Born in Santo Domingo, DR Velázquez was the first Dominican catcher to play in the major leagues. He was signed originally to a minor-league contract in 1958 by San Francisco Giants scout Horacio Martínez, who had also signed Juan Marichal, Manny Mota and the three Alou brothers: Felipe, Matty and Jesús. He played just one season for the Giants organization in the same year, appearing in 102 games for the Class-D Panama City Fliers and was released by the Giants after the season.\n', '

Afterwards, Velázquez played only winterball in the Dominican League until he was signed by the Kansas City Athletics prior to the 1964 season. He stayed with the Atletics until 1968, playing mainly in A-ball, appearing in more than 100 games three times in those five years, but he batted fairly well and hit 43 home runs overall, including 16 homers in 1968.\n', 'The San Diego Padres acquired Velázquez in the winter of 1968, but he was officially with the organization for about two months before he was picked up by the expansion Pilots on December 2. While at Seattle, the 31-year-old rookie formed part of a five-catcher tandem and was used sparingly. \n', '

He later bounced around the minors, playing briefly in the Montreal Expos organization before joining the Braves. Velázquez stayed in the Atlanta minor-league system until their MLB catcher Johnny Oates was injured in 1973. Now in his age 35 season, Velázquez was brought up for his second cup of coffee in the majors. At the time, he was leading the Double-A Southern League in home runs (18) and runs batted in (64) prior to his promotion. But he excelled in limited opportunities with the Braves, with a .348 batting average (8-for-23) in 15 games. \n', '

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