Jose Oquendo: Early Eighties Mets Infielder & Long Time Cardinals Coach (1983 - 1984)

Jose Manuel (Contreras) Oquendo was born on July 4th, 1963, in Puerto Rico. The five foot, ten switch hitter was signed by the New York Mets in 1979 at the age of 16. 

Jose wasn’t known for his hitting, but more for his glove although he did make a number of errors in the minor leagues. After two years at A ball Lynchburg, he was the AAA Tidewater Tides main short stop. 

Mets Debut: In May 1983, at age 19 Oquendo was up in the big leagues debuting for the Mets. In his first game he went 0-1 in a 3-2 loss to Houston at Shea Stadium.

He soon won over the regular shortstop job over Ron Gardenhire, playing in 116 games at the position that season. In his early days with the Mets, he was strictly a short stop before becoming the versatile all-round position player he would become in St. Louis. 

with former Met Felix Millan

Multi-RBI Games: On May 14th, he had his first multi-RBI game driving in two runs in a win at Pittsburgh. In his next game he drove in three runs with RBI hits in an 11-4 win over the Pirates.

On August 21st he hit his first career HR, coming off the Giants Gary Lavelle at Candlestick Park in a 4-3 Met win. It would be his only Mets career HR in 507 at bats. 

That season in 1220 games, Jose batted .213 with 7 doubles & 17 RBIs while stealing eight bases. At short stop he made 21 errors posting a .960 fielding percentage while turning 65 double plays.

1984: The following year as the Mets became a better team, he lost his starting job to Rafael Santana. Ron Gardenhire took over the backup role with Oquendo dropping down to a third string shortstop & utility player.

From June 9th to June 16th, in a six-game span Oquendo drove in seven runs while batting .286 in that time. The Mets won all of those games. He spent most of July & August at AAA Tidewater batting .159 in 38 games returning to the Mets in late August.

In 81 games in the 1984 season, he hit .222 with five doubles 10 RBIs & 10 stolen bases. 

In the off season, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a minor leaguers Angel Salazar & John Young. That was also the time when the Mets / Cardinals bitter rivalry started to heat up into the late eighties.

Post Mets Career: In 1985, he spent the season at AAA Louisville, working at playing other positions. In 1986 when he returned to St. Louis, he began to draw more walks and get higher on base percentages as well. In 76 games, he hit .297 with a .359 on base %. 

1987 St. Louis Championship Season: By this time, he was becoming manager Whitey Herzog's ultimate utility player & labeled his "secret weapon" by legendary Cardinal broadcaster Jack Buck. Oquendo hit .286 with a .408 on base percentage playing outfield (46 games) second base (32 games) short stop (23 games) & third base (8 games). 

1987 Post Season: In the NLCS win over the San Francisco Giants, Oquendo played in five games getting with two hits (2-12),

In the final Game #7 he hit a three run HR off Atlee Hammaker in the 6-0 win at Busch Stadium.

1987 World Series: In the World Series loss to the Minnesota Twins, he hit safely in five straight games going 6-24 batting .250 with two runs scored & two RBIs.

Pitching: In 1988 he became the first MLB player since 1918 to play all nine positions in one season. Oquendo had first pitched in a game the previous season, allowing three runs to the Phillies in a 15-5 loss. 

On May 14th, 1988, he pitched four innings, walking six batters while serving up two runs taking the loss in a 7-5, 16 inning game against the Braves. He would make one more appearance in 1991, giving up three runs in a loss at Atlanta.

In 1989 Oquendo led the league in games played (163) while batting .291 driving in 48 runs with a career high 28 doubles, 79 walks & a .375 on base %. His average fell off over the next few seasons as the Cardinals fell out of contention. He played with the Cardinals thru 1995, spending ten years there as a player in 989 games.

Career Stats: In a 12-year career, he batted .256 with 821 hits 339 runs scored 104 doubles 24 triples 14 HRs & 254 RBIs. He stole 35 bases, struck out 376 times with 448 walks, a .346 on base % & .663 OPS.

Defensively, he played all nine positions: second base (649 games) short stop (364 games) outfield (63 games) third base (58 games) first base (23 games) pitcher (3 games) & one game at catcher.

Retirement & Coaching Career: In 1998 Oquendo managed in the New York Penn. League with the New Jersey Cardinals. 

In 1999 he became a coach for the St. Louis Cardinals under Tony LaRussa. Staring in 2000 he was the team's third base coach through the 2015 season. 

In that time, he saw the Cards make 11 post season appearances with four NL Pennants & two Championships.

In 2017 he was special assistant to the Cardinal GM. In 2019 he was back as third base coach then became the teams Minor League infield co-ordinator.

Honors: In 2023 he was elected to the Cardinals team Hall of Fame.

Family: Jose & his wife Zenaida have four children. They live in Stuart Florida.

Trivia: In 2004 ESPN’s “THE Cheap Seats” went on a quest to get him inducted to the Hall of Fame as the ultimate utility player, but eventually a plaque was placed in his honor in the ESPN utility closet.