| Camilo Carreón | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born:(1937-08-06)August 6, 1937 Colton, California, U.S. | |
| Died: September 2, 1987(1987-09-02) (aged 50) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 27, 1959, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| June 8, 1966, for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .264 |
| Home runs | 11 |
| Runs batted in | 114 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| |
Camilo Carreón (August 6, 1937 – September 2, 1987) was an American professionalbaseball player. Thecatcher appeared in 354games over all or parts of eightMajor League Baseball seasons between1959 and1966 for theChicago White Sox,Cleveland Indians andBaltimore Orioles. His sonMark was also a major league player. Born inColton, California, Camilo Carreón threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg).
Signed by the White Sox in 1956, Carreón rose steadily through theirfarm system,hitting over .300 at three different levels, including .311 in 1959 withIndianapolis in theTriple-AAmerican Association, with 165hits and 91runs batted in. He was named the Association's All-Star catcher. Carreón made his major league debut on September 27, 1959, the closing day of Chicago'spennant-winningseason. He hit afly ballout againstPete Burnside of theDetroit Tigers in his onlyat bat. He was late reporting toSarasota, Florida, forspring training in 1960 because of service in theU.S. Army,[1] then spent the bulk of the1960 campaign back in Triple-A, this time withSan Diego of thePacific Coast League,[2] and hit .279 in 109 games. He then received his second consecutive September call-up, batting .235 in eight games, including seven starts as catcher.
Carreón made the White Sox for good in1961, getting into 78 games, with 63 starts at catcher in relief of 37-year-old veteran starSherm Lollar. He hit a two-run single offWhitey Ford to giveJuan Pizarro a 2–1 victory over theNew York Yankees on August 15, 1961. The second-inning hit enabled the White Sox to break Ford's 14-game winning streak.[3] Overall, he hit .271 in his first full MLB season. The next year,1962, he supplanted Lollar as the White Sox' regular catcher, starting 85 games and hitting .256. His best big-league season came in1963, when he played in 101 games and hit .274, starting 81 games behind the plate. It was his last full and healthy season in the majors.
The White Sox placed Carreón on the disabled list on July 3, 1964, after he tore tendons in his right arm.[4] During the 1964–65 offseason, Chicago traded him to the Cleveland Indians as part of a blockbuster three-way trade involving theKansas City Athletics that also includedRocky Colavito,Tommy John andTommie Agee. Going into the1965 campaign, Carreón was listed as theIndians' second-string catcher, behindJoe Azcue.[5] But he played only 19 games with the Tribe, spent 45 games back in Triple-A withPortland of the Pacific Coast League, and was one of five players assigned outright to Portland in October 1965.[6] Carreón was traded from the Indians to theOrioles forLou Piniella and $25,000 on 10 March 1966.[7] The Orioles were en route to their first-everAmerican League pennant that season, but Carreón got into only four games for Baltimore (his last on June 8, when he hit adouble in his final MLB at bat), and spent the latter half of the year with Triple-ARochester. He played two more minor league seasons before retiring from baseball.
As a major leaguer, Carreón collected 260 hits, including 43 doubles, fourtriples, and 11home runs, with 114 runs batted in. He batted .264 lifetime. Defensively, he recorded a .993fielding percentage as a catcher, committing only 13 errors in 1,776total chances. He died inTucson, Arizona, at the age of 50, and is buried in theHermosa Memorial Cemetery in Colton.[8]
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