The Houston Astros only had this player on their roster for one year, but before he landed in Houston, he blazed a trail for his countrymen.
Mantilla, who played five different positions, played his final Major League season with the Astros in 1966.
But, as he started his MLB career, he was a trailblazer for his native Puerto Rico. He was one of the first Puerto Rican players to reach the Majors when he broke through and made his debut in 1956.
He is also known for being the player to break up Harvey Haddix’s bid for a perfect game on May 26, 1959. The Pirates hurler took the perfect game into the 13th inning before Mantilla hit a ground ball and reached on an error.
He landed in Houston before the 1966 season in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, where he was coming off his only All-Star Game nod and a 29th place finish in MVP voting.
With the Astros he slashed .219/.279/.371/.650 with six home runs and 22 RBI. Houston released him after the season, and he signed with the Chicago Cubs. But his Major League career ended after he suffered an Achilles injury. He did play another year of minor league baseball in 1968.
Born in Isabella, Puerto Rico, in 1934, he came to the U.S. in 1953 after signing with the Milwaukee Braves. He played alongside future Baseball Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron in the minor leagues with Jacksonville, which at the time was just one of two integrated teams in the south.
Aaron and Mantilla were roommates and, while Aaron got to Milwaukee before he did, the pair helped the Braves win the 1957 World Series. That season he slashed .236/.296/.363/.659 with four home runs and 21 RBI.
He spent his first six Major League seasons with the Braves before he was left exposed in the 1962 expansion draft and was selected by the New York Mets, managed by the legendary Casey Stengel.
The Mets were one of the worst teams in baseball history that year, but Mantilla had one of his best seasons at the plate, as he slashed .275/.330/.399/.729 with 11 home runs and 59 RBI.
He moved on to Boston from 1963-65, where his bat found some power. In 1964 he set career highs of 30 home runs and 64 RBI, with a slash line of .289/.357/.553/.910.
That paved the way for his All-Star season the following year, as he slashed .275/.374/.416/.790 with 18 home runs and a new career high with 92 RBI.
He played nearly 1,000 MLB games and finished with a slash line of .261/.329/.403/.732 with 89 home runs and 330 RBI.
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