuel Jiménez Jr.-Allen interview).

7 Jiménez, Weiss questionnaire.

8 Rob Ruck, The Tropic of Baseball, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers (1991): 71.

9 Jiménez Jr.-Allen interview.

10 “Juarez Drops Syd Cohen,” The Sporting News, July 24, 1957: 37.

11 Infielder Manuel Infante and pitcher Ceferino Foy were the others. The Braves released Infante midway through the 1958 season. Foy pitched in the U.S, until 1962, but never ascended above Class B. Félix Acosta Nuñez, “Dominican Doings,” The Sporting News, December 11, 1957: 28.

12 Frank Eck, “Jiminez (sic) Says He Hits Better When Pitchers Throw at His Head,” Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, May 31, 1962: 22.

13 Joe McGuff, “Jiménez Jumps Off Junk Heap, Battles for A’s Picket Job,” The Sporting News, March 26, 1966: 16.

14 Lou Hernández, “Memories of Winter Ball,” (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013): 214.

15 McGuff, “Jiménez Jumps Off Junk Heap, Battles for A’s Picket Job.”

16 Manny Jiménez, 1963 Post Cereal baseball card.

17 Clell Buzzell, “Sports Chaff,” Daily Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin), April 11, 1959: 10.

18 “Grand Forks Tip EC Braves, 3-2,” Daily Telegram, August 13, 1958: 11.

19 Clell Buzzell, “Homers, Injuries, Bonus Rookies Highlight 1958 EC Braves Season,” Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin), September 6, 1958: 11.

20 Manny Jiménez, 1963 Post Cereal baseball card.

21 Hernández, “Memories of Winter Ball”: 102.

22 Jack Hernon, “Just Roamin’ Around,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 25, 1962: 15.

23 Bob Addie, “Diamond Facts and Facets,” The Sporting News, June 23, 1962: 18.

24 Fernando A. Vicioso, “Ace Marichal Sharp in Tuneup,” The Sporting News, February 26, 1966: 37.

25 Eck, “Jiminez (sic) Says He Hits Better When Pitchers Throw at His Head.”

26 “Coast Clippings,” The Sporting News, August 9, 1961: 34.

27 “Vancouver Loses Jiménez – Arm Fractured by Pitch,” The Sporting News, August 23, 1961: 30.

28 “Vancouver Loses Jiménez – Arm Fractured by Pitch.”

29 “Baseball Notebook,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 10, 1962: 67.

30 Fernando A. Vicioso, “Dominican Doings,” The Sporting News, November 22, 1961: 24.

31 Ernest Mehl, “A’s Deal Bob Shaw to Take Gamble on Braves’ Rookie Trio,” The Sporting News, December 27, 1961: 35.

32 Frederico Rodolfo, “Venezuelan Vitamins,” The Sporting News, January 24, 1962: 31.

33 Eck, “Jiminez (sic) Says He Hits Better When Pitchers Throw at His Head.”

34 “Jiménez Cool to ‘Star Snub’,” Michigan Chronicle, July 14, 1962: A2.

35 Harry Grayson, “Jiménez Trade Was One of the Best Ever Made by the A’s,” Chillicothe (Missouri) Constitution-Tribune, May 28, 1962: 12.

36 Joe McGuff, “‘I Treat Players the Way I’d Like to Be Treated’ – Bauer,” The Sporting News, December 3, 1966: 38.

37 Grayson, “Jiménez Trade Was One of the Best Ever Made by the A’s.”

38 Dick Joyce, “KC Rookie Proving His Bat is Mightier Than His Glove,” New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Virginia), June 2, 1962: 13.

39 Eck, “Jiminez (sic) Says He Hits Better When Pitchers Throw at His Head.”

40 Bienvenido Rojas, “El ‘Mulo’ y “El Panqué,’” Diario Libre (Dominican Republic), June 7, 2013, https://www.diariolibre.com/deportes/el-mulo-y-el-panqu-FDDL387244 (last accessed February 18, 2022).

41 Associated Press, “Houk Names 4 Yankees to All-Stars,” New York Herald Tribune, July 6, 1962:18.

42 “Jiménez Cool to ‘Star Snub.’”

43 Joe Reichler, “Mad? Not Manny Jimenez; Takes All-Star Snub in Stride,” Elmira (New York) Star-Gazette, July 8, 1962: 37.

44 Phil Elderkin, “A’s Jiménez Told ‘Hit More Homers,’” Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts), July 27, 1962: 7.

45 Elderkin, “A’s Jiménez Told ‘Hit More Homers.’”

46 Murray Chass, “Manny Jiménez Says A’s Owner Far from Authority on Hitting,” Danville (Virginia) Register, April 13, 1967: 29.

47 Oscar Kahan, “A.L. Rookies Cop 8 Topps-Team Berths,” The Sporting News, September 29, 1962: 23.

48 Miguel J. Frau, “Puerto Rican Patter,” The Sporting News, November 17, 1962:29.

49 Bob Greene, “Manny’s Career Has Many Turns,” Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury, March 14, 1966: 7.

50 Fernando A. Vicioso, “Jiménez Brothers on Rampage,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1963: 27.

51 “Why Was Manny Delayed? ‘Had to Fight in Revolution’,” The Sporting News, March 21, 1964: 23.

52 Associated Press, “Manny Jiménez Powers A’s to 3-1 Win Over Baltimore,” Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News, July 6, 1964: 12.

53 Ernest Mehl, “Films Clear Up Mound Flaw for A’s Drabowsky,” The Sporting News, July 18, 1964: 15.

54 Jiménez also became just the second player to homer more than twice in one game at Memorial Stadium. On June 10, 1959, Cleveland’s Rocky Colavito tied the major-league record by homering four times in Baltimore. Associated Press, “3 for Manny, Tie for Birds,” Evening Press (Binghamton, New York), July 5, 1964: 35.

55 Associated Press, “Jiménez Hits 3 Out, But A’s Just Tie, 6-6,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 5, 1964: 71.

56 Joe McGuff, “Athletics’ Addenda,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1964: 18.

57 “A’s Jiménez Hospitalized; Shot Self in Right Wrist,” The Sporting News, November 14, 1964: 22.

58 “Jiménez Out of Winter Baseball,” Times Record (Troy, New York), November 6, 1964: 25.

59 “Jiménez Dumped After Fight,” The Sporting News, June 12, 1965: 36.

60 “Wings Get Jiménez, Southpaw Slugger,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), May 26, 1965: 39.

61 Fernando A. Vicioso, “Return of Rivas Slips Hill Hypo to Battling Reds,” The Sporting News, February 19, 1966: 25.

62 Joe McGuff, “Pilot Dark Asks for Look at A’s Ex-Whiz Jiménez,” The Sporting News, February 26, 1966: 34.

63 McGuff, “Jiménez Jumps Off Junk Heap, Battles for A’s Picket Job.”

64 Joe McGuff, “Strike Up the Band – But Make it a Dirge for the Battered A’s,” The Sporting News, April 30, 1966: 22.

65 “Jimenez Agrees to Terms,” The Sporting News, April 23, 1966: 20.

66 McGuff, “Strike Up the Band – But Make it a Dirge for the Battered A’s.”

67 Jiménez was sent to Syracuse along with Vancouver’s Bob Lipski in exchange for and Nelson Mathews and John Sullivan. Lipski and Mathews had been exchanged for one another prior to the season, but Vancouver needed Mathews back after losing Santiago Rosario to a suspension. (Jiménez and Sullivan were returned to their original organizations in September.) “Chiefs Pull 4-Man Deal,” The Sporting News, June 4, 1966: 36.

68 “Jiménez Disliked Kansas City,” Pittsburgh Press, August 22, 1967: 40.

69 Fernando A. Vicioso, “Dominican Doings,” The Sporting News, December 17, 1966: 43.

70 Jiménez Jr.-Allen interview.

71 Chass, “Manny Jiménez Says A’s Owner Far from Authority on Hitting.”

72 Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 6, 1967: 34. (In 1969, the minimum service time require to qualify for a major league pension was reduced to four years.)

73 Dick Young, “Young Ideas,” Daily News (New York, New York), March 30, 1967: 196.

74 Furman Bisher, “Silence is for Libraries,” Atlanta Journal, May 21, 1967: 53.

75 “Extra Innings,” Democrat and Chronicle, June 13, 1967: 40.

76 Les Biederman, “Pizarro and Jiménez Fined $150 Each in Dugout Brawl,” The Sporting News, August 12, 1967: 13.

77 Associated Press, “Pirates Fined,” Asbury Park (New Jersey) Evening News, July 29, 1967: 14.

78 “Deals of the Week,” The Sporting News, November 9, 1968: 54.

79 Charley Feeney, “Big Bidders Seeking Stargell, Allen,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 3, 1968: 26.

80 “Jiménez Released,” The Sporting News, June 28, 1969: 38.

81 Roberto Hernández, “Can Mexican Loop Fight Off Challenge from TV Soccer?” The Sporting News, March 28, 1970: 33.

82 Jiménez Jr.-Allen interview.

83 “Fallece el Mulo Jiménez,” Listin Diario, December 11, 2017, https://listindiario.com/el-deporte/2017/12/11/494488/fallece-el-mulo-jimenez (last accessed June 21, 2022).