Felix Maldonado spent 50 years as player, scout, more
A Boston-area newspaper checked in on the Red Sox in spring training 1975, speaking with scout Felix Maldonado about a new 17-year-old Maldonado had signed named Juan Agosto.
Maldonado thought Agosto had a bright future, The Quincy Patriot Ledger wrote.
"He reminds me of (Red Sox pitcher) Roger Moret at the same age," Maldonado told The Patriot Ledger.
Agosto did have a bright future. He went on to see 13 seasons in the majors.
Maldonado had a bright one, too. Maldonado turned Red Sox scout after 12 seasons playing in the minors. He then went on to continue with the Red Sox organization as a scout, manager and player development consultant over the next 35 years.
His contributions to the club became so numerous that they named a practice field at their spring training complex for him, Felix Maldonado Field.
Maldonado's long career in baseball began in 1959, signed by the Giants as a free agent out of his native Puerto Rico.
Maldonado started his playing career with the Giants at Class C St. Cloud. He made it to AA El Paso in 1962, then moved to the Red Sox mid-1963. He played that year and the next at AAA Seattle.
He continued playing with the Red Sox in the minors into 1970, when he turned scout.
Maldonado is credited with scouting for Boston through at least 1988. By 1990, he was managing for the Red Sox in the rookie Gulf Coast League.
For 1992, he managed at high-A Winter Haven. He spoke to The Tampa Tribune that July about his long tenure with the Red Sox.
"I am loyal to the Red Sox because they have been loyal to me," Maldonado told The Tribune. "This is what I like to do. I have played or coached for so long that I feel like I know the game just as much as anyone. It's rewarding working with the young guys."
By 2003, Maldonado served as a Red Sox player development consultant. In 2007, the Red Sox named the field at their spring training facility for Maldonado.
"Every day when I come in here and see the sign, I just say it's a thrill for me when they put that sign there," Maldonado told The Fort Myers News Press in March 2008.
Maldonado passed away in June 2010 at the age of 72.
- Quincy Patriot Ledger, March 19, 1975: Darrell's Difficult Pitching Plans
- Tampa Tribune, July 29, 1992: Sox's Maldonado travels full circle at Chain O'Lakes
- Fort Myers News-Press, March 16, 2008: Sox's man of diversity
Made the Majors:1,482-31.6%
Never Made Majors:3,209-68.4%-X