Major League Baseball Player. He was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent in 1979. Playing in the homer friendly Kingdome was to his liking, as the injury-prone Calderon made a run at the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year honors. He unfortunately hurt his hand in August, and tailed off dramatically. A below-average defensive player, he was sent by Seattle to the White Sox for catcher Scott Bradley in June of 1986. In 1987 he hit a career high of 28 homers, many of them tape-measure variety, leading Chicago in ten offensive categories. The 1988 season proved to be disappointing, plague by injury. Already marred by a ribcage pull, his season was over by July as he underwent shoulder surgery. After that his power numbers dropped off over the next few seasons, although he still was a valuable member of the Sox. He was traded to Montreal in December 1990 as part of the deal that brought Tim Raines to Chicago. In 1991, he had one of his overall finest seasons, batting .300 with 19 home runs, 75 RBIs and 31 steals in 134 games. After one more season in Montreal, he was traded to Boston in exchange for Mike Gardiner and Terry Powers on December 8, 1992. He was released by Boston on August 17, and resigned with Chicago, playing out the rest of the year with them. He finished his career with a .272 lifetime average with 104 homers and 444 RBI's. On December 27th, 2003 he entered a store in his hometown of Loiza, Puerto Rico. Two people entered and, without a word, shot the former outfielder multiple times in the back. He was only 41 years old.
Major League Baseball Player. He was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent in 1979. Playing in the homer friendly Kingdome was to his liking, as the injury-prone Calderon made a run at the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year honors. He unfortunately hurt his hand in August, and tailed off dramatically. A below-average defensive player, he was sent by Seattle to the White Sox for catcher Scott Bradley in June of 1986. In 1987 he hit a career high of 28 homers, many of them tape-measure variety, leading Chicago in ten offensive categories. The 1988 season proved to be disappointing, plague by injury. Already marred by a ribcage pull, his season was over by July as he underwent shoulder surgery. After that his power numbers dropped off over the next few seasons, although he still was a valuable member of the Sox. He was traded to Montreal in December 1990 as part of the deal that brought Tim Raines to Chicago. In 1991, he had one of his overall finest seasons, batting .300 with 19 home runs, 75 RBIs and 31 steals in 134 games. After one more season in Montreal, he was traded to Boston in exchange for Mike Gardiner and Terry Powers on December 8, 1992. He was released by Boston on August 17, and resigned with Chicago, playing out the rest of the year with them. He finished his career with a .272 lifetime average with 104 homers and 444 RBI's. On December 27th, 2003 he entered a store in his hometown of Loiza, Puerto Rico. Two people entered and, without a word, shot the former outfielder multiple times in the back. He was only 41 years old.
Bio by: Frank Russo
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