Former Phillie Tomas Perez Still Swinging Away Down in Venezuela

Former utilty infielder for the Phillies, Tomas Perez, is still playing professional baseball despite last appearing in a Major League Baseball game on April 21, 2008 with the Houston Astros. Turning 41 on Monday, Perez of the Caribes de Anzoategui Venezulan Winter League team, has 24 hits, seven doubles, one triple, one home run and five runs-batted-in with 90 at-bats this season.

On Tuesday, Perez played in all nine positions in his team's 4-3 victory. He finally got his wish, as back in 2002 Bob Brookover writes that Perez long-lobbied to manager Larry Bowa and general manager Ed Wade to accomplish such feat.

Having played 24 seasons of Venezuelen Winter League Baseball, Perez announced in October that this will be his last with the hopes of becoming a coach.

In six seasons with the Phils (504 games) from 2000 to 2005, Perez batted .249 with 20 home runs and 128 runs batted in. He was released by the Phillies on April 1, 2006 after they acquired outfielder David Dellucci from the Texas Rangers.

Tomas Perez is remembered in Philadelphia for being a reliable fielder, stepping-in for when the everyday starter needed a rest. The statistics below show that he had just 24 errors in 2,328 innings of work while wearing red pinstripes.

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld%
2000 PHI NL 26 SS 44 39 35 343.2 169 76 89 4 20 .976
2001 PHI NL 27 2B 29 14 11 148.0 85 36 49 0 11 1.000
2001 PHI NL 27 3B 9 7 7 66.0 32 13 18 1 2 .969
2001 PHI NL 27 SS 8 5 4 48.0 28 8 20 0 4 1.000
2001 PHI NL 27 OF 1 0 0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0  
2001 PHI NL 27 RF 1 0 0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0  
2002 PHI NL 28 2B 50 21 18 249.2 158 67 90 1 22 .994
2002 PHI NL 28 3B 14 9 8 95.2 33 5 25 3 0 .909
2002 PHI NL 28 SS 13 12 9 103.1 63 30 33 0 11 1.000
2002 PHI NL 28 1B 3 2 1 16.0 10 10 0 0 1 1.000
2002 PHI NL 28 P 1 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0  
2003 PHI NL 29 3B 58 36 32 387.1 129 37 86 6 12 .953
2003 PHI NL 29 2B 26 17 16 165.0 108 52 54 2 11 .981
2003 PHI NL 29 1B 9 3 3 37.0 38 35 3 0 5 1.000
2003 PHI NL 29 SS 4 4 4 34.0 12 4 7 1 3 .917
2004 PHI NL 30 3B 22 7 7 97.2 36 12 22 2 1 .944
2004 PHI NL 30 2B 17 11 9 108.1 58 26 32 0 7 1.000
2004 PHI NL 30 1B 10 6 4 56.0 56 49 5 2 4 .964
2004 PHI NL 30 SS 10 9 8 86.0 42 14 26 2 5 .952
2005 PHI NL 31 1B 24 15 12 146.0 158 148 10 0 17 1.000
2005 PHI NL 31 3B 15 7 7 73.0 28 11 17 0 2 1.000
2005 PHI NL 31 SS 14 5 5 61.0 20 8 12 0 2 1.000
 

Perez's biggest "claim to fame", however was when he threw shaving-cream pies in the faces of teammates being interviewed after games.

 
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is a contributor to Philliedelphia.com.
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