Rafael Santana
From The Met Wiki
Rafael Santana was a shortstop for the Mets during their successful period of the 1980s. From 1984 to 1987, Santana played in 483 games and had 376 hits.
After 30 games with the Cardinals in 1983, Rafael played in 51 games with the Mets in '84. He began the year in the minor leagues and was called up to the parent club in July. Rafael had four singles in the Mets' 3-1 win over the Pirates at Shea Stadium on August 11. He hit his first major league home run off Jerry Koosman in a 7-1 win over the Phillies on September 26 at Shea. Santana hit .276 for the season.
In 1985, Rafael became the Mets' regular shortstop. He hit .257 in 154 games played and had a career-high 136 hits. On April 17, Santana hit a double and his only home run of the season in the Mets' 10-6 win at Pittsburgh. He drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single for a 3-2 Mets victory at Houston on July 12. Rafael's run-scoring single put the Mets ahead to stay in Dwight Gooden's 16-strikeout game against the Giants on August 20. He also got a run-scoring double with two out to keep the first inning going for Gooden to hit his first major league home run in a 12-1 Mets triumph over the Pirates on September 21 at Shea.
In the Mets' 1986 World Championship season, Rafael's batting average fell to .218 for the year. In a game against the Giants on May 30, he hit an infield pop-up in the 10th inning that was dropped, allowing Kevin Mitchell to score the winning run. His only homer of the season came off the Padres' Dave Dravecky in an 11-6 win on August 26. In the post-season, Santana played in all 13 of the Mets' games and collected 8 hits, including a run-scoring single in Game 7 of the World Series against the Red Sox.
Rafael set career highs with 21 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs and 44 RBIs in 1987. His first homer of the season was for three runs in the Mets 9-6 win at Pittsburgh on April 21. Santana's two triples were for two runs each on June 14 (at Pittsburgh) and August 31 (at San Diego) in Met victories. On July 2, Rafael had a single, two doubles and two RBIs in the Mets' 5-0 win at Cincinnati.
Following the '87 season, Santana was traded to the Yankees in a five-player deal. On April 5, 1988 he hit into a triple play in his first game with the Yanks. Rafael played the entire '88 season with the Yankees and, after a year back in the minors, finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1990.
