César Tovar

César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 – July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1965–72), Philadelphia Phillies (1973), Texas Rangers (1974–1975), Oakland Athletics (1975–1976) and New York Yankees (1976). Tovar was an extremely versatile player capable of playing various defensive positions on the field. He was the second player in major league history to play all nine positions during a single game. Tovar also had a prolific career in the Venezuelan Winter League where he played 26 seasons, second only to the 30 seasons played by Vic Davalillo.

Baseball playing career

Minor leagues

Tovar was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela where as a child, he shined shoes to earn extra income for his family. At the age of 15, he befriended Gus Gil, another Venezuelan who went on to play in Major League Baseball. In January 1959, Cincinnati Reds General Manager, Gabe Paul, attempted to sign Gil to a contract however, Gil insisted that Paul should also have Tovar sign a contract. Paul relented in order to make Gil agree to sign. Tovar began his professional baseball career when he was assigned to the Geneva Redlegs in the D-league New York–Penn League. He hit .252 in 87 games as an infielder for Geneva in 1959. That winter, he returned to Venezuela to play for the Leones del Caracas, and won the league's rookie of the year award.