{{Short description|Panamanian baseball player (1940–2000)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Chico Salmon |position=Utility player |image=Chico Salmon.jpg |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1940|12|3}} |birth_place=Colón, Panama |death_date={{death date and age|2000|9|17|1940|12|3}} |death_place=Bocas del Toro, Panama |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=June 28 |debutyear=1964 |debutteam=Cleveland Indians |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=August 14 |finalyear=1972 |finalteam=Baltimore Orioles |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.249 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=31 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=149 |teams= *Cleveland Indians ({{mlby|1964}}–{{mlby|1968}}) *Baltimore Orioles ({{mlby|1969}}–{{mlby|1972}}) |highlights= *World Series champion ({{wsy|1970}}) |medaltemplates= {{MedalSport | Men's baseball}} {{MedalCountry | {{bb|PAN}}}} {{MedalCompetition | Central American and Caribbean Games}} {{MedalBronze | 1959 Caracas | Team}} }} '''Ruthford Eduardo "Chico" Salmon''' (December 3, 1940 – September 17, 2000) was a Panamanian professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a utility player from {{Baseball year|1964}} through {{Baseball year|1972}}, most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles team that won three consecutive American League pennants from 1969 to 1971 and, won the World Series in 1970. He also played for the Cleveland Indians.
== Early life == Salmon was born in Colón, Panama on December 3, 1940.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chico Salmon Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News |url=https://www.mlb.com/player/chico-salmon-121639 |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}</ref> Salmon graduated from Abel Bravo High School in Colón, where he lettered in baseball, basketball, and track. He later attended Abel Bravo College, where he also played baseball. It was as a college student that Salmon played for the Panamanian baseball team during the 1959 Pan-American Games in Venezuela.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Wolinsky |first=Russell |title=Chico Salmon, Society for American Baseball Research |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chico-salmon/ |website=sabr.org}}</ref>
== Minor league baseball career == Salmon was originally signed as a free agent by the original Washington Senators,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Chico Salmon Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac |url=https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=salmoch01 |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=www.baseball-almanac.com}}</ref> and played one game for their minor league affiliate, the Missoula Timberjacks in 1959.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Chico Salmon Minor Leagues Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=salmon001rut |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He played in the minor leagues for teams affiliated with the San Francisco Giants (1960), Detroit Tigers (1961-62), and Milwaukee Braves (1963).<ref name=":3" /> During that time, his lowest batting average was .292, and he hit .325 or above every other year. In 1963, playing for the Denver Bears of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League at third base and in the outfield, he hit .325, with 103 runs scored and 19 stolen bases.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=1963 Denver Bears Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=523759e5 |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref>
The Bears were a Triple-A affiliate of the Braves.<ref name=":4" /> Before the 1964 season, Salmon was traded by the Braves to the Cleveland Indians.<ref name=":2" /> During the 1964 season, Salmon played in 71 games for Cleveland's Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Portland Beavers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1964 Portland Beavers Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=89f64f95 |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He hit only .234 in his worst minor league season.<ref name=":3" />
== Major league baseball career == Salmon began play for the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) chiefly as a versatile utility player from 1964 to 1968, both in the outfield and infield. Despite his unusually poor hitting at Portland in 1964, Cleveland called Salmon up in late June, when regular third baseman Max Alvis was stricken with spinal meningitis.<ref name=":5" /> Though Salmon did not play any games at third base, he started 39 games in the outfield and 31 at first or second base. In his rookie year his batting average was .307 in 283 at bats.<ref name=":0" />
The most playing time he got with the Indians was 126 games in 1966 (hitting .256 in 422 at bats), playing 90 games or less in his other three seasons. He earned the nickname "Super Sub" in Cleveland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=#CardCorner: 1969 Topps Chico Salmon {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/card-corner/clevelands-10th-man |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=Baseball Hall of Fame}}</ref>
Salmon was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft following the 1968 season,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19690113&id=O_NOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6289,4588166&hl=en "Salmon Hopes to Start," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Tuesday, January 14, 1969.] Retrieved November 20, 2015.</ref> but was acquired by the Orioles for Gene Brabender and Gordon Lund on March 31, 1969.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19690401&id=T5JYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SPgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4068,306178&hl=en "Pilots Land Brabender," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Tuesday, April 1, 1969.] Retrieved November 20, 2015.</ref> He played for the Orioles from 1969 to 1972, retiring after that year. Never a starting level player, he did become the Orioles primary utility player, eventually playing all four infield positions.<ref name=":1" /> The most he played was in 1970 (63 games and 172 at bats), never playing in more than 52 games any other year or having more than 91 at bats. His highest Orioles average was .297 in 1969.<ref name=":0" /> In an August 16, 1969 game against the Pilots, Salmon had the best game of his career, going 4 for 4, with two home runs, and 6 runs batted in (RBIs).<ref name=":1" />
The Orioles were American League champions from 1969 to 1971, winning the 1970 World Series over the Cincinnati Reds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Series Winners by Year - ESPN |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/worldseries/history/winners |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=ESPN.com}}</ref> In Game 2 of the 1970 World Series, Salmon had a critical pinch hit single and scored a run.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1970 World Series Game 2 Box Score |url=https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197010110CN5 |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=Baseball Almanac}}</ref>
Salmon was not particularly well known for his fielding. While he was still with the team, the Orioles had a mock award named the Chico Salmon No Touch Award "to recognize fielding prowess that had all the deftness of a rhinoceros knitting," according to Jim Palmer.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Jim|last2=Dale|first2=Jim|title=Palmer and Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine|year=1996|publisher=Andrews and McMeel|location=Kansas City|isbn=0-8362-0781-5|page=28}}</ref> He was, however, widely known for his belief in ghosts which caused him to always sleep with the lights on.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Russell |title=The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia |publisher=Sports Publishing L.L.C. |year=2001 |isbn=1-58261-376-1 |edition=2nd |pages=236}}</ref> He had to confront this fear during his 1964 army service, where he could not sleep with lights on, but he never really overcame it later in life.<ref name=":1" />
He retired with a career .249 average, 31 home runs, 202 runs scored and 149 RBIs.<ref name=":0" />
== Personal life and death == After retiring, he moved to Cleveland and did social work with youth at the Lincoln Recreation Center, discouraging drug abuse. He later returned to Panama, did some baseball scouting there, and also managed the Panamanian team in the World Amateur Baseball Series.<ref name=":1" />
He died from a heart attack on September 17, 2000, at the age of 59.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_S/Salmon.Chico.Obit.html |title=Chico Salmon dies |access-date=March 11, 2018 |archive-date=January 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123013704/http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_S/Salmon.Chico.Obit.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|br=s/salmoch01}} * [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chico-salmon/ Chico Salmon] at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
{{1970 Baltimore Orioles}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmon, Chico}} Category:1940 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Baltimore Orioles players Category:Cleveland Indians players Category:Denver Bears players Category:Durham Bulls players Category:Knoxville Smokies players Category:Major League Baseball first basemen Category:Major League Baseball players from Panama Category:20th-century Panamanian sportsmen Category:Major League Baseball second basemen Category:Major League Baseball shortstops Category:Missoula Timberjacks players Category:Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States Category:Baseball players from Colón, Panama Category:Pocatello Giants players Category:Portland Beavers players Category:Competitors at the 1959 Central American and Caribbean Games Category:Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Panama Category:Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in baseball