Mourning on the ball for the death of the former major champion Cuqui Mangual

The former outfielder of the major baseball league, the Puerto Rican Angel “Cuqui” Mangual, passed away today, Tuesday morning, leaving a short but productive career in the best baseball in the world and a family with a sports pedigree, said his daughter Nilda.

He died at the age of 73 at San Lucas de Ponce Hospital. Survived by his wife Nilda and his sons Walter, Rita, Nilda, Nilmarie, Ángel Luis and Julio. He was also the father of Carlos, who had previously died.

“It’s sad, but my father lived proud of the La Cuarta neighborhood, of a united and athletic family. Mommy (Nilda) was always with him and her neighbors in the Las Delicias urbanization followed her. Daddy was a great human being with a great heart. He liked to help people and was proud of everything he could achieve as a player “, said his daughter Nilda.

He is survived by five brothers, including national player Miguel Mangual, national obstacle Iván ‘Palito’ Mangual and former Major League player José ‘Pepe’ MangualNilda reported. He is also survived by Rosa and Ivonne.

It was a family with a first-class sports pedigree.

“There aren’t many families like that,” said baseball historian Jossie Alvarado.

Born and raised in the La Cuarta neighborhood between Ponce and Juana Díaz, Mangual played in the major leagues in the 1970s with Oakland Athletics and won three World Series titles with the team. In the 1972 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Mangual was 3-for-10 with an RBI and played a major role in the seventh decisive game of that series.

“Even though he didn’t play for many years and wasn’t a regular in Oakland, at crucial times, not only in the regular season, but also in the postseason, he played a major role. He was one of the players that manager Dick Williams called to do the job, “Alvarado described.

At the age of 22, Outfield made his major league debut in 1969 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Roberto Clemente Yes Jose Pagan. In that team, the outfielders were Clemente, Matthew Alou Yes Willie Stargell.

“He (Mangual) once told me that when the Pirates called him, the one who went to look for him at the airport was Clemente, who took him to a store to buy the costumes he was going to wear and he even lent them a car, “Alvarado said.

It was signed by the Pirates in 1966 through the legendary Francisco “Pancho” Coimbre, who was listening to the team at the time, said historian Jorge Colón Delgado. In fact, Mangual received the Pancho Coimbre 2021 award two weeks ago from a museum in Ponce named after the legendary player, added Colón Delgado.

The Pirates traded Mangual to Oakland in 1970, starting with three Oakland titles there between 1972 and 1974, along with players such as Reggie Jackson, Berto Campaneris Yes Rollie Fingers.

In 1971 he took third place in the vote for the debutante of the year. The prize was won Chris Chamblis with the Cleveland Indians.

Mangual played 91 games for the 1972 athletics champion. He hit .246 with five home rounds and 32 RBIs and 19 marked routes. He stole 14 bases.

In the 1972 World Series, in which he beat 10-3, Mangual scored the first round of the seventh decisive game that was eventually won 3-2 by Oakland over Cincinnati. Mangual started that game as the second bat and center player.

Perhaps with the arrival of the designated striker in 1973, Mangual saw action in just 74 games with Athletics that year, although he consumed 15 bats between the Championship Series, defeated the Baltimore Orioles and the World Series in which they defeated Puerto Rican New York Mets Felix Millán.

However, in 1974, Mangual saw action in 115 games for Athletics. But in the postseason he consumed five bats.

His last season was in 1976 with Athletics.

“In addition to the three World Series titles, he also won five Western Division titles with Oakland between 1971 and 1975,” Alvarado added.

In total, Mangual saw action in seven seasons. In all three World Series titles, he faced classic teams such as the Cincinnati Red Machine, which eventually had the Hall of Famers as. Johnny Bench, Tany Perez, Joe Morgan, beside Pete Rose. He also faced Baltimore Orioles with star starters as well Jim Palmer Yes Mike Cuellar.

He saw action in 405 games, consuming 1,318 bat-bats, scoring 122 runs and leading in 125. He hit 22 home runs and hit .245.

He also played professional ball in Puerto Rico and Mexico. With Lobos de Arecibo he was the leader in triples (7) in the 1970-71 season, according to the statistics page Baseball101.com.