Fernando Viña
| Fernando Viña | |
|---|---|
| Second baseman | |
| Born: April 16, 1969 Sacramento, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 10, 1993, for the Seattle Mariners | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 11, 2004, for the Detroit Tigers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .282 |
| Home runs | 40 |
| Runs batted in | 343 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Fernando Viña Spanish: [feɾˈnando ˈβiɲa]; born April 16, 1969) is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball second baseman and former MLB analyst for ESPN. His parents Andres and Olga emigrated from Cuba in 1968.[1] From 1993 through 2005, Viña played for the Seattle Mariners (1993), New York Mets (1994), Milwaukee Brewers (1995-1999), St. Louis Cardinals (2000-2003), and Detroit Tigers (2004).
Career
Viña was acquired by the Brewers on December 22, 1994 to complete a transaction that began three weeks earlier on November 30 when Doug Henry was traded to the Mets and also included minor-league catcher Javier Gonzalez being sent to Milwaukee on December 6.[2][3]
On May 31, 1996, while attempting to tag the runner and make a throw to first to complete a double play, Viña was caught off guard and knocked down by Albert Belle, an incident which led to Belle receiving a 5-game suspension from the American League. In a 2018 interview, Viña good-naturedly laughed about the incident, claiming "that put me on the map," meaning that the play was regularly featured in highlight footage on television.[citation needed]
Viña was a two-time Gold Glove winner (2001-2002), and a National League All-Star in 1998, becoming the first ever NL representative from the Brewers, who had moved to the league that year.
In 2004, he was limited to 29 games for the Tigers—a serious leg injury ended his first season with Detroit, and Viña missed the entire 2005 season because of a strained right hamstring and
In 2006, Viña was invited to
Mitchell Report
On December 13, 2007, Viña was mentioned in the
Popular culture
Viña was featured in the music video for
.See also
References
- ISBN 0761325662.
- ^ "Around the Majors," The Washington Post, Friday, December 23, 1994. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "Mets do tri-city deal," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, December 6, 1994. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Mitchell report: Baseball slow to react to players' steroid use" ESPN 2007-12-13. Retrieved on 2007-12-14
- ^ "ESPN analyst Vina says he used HGH in 2003, but never steroids". ESPN. 2007-12-18. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet