Happy Cinco de Mayo

In honor of Cinco de Mayo Saturday, let’s take a look at Mexican-born players in Yankees history. There have been an even dozen – six position players and six pitchers – over the years, beginning with shortstop Ruben Amaro (1966-68) through to another infielder, Ramiro Pena (2009-11), the only Mexican player currently on the Yanks’ 40-man roster and playing shortstop at Triple A Empire State.

Other position players were third basemen Celerino Sanchez (1972-73) and Aurelio Rodriguez (1980-81), infielder Carlos Rodriguez (1991) and outfielder Karim Garcia (2002-03), who is the leading hitter among Mexican-born Yankees with a .301 average and 6 home runs in 156 at-bats.

Alfredo Aceves, now with the Red Sox, compiled a 14-1 record from 2008-10 with the Yankees, the biggest winner among Mexican-born pitchers, a list that also features Alfonso Pulido (1986), Juan Acevedo (2003), Antonio Osuna (2003), Esteban Loaiza (2004) and Luis Ayala (2011).