Galarraga, Andres J.
Baseball
b. June 18, 1961, Caracas, Venezuela
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Galarraga joined the NL's Montreal Expos late in the 1985 season. He played in only 105 games in 1986 because of injury but he established himself as the team's starting first baseman by hitting .305 in 1987.
A right-hander, Galarraga batted .302 in 1988 and led the league with 42 doubles and 184 hits. He also led in strikeouts for the first of three consecutive years. His average dropped to .257 and .258 the following two seasons and he batted only .219 in 1991, when he was out for six weeks with an injury.
Montreal traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals before the 1992 season and Galarraga again struggled with injury problems, spending part of the season on rehabilitation assignment to the minor leagues.
The expansion Colorado Rockies drafted him in 1993 and he responded in a big way, leading the NL in batting with a .370 average to win The Sporting News comeback player of the year award.
Galarraga signed with the Atlanta Braves as a free agent after the 1997 season and he hit .304 with 44 home runs in 1998. During 1999 spring training, Galarraga was diagnosed with a form of lymphatic cancer. He missed the entire season while undergoing treatment.
He returned to action in 2000 in dramatic fashion, hitting a home run to give the Braves the lead and making an outstanding defensive play to save the game on opening day.
Galarraga left the Braves in 2001, when he played for both the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. He was a part-time player with Montreal in 2002 and the Giants in 2003, when he hit .301 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 272 at-bats. The following February, he underwent successful treatment for a recurrence of cancer and hoped to catch on with a team so he could reach the 400-home run mark.
Galarraga won Silver Slugger awards in 1988 and 1996 and was a Gold Glove winner at first base in 1989 and 1990.