Manny Mota (1969-80, 1982, .315/.374/.391): When I was a kid, it seemed like Manny Mota was about 100 years old, but he was just in his late 30s, early 40s when he became one of the best pinch-hitters in baseball history. In fact, just to show you how much the game has changed, in the late 1970s, the Dodgers carried two guys on the team, Mota and Vic Davalillo, who mainly served as pinch-hitters and rarely played the field. But to think of Mota as only a pinch-hitter is a mistake. He hit .305 in 124 games with the Dodgers in 1970 and .323 in 118 games with the team in 1972. He made the All-Star team in 1973, when he hit .314. But pinch-hitting is what made him famous. Mota set the record (since surpassed) for most career pinch hits in 1979 when he collected his 145th. He seemed to be able to get a hit whenever he wanted to. He retired after the 1979 season, but came out of retirement at the end of the 1980 and 1982 seasons to serve as a pinch-hitter once again. Eighteen players have at least 100 pinch-hits in their career. Mota is the only one with a .300 average in such situations. After retiring for good as a player, he became a coach for the Dodgers and remains active in the organization to this day. Dave Roberts installed him as a special assistant coach when he became manager and Mota can be seen on the field helping players before games. Since 1967, his Manny Mota Foundation has fed, sheltered and clothed hungry children all around the world. “I like to live a friendly life,” Mota said in 1979. “I like to be friendly to everybody because I think that’s the way human beings can get to know each other better. To me it doesn’t make any difference in the race of people or if he’s a kid or an adult. I try to respect all people because I would like all people to respect me. That’s the way I grew up and that’s the way I’m going to die.”
Source: latimes.com – Los Angeles Times