Jorge Orta

Jorge Orta Núñez (born November 26, 1950) is a Mexican former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder.

He played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 to 1987 for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Kansas City Royals.

He is best remembered for being at the center of one of the most controversial plays in World Series history.

Orta signed with the Chicago White Sox out of the Mexican Baseball League, and made the team out of spring training at shortstop without first playing in the minor leagues.

He batted just .211 through the middle of May, losing his starting job to Rich Morales.

He spent two months as a utility infielder before being optioned to the Southern League's Knoxville Sox in mid-July after compiling a .191 batting average, one home run and seven runs batted in.

After batting .316 with seven home runs at Knoxville, he returned to Chicago when rosters expanded that September.

His second major league home run was an extra innings game winner on September 19 against Gary Waslewski and the Oakland A's.

Orta was shifted to second base for the season after batting over .500 in spring training.

Playing through injuries for much of the year, he batted .266 and tied for second in the American League (AL) with eighteen errors among second basemen.

Orta began the season batting at the bottom of the White Sox line-up, but was moved up to the number two spot in manager Chuck Tanner's batting order, and batted .411 with 23 runs scored in the month of June.

More specifically, he batted .516 with four home runs from June 17 to June 23 to earn AL Player of the Week honors.

For the season, his .316 batting average was second only to Rod Carew in the AL.

For the season, Orta batted .296 with four home runs and 46 RBIs in the first half to be named to the AL All-Star team, but did not appear in the game due to a pulled hamstring in his right leg.

He returned healthy on July 17, and batted .314 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs in the second half.

Prior to the start of the season, the White Sox acquired Jack Brohamer from the Cleveland Indians.

New Chicago manager Paul Richards opted to use Brohamer at second and Orta at third.

Orta proved himself a poor third baseman, and was eventually moved into the outfield while rookie Kevin Bell took over at third.

The Sox narrowly avoided a hundred losses in 1976.

For his part, Orta batted .274, while hitting a career-high fourteen home runs and scoring a career high 74 runs.

Orta returned to second base when Bob Lemon replaced Richards as manager in.

The White Sox won ninety games to finish third in the American League West.

Orta, now batting third in the line-up, finished second on the team (to Richie Zisk) with a career high 84 RBIs.

He remained at second in, but new player-manager Don Kessinger deployed Orta as the designated hitter in , and Orta struggled in the role, accruing a .212 batting average, three home runs and 21 RBIs through June 27.

Meanwhile, second base had become something of a revolving door, with Kessinger, Alan Bannister, Joe Gates, Jim Morrison and Greg Pryor all manning the position at one point or another.

Orta returned to second base in the middle of July, and batted .313 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs the rest of the way.

Following the 1979 season, Orta signed a five-year deal with the Cleveland Indians.

With the Indians, Orta became a full-time right fielder, and soon emerged as one of the better fielding right fielders in the league.

He maintained a .987 fielding percentage in his two seasons in Cleveland, and his eleven assists in tied for second among A.L. outfielders.

On June 15,, he tied an A.L. record for the most hits in one game with six.

The feat raised his season average to .339, and likely played a part in his being named Cleveland's sole representative at the 1980 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

He did not, however, appear in the game.

With prospect Von Hayes ready to assume an everyday major league job in right field, Orta became trade-bait at the Winter meetings.

On December 9, he and two minor leaguers (Jack Fimple and Larry White) were sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jack Perconte and former Rookie of the Year winning pitcher Rick Sutcliffe.

With the Dodgers, Orta found himself in a reserve role for the first time in his career.

As a pinch hitter, Orta batted just .150 with one home run and five RBIs.

He would occasionally spell Pedro Guerrero a day off in right field, and batted .291 in that role.

After his only season in Los Angeles, he was traded to the New York Mets for pitcher Pat Zachry.

Shortly after acquiring Orta, the Mets traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Steve Senteney.

Orta was used primarily at DH by the Jays, though he did occasionally sub for Jesse Barfield in right.