Player Profile: Carlos Baerga

I have 99 cards of Carlos Baerga. This one is from 1992 Leaf.

Playing career: In the early 1990s Carlos Baerga was one of the best second basemen in baseball, making three All-Star teams and hitting over .300 for four straight seasons. He was traded to the Mets in a huge blockbuster trade in 1996, and injuries and a partying lifestyle caught up to him, and he was just an average player at best with the Mets. He later cleaned up his act and returned to the major leagues in the early 00s, hitting .343 in 207 at-bats for Arizona in 2003. He ended his career with the Washington Nationals in 2005.

Where he is now: Baerga credits his turnaround from his hard-partying ways to finding God after a conversation with Julio Franco. He now owns a gospel music production company called Carlos Baerga Productions. He is also the spokesman to the Hispanic community for 1-800-GOT-MOLD?, because of his own children’s experience with mold-induced asthma.

Interesting facts: Curious about the house with the mold problem? John Rivera-Resto, the artist who was hired by the Baergas to decorate their new home in Westlake, OH in the early 1990s has posted some pictures of their home on his website, as well as his “allegorical portrait” of a contemplative Carlos Baerga sitting on a Turkish divan covered in animal skins. The same artist also painted a portrait for Omar Vizquel that featured him in his Indians uniform, but with a bird pooping on his hat to symbolize the artist’s dislike of the Indians’ racist logo.

More recently, Baerga endorsed former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential primary. No word at this time if he will endorse Mitt Romney in the general election.

My memories: I remember Baerga killing the Yankees, most prominently becoming the first player to hit home runs from both side of the plate in the same inning. I remember hearing about that huge trade with the Mets – I saw it on SportsCenter, I used to watch that on weekday mornings in college before I would go to classes. Later on I got a pack of baseball cards in 2005 that had a card of Baerga in an Arizona uniform – I was surprised that he was even still in baseball.

Google Autocomplete results: He is fourth when you type Carlos Ba, between Carlos Bakery Prices, referring to a bakery in Hoboken, NJ, and Carlos Baute, a Venezuelan singer. There do not appear to be any other prominent Carlos Baergas.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Danys Baez.