Wednesday, August 11, 2010

National Success- Francisco Melendez

I was able to pick up this autograph from the same dealer who had the Drungo Hazewood auto that I blogged about on Monday.  Francisco "Terin" Melendez played in 9 games for the Orioles during the '89 season and he went 3-11 with a run and 3 RBI.  That was the end of his MLB career, but he had also spent time with the Phillies and Giants over his 5 seasons in the Majors.  He played in only 74 games over that that time, led by the 23 games he played for the Giants in 1988. He came to the O's from the Giants for Ken Gerhart between the '88 & '89 seasons. 

If any of my readers know Spanish better than I do, they might be able to help me figure out his nickname.  I couldn't track down the definition of Terin, and am interested to see what it means, but I'm guessing that it's slang of some sort. Francisco stayed involved with baseball after his playing days were over and supposedly was coaching a team in his native Puerto Rico, at least through 2008.  He's a pretty tough autograph to track down, especially considering this Crown card is his only O's card.  There is no confirmed address or successes for him on SCN.

3 comments:

Ricky said...

He was nicknamed "Terín" after former MLB pitcher Juan "Terín" Pizarro because of their physical resemblance.

Ricky said...

As far as I know he is working at the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. (where Carlos Correa graduated from)

Orioles Magic said...

Ricky, thanks for the updates on "Terin"!