Ozzie Virgil – May 17, 1932 to September 29, 2024

October 22, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Ozzie Virgil, the first major league player from the Dominican Republic and later a longtime Montreal Expos coach, died on September 29 at the age of 92.

“Virgil should be for my country as important as [Jackie] Robinson [is] to the African-American, I’d place his legacy up there [with] that of those who established our republic,” Hall of Fame slugger and Santo Domingo, D.R., native David Ortiz told ESPN.com in 2006.

Virgil made his big-league debut with the New York Giants on September 23, 1956.

“I have always felt grateful and fortunate to have been chosen by God to open the doors of MLB for my countrymen, considering that hundreds with more talent than me hadn’t been given the chance,” Virgil told ESPN.com in 2006.

Less than two years later, Virgil blazed another trail when he became the first player of color to suit up for the Detroit Tigers.

In all, Virgil competed in parts of nine major league campaigns before embarking on a successful coaching career that included a six-season stop with the Expos from 1976 to 1981.

Born in Dominican Republic

Born in Monte Cristi, D.R. on May 17, 1932, Virgil moved with his family to the Bronx after the Second World War.

He didn’t suit up for his high school baseball team, but he did play sandlot ball. In 1950, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and played baseball in the military where his skills began to stand out.

In 1953, he was signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent. He received a $300 signing bonus and was assigned to their Class-C affiliate in St. Cloud, Minn. Virgil began his minor league career as a third baseman but over the course of his career, he played all of the infield positions (aside from pitcher) and the outfield.

First MLB player from Dominican Republic

After parts of four minor league seasons in the Giants’ organization, he made his big-league debut on September 23, 1956. Starting at third base for the Giants, he went 0-for-4 but he made history by becoming the first player born in the Dominican Republic to compete in a big-league game.

The following season, Virgil batted .235 and belted four home runs in a career-high 96 games with the Giants.

Blazed another trail with Tigers

On January 28, 1958, he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers. He started the season in triple-A but he was called up in early June and would become the first player of colour to play for the Tigers.

In his first home game at Briggs Stadium, on June 17, 1958, he had five hits in a 9-2 win over the Washington Senators.

That would be the highlight of his parts of three seasons with the Tigers. Short stretches with the Kansas City A’s (1961), Baltimore Orioles (1962), Pittsburgh Pirates (1965) and San Francisco Giants (1966-67) would follow. But Virgil spent most of his 13 pro seasons in the minors.

In 1964, while suiting up for the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, his first-year manager was Sparky Anderson. Anderson noticed Virgil’s baseball smarts and named him a player/coach midway through the season. In 150 games as the Leafs’ starting third baseman, Virgil batted .270 with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs.

Montreal Expos coach

After he hung up his playing spikes in 1967, Virgil started coaching for the Giants two years later. He served on the Giants’ staff for six seasons before joining the Expos as their third base coach under manager Karl Kuehl in 1976.

Virgil quickly became a favourite among Expos players and earned praise for his work from the third-base coaching box. On June 10, 1976, he waved catcher Barry Foote home for an inside-the-park home run in an Expos’ 6-5 win over the Giants at Candlestick Park.

“Give a lot of credit to Ozzie,” Foote told the Montreal Gazette after the game. “I don’t just mean on this play. He does an awful good job at getting runners home. Usually, at this time in the season, you could point to two or three mistakes that were made at third. We haven’t had any yet.”

When Kuehl was fired after the 1976 season and replaced by Dick Williams, Virgil was the only coach that was retained.

Though generally considered a supportive and quiet man, he was old school and sometimes shared blunt assessments of the Expos with the media. For example, in late August 1976 with the Expos mired in last place, Virgil was asked if the Expos should be active in the free agent market after the season.

“I hope they can get something,” Virgil told the Gazette. “It’s the only thing that can save this team. There isn’t one player anybody’s afraid to pitch to in our lineup. You can see it. Mediocre pitchers beat us all the time.”

Another key role Virgil had with the Expos was infield coach. One of the players he worked with extensively was third baseman Larry Parrish. Parrish struggled so badly with the Expos in 1977 that he thought a change of scenery would do him good and he asked for a trade. But the Expos sent him to play on Virgil’s winter ball team in Venezuela where Virgil worked his magic and Parrish later credited him for turning his career around.

“He [Virgil] knew my thinking was all messed up,” Parrish told the Montreal Gazette for their May 13, 1978 edition. “With about a month to go [in the 1977 regular season], he kept saying ‘come on with me, don’t worry, I’ll help you.’ I guess it was more or less his confidence that did it.”

Parrish became an All-Star in 1979 and evolved into one of the most respected team leaders in franchise history.

Prior to the 1978 season, Williams announced that Norm Sherry would take over as the club’s third base coach. But Virgil would continue to work with the infielders and as a bullpen coach. Virgil returned to coach third base for part of 1979 and in 1980 and 1981.

Joined Williams in San Diego

After the 1981 season, Virgil reunited with Williams, who had been hired to manage the San Diego Padres. He coached third base for the Padres for four seasons. He then moved on to the Seattle Mariners with Williams for three more years from 1986 to 1988.

Along the way, Virgil got to see his son, also named, Ozzie, develop into an All-Star catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

“My dad taught me a lot,” said Virgil Jr., in a Gazette article published on September 23, 1980. “He taught me how to play the game right. I used to follow him around, go into the clubhouse all the time when he played in San Francisco.”

After 1988, Virgil Sr. continued to coach in the Latin American leagues and work for the New York Mets as a catching instructor in the Dominican Summer League.

For blazing a trail for Dominican players in the big leagues and for his long and successful coaching career, Virgil was inducted into the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

“He means a lot,” Juan Soto said of Virgil in a 2023 interview. “He was the first Dominican coming to the big leagues and opened the doors for … not only Dominicans, for all Latin players.”