Born in Caracas, Chacón was listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg). He threw and batted right-handed. Chacón hit .265 as a reserve second baseman with the 1961 NL champion Cincinnati Reds, starting 34 games during the season. In Game 2 of the 1961 World Series, Chacón hit a key bloop single against New York Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry, and scored the winning run in the Reds\' only victory in the series.\n', '

Immediately after the World Series, on October 10, the 1961 MLB expansion draft to stock the newborn Houston Colt .45s and New York Mets was conducted in Cincinnati. After he was selected by New York with the fourth overall pick during the draft\'s regular phase, Chacón was the Mets\' first candidate for the 1962 starting shortstop job. In May 28 game, Chacón got into a fight with Willie Mays. Chacón was ejected from the game.\n', '

During the 1962 season, New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and Chacón frequently found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into the 160-pound Chacón, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "¡Yo la tengo! ¡Yo la tengo!" which is "I\'ve got it" in Spanish. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by 200-pound left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "¡Yo la tengo!" as a way to avoid outfield collisions. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, "What the hell is a Yellow Tango?". The band, Yo La Tengo, gets its name from this baseball anecdote.[citation needed]\n', '

Return to Elio Chacon Autograph Profile