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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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Oswaldo Blanco, lovingly known as Ossie Blanco, who played two seasons in MLB with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians, died per an announcement from the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. He was 80.
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The league announced Blanco's death on its Instagram account July 24.
Blanco "was an iconic figure in the LVBP, where he played 20 seasons with six teams, including the Tiburones de La Guaira, with whom he won the title in the 1970-71 season," read the post in Spanish. "He was also inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. We extend our condolences to his family, friends, and the entire baseball community."
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A native of Carácas, Blanco spent parts of eight seasons (1963-70) in the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's, and Chicago White Sox organizations before making his big league debut at age 24 with the White Sox in May 1970.
In his second career at-bat, Blanco collected an RBI single off Kansas City Royals pitcher Bob Johnson to drive in the first run of an eventual White Sox victory. But he played sparingly the rest of the season, going 13-for-66 (.197) with eight RBIs in 34 big league games.
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According to the Twitter/X account Planeta Beisbol, which reported Blanco passed away on July 23, he became the first Venezuela native to bat cleanup in an MLB game in his debut.
In November 1970, the White Sox traded Blanco and José Ortiz to the Chicago Cubs for Pat Jacquez, Dave Lemonds and Roe Skidmore. Blanco would spend all of the 1971-73 seasons at Triple-A.
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In 1974, Blanco resurfaced with Cleveland, batting .194 in 18 games. He delivered the game-winning single in the 11th inning of a May game against the California Angels, but again didn't last long with the big league club.
From 1975-79, Blanco took his career to Mexico, a stretch interrupted only by 28 games in the Montreal Expos' minor league system in 1978.
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Most of Blanco's highlights played over two decades each winter in his native Venezuela. In 1971, he helped Tiburones de La Guaira win their fourth Venezuelan Winter League championship. In 1977-78, he batted .325. He would retire with 860 hits and a lifetime average of .266 in Venezuelan baseball.
In 2015, Blanco was inducted in 2015 into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
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