Dan Monzon

Daniel Francisco Monzon (May 17, 1946 – January 21, 1996) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and scout. A third baseman, primarily in minor league baseball, he appeared in 94 games for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball in 1972–1973. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).

A native of Bronx, New York, Monzon graduated from James Monroe High School in 1964 and attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa. He was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the secondary phase of the June 1967 Major League Baseball draft, and enjoyed his finest professional season that year with the Short Season-A Auburn Twins, leading the New York-Penn League in runs scored, total bases, and triples, tying for the lead in runs batted in, and finishing second in batting average (.338).

Monzon also enjoyed stellar seasons in the Double-A Southern League and Triple-A Pacific Coast League, but his two seasons with the MLB Twins saw him play a utility role, appearing at second and third base, shortstop, and in the outfield. He batted .244 with no home runs and nine RBI in 131 at bats, and returned to the minor leagues in 1974.

Monzon's managing career began in 1978 in the New York Mets organization, where he directed teams at the Class A and Short Season-A levels from 1978 to 1982. He then became a scout, based in Florida and covering Latin America for the Mets, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox. In 1995, he was named supervisor of Latin American scouting by the Boston Red Sox, but in his second year in that job, he was fatally injured in an automobile accident in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the age of 49.

1. ^ Howe News Bureauy, New York Mets 1982 Organization Book. St. Petersburg, FL: The Baseball Library, 1982
2. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/monzoda01.shtml
3. ^ The Boston Globe, January 22, 1996