Milciades Olivo

Milciades "Mike" Olivo (December 8, 1944 - April 14, 2011) was a Dominican pitcher for the Tigres del Licey team in the Dominican Professional Baseball League from 1963 to 1975.^[1] He also pitched in the American minor leagues in the Cardinals and A's systems from 1964 to 1971, and in the Yankees chain in 1975 - without ever breaking into the major leagues.

Career

Born in Guayubin, Dominican Republic, he was the nephew of Chi-Chi and Diomedes Olivo, who both pitched in the Major Leagues in the 1960's, and likewise had been star pitchers for the Tigres del Licey team. (His cousin was Gilberto Rondón, who would also pitch in the majors.) His most notable pitching achievement occurred on December 23, 1963; Olivo, just nineteen, outdueled future Hall-of-Famer Juan Marichal in a twelve-inning, 1-0 game at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.^[2] (Marichal, pitching for the host team, the Leones del Escogido, had just enjoyed a 25-8 season with the San Francisco Giants.) He was 27-35 in his Dominican baseball career, with a 3.29 earned run average.

Olivo signed with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League for 1964, and was dealt to the Kansas City Athletics of the American League after one year of Class A ball. His best season in the A's system was 1967, when he went 13-7 with a fine 2.66 ERA in 25 starts with the Birmingham A's in the Double-A Southern League. He got as high as Triple-A Iowa, where he pitched for three seasons (1969-1971), before returning to the Dominican Republic. He returned to American ball in 1975, pitching in four games for the New York Yankees farm team in West Haven, Connecticut. In his minor league career, he logged a 57-80 won-loss record with a 2.86 ERA. He also played in the Mexican League from 1972 to 1976 posting a 29-35 win-loss record with a 3.89 ERA.^[3] He retired from the Dominican League after the 1975-1976 baseball season to become Licey's pitching coach, where he remained for over twenty years.^[4]

Death

Milciades Olivo died on April 14, 2011, in Santo Domingo, of a heart attack.

References

1. ^ http://www.almomento.net/news/130/ARTICLE/85469/2011-04-19.html
2. ^ http://www.listindiario.com/el-deporte/2011/4/19/185272/Milciades-Olivo-fallecio-el-pasado-viernes
3. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=olivo-001mil
4. ^ http://www.hoy.com.do/deportes/2011/4/18/372084/Gran-pesar-trae-la-muerte-de-Milciades-Olivo

External links

• Mike Olivo at the Baseball Almanac

Persondata
Name	Olivo, Milciades
Alternative names	Olivo, Mike
Short description
Date of birth	December 8, 1944
Place of birth	Guayubin, Dominican Republic
Date of death	April 14, 2011
Place of death	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic