Roberto Alomar has been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted in July with pitcher Burt Blyleven. Players are no longer allowed to choose which team they represent on their induction plaque but it will most likely be the Toronto Blue Jays cap Alomar will be wearing. His most productive years came with the Blue Jays and that is how he is most often remembered.

Many people may not remember that Alomar began his career as a San Diego Padre. He and his brother, Sandy Jr, were free agent signees as teenagers out of Puerto Rico. Sandy was signed in 1983 and Robbie in 1985, at the age of 17.  Their father, 15 yr Major League veteran Sandy Sr, was a coach in the Padres system.

Robbie began his professional career in the California League in 1986 and finished that season with the league batting title. He boasted a .346 average in that first year playing in the Padres minor league system. Moving quickly up the ranks, Alomar made his major league debut on April 22, 1988.

He singled off Nolan Ryan in his first at bat.

During his first season with the Padres he had 545 at bats with 9 HR, 41 RBI and 24 stolen bases. His .266/.328/.382 line tells only part of the story. Defensively he was a revelation. From the first, Alomar flashed amazing range to both his right and left as well as a power arm. His base running skills were also obvious from the first

In his second season with the Padres, Alomar improved his RBI’s to 56 and his stolen base total to 42. His line climbed to .295/.347/.376 and people really began to take notice. During this season the Alomar brothers played together and their father coached 3^rd base for the Padres in the same season. Sandy Jr was the regular catcher for the Padres during the ’89 season.

The ’89 Padres finished 2^nd with an 89-73 record and boasted a lineup that included Garry Templeton as Robbie’s double play partner, fan favorite Tim Flannery as utility man, John Kruk and current Padre batting coach Randy Ready (traded during the season) and Mr Padre, Tony Gwynn.

For the 1990 season Robbie Alomar upped his RBI total to 60 with 27 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs, 24 stolen bases and a final line of .287/.340/.381. The word was really out on his talents and, at the age of 22, he was voted onto his first All Star team (the first of 12 in a row).

During the ’89 and ’90 seasons the Padres employed Jack Clark at 1B. The conflict between Clark and Tony Gwynn forced a decision at the end of the 1990 season and Clark was the one to go. As a result, the Padres traded Robbie Alomar, along with OF Joe Carter, to the Toronto Blue Jays for 1B Fred McGriff and SS Tony Fernandez. This was the first move made by new owner Tom Werner and his group after their purchase of the team from Joan Kroc.

Alomar went on to win the most Gold Gloves of any other major league second baseman (10), the Silver Slugger award four times, was named the AL MVP  seven times and played on  two World Series Championship teams (’92, ’93 Blue Jays).

He finished his career in 2004 with career averages of .300/.371/.443. For his three seasons with the Padres he averaged .283/.339/.379.

A true 5 tool player, Alomar possessed power from both sides of the plate as a switch hitter, had tremendous defensive skills, a strong throwing arm, the ability to steal bases (474 career steals, .806 percentage) and finished his career with 2.724 hits.

The only blemish to his stellar record was the 1996 incident involving Umpire John Hershbeck following a called third strike in which Alomar lost his cool to the point of spitting on the umpire, claiming a racial slur had occurred during their argument. The incident was resolved to the satisfaction of both parties and they have since worked together raising money for charitable causes.

Robbie Alomar qualified for the Hall of Fame ballot last year but many believe he was forced to wait a year for his induction due to many baseball writers still being upset regarding the spitting episode. But there was never any doubt he would be inducted and will go in as only the third Puerto Rican selected (Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Clemente are the others). He was voted in with the third highest percentage in Hall of Fame history (90%) with 523 of 581 ballots.

For those of us who saw Robbie play second base for the Padres, he will be remembered for his spectacular defense and base running skills. It was clear from the first he would be a special player.