Julian Javier

Julian became a well known baseball phenomenon in his home town of San Francisco de Macoris. As an amateur, he was a third baseman as well as a power hitter. It is legend that he has hit the longest home runs in the high school stadiums of San Francisco de Macoris to this date. He went on to represent the Dominican Republic in the 1955 Pan American Games, although he did not see much playing time, the team went on to win the first gold medal for the Dominican Republic at a Pan American Games. That team also had another future all-star major leaguer Felipe Alou.\n', ' The right-handed batting Javier signed as an amateur free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956. Coming up through the minor leagues, Javier became known as "the fastest man in baseball." He batted .250 with twenty home runs in five years in their farm system, and had emerged as one of their top prospects when he was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals on May 27, 1960 with a pitcher to be named later for Vinegar Bend Mizell and Dick Gray. The next day, he would make his major league debut starting at second base for the Cards against the San Francisco Giants. He would solidify the position for the next twelve seasons, and has played more games at second base than any player in franchise history.\n', ' Javier led the Cardinals in stolen bases every year from 1960 to 1963. His finest season was 1962. Sharing lead-off duties with Curt Flood in manager Johnny Keane\'s batting order, Javier stole a career high 26 bases, and scored a career high 97 runs. Javier led an inning off with a hit or walk 61 times for a .347 on-base percentage leading off innings.\n', '