Bartolo Colón is a Dominican American Baseball player who mostly plays as a free agent for various leagues within the States. He has played for several famous professional American baseball teams such as the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Minnesota Twins amongst many others. He has several records and prestigious awards to his credit, the most noteworthy among them being American League Cy Young Award in 2005. As on 2017, Colón is the oldest Major League Baseball player at 44 years of age. Born in a poor family in the Dominican Republic, Colón had to overcome his early years of struggle and adversity to become one of the most recognized faces of American Baseball.
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PERSONAL LIFE:
Bartolo Colón was born and raised in the tiny hamlet of Altamira n the Dominican Republic. His village consisted of only 3000 people and faced many adversities, especially poverty. Colón used to work with his father in coffee farms, since he was 9 years old. He later stated that working in the farms for long hours gave him the necessary physical endurance to play a sport like baseball. Colón was taught baseball by his father and they used a ball made of rags wound tight together, as they could not afford to buy a ball.
Colón is married to Rosanna, his childhood friend whom he had known since he was 13 years of age and has four sons from the marriage- , Bartolo Jr., Emilio, Wilder, and Randy. Colón, along with his wife and family live in Clifton, New Jersey. In 2015, Colón was dragged into a controversy by a woman claiming to have borne children fathered by Colón and she sued him to obtain child support. Apart from playing professional baseball, Colón has indulged in a lot of charity activities focused towards development of his community.
CAREER:
Colón was first spotted by a bird dog baseball scout and was hired to play as a free agent for Cleveland Indians. However, Colón lied about his age, which landed him in trouble. Even though he was legally old enough to be signed, the teams refused to do so, fearing legal ramifications. He later stated that the period of lull was the most tormenting in his life. Eventually, he got his big break when the Cleveland Indians signed him for the second time in 1993.
Since then, his career has been on an upward slope. He has several firsts to his credit throughout his 20 year baseball career. In 1997, when playing with the Buffalo Bisons in 1997, he became the first and the only player in the team’s history to throw a no-hitter at the Coca Cola Field. On May 7th 2016, while playing against the San Fransico Padres, Colón hit his first major league home run, at the age of42,Colón set a new record by becoming the oldest player to hit his first home run.
Throughout his career he has played as a free agent associating with innumerable teams. As on 2017, he was signed to play for The Minnesota twins. For his strikingly large physique combined with unique pitching style, he has been nicknamed Big Sexy by his fans. Colón also plans to trademark his nickname and start an apparel brand.
Last Modified: Mar 7, 2020
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