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Andres Galarraga battled cancer twice during his 19 years in the big leagues. Despite that he still finished with 2,333 hits; 399 home runs; and 1,425 RBI.

So agile and impressive were his quick reflexes that the 6’3″, 245-pound first baseman was nicknamed, “The Big Cat”. After a 24-game cup of coffee with the Expos in 1985, Galarraga started 79 games in ’86. He became the everyday first baseman in ’87 and responded by hitting .305 with 40 doubles, 13 homers, and 90 RBI.

In ’88 Galarraga made his first All Star team. By season’s end he had a .302 average and a 150 OPS+. The Big Cat had 29 homers, 92 RBI and league-leading totals in hits (184) and doubles (40). He earned the Silver Slugger Award and the first of consecutive Gold Gloves.

Galarraga remained with Montreal through 1991 when the Expos traded him to the Cardinals. His time in St. Louis began with a broken wrist in the second game of the season. The first baseman returned on May 22nd still hampered by the bum wrist. The first two months after his return, Galarraga scuffled at the plate with a .197 average.

The turning point came on July 24th he went 3-for-4 with a homer and three runs batted in. In his final 43 games of the year Galarraga hit .301 with 8 doubles, 8 homers, and 27 RBI.

His strong year-end run impressed St. Louis batting coach Don Baylor who was named the manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies after the season. When the Cardinals granted Galarraga free-agency Baylor’s Rockies snapped him up.

In the Mile High City, Galarraga’s production reached new heights.

Shown here is a trio of rookie cards signed by Andres Galarraga. From left to right are the 1986 Fleer Update card, the 1986 Donruss edition, and a 1987 Fleer card, each showing the slugger with the Expos.

 

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After an injury-plagued start in his only season in St. Louis in 1992, Andres Galarraga turned a corner in late July. Working with Cardinals hitting coach Don Baylor, Galarraga opened his stance and found much success.

When Baylor was named the manager for the expansion Colorado Rockies, he turned his focus on his protege. At the urging of the skipper, the Rockies signed Galarraga on November 16, 1992.

The Venezuelan-born Galarraga rewarded Baylor’s confidence by winning the 1993 batting title with a .370 average. It was the highest mark by a right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio in 1939.

Galarraga finished second in the NL in both slugging percentage (.602) and OPS (1.005), while his .403 on-base percentage was bested by only five Senior Circuit hitters. His efforts earned Galarraga the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

In strike-shortened 1994, Galarraga drove in 30 runs in April to set the National League record for ribbies in a month. His season ended early when he broke his right hand on July 28th. Though he played in just 104 games, Galarraga still tallied 31 homers and 85 RBI to go along with his .319 average and a .592 slugging percentage.

His 1995 campaign was highlighted on June 25th when he hit a home run in three consecutive innings to tie the big league record. With Galarraga, and teammates Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla, and Dante Bichette, Colorado joined the 1977 Dodgers as the only teams with quartets of 30-homer hitters.

In 1996 Galarraga hit .304 with a league-leading 47 homers and 150 RBI. He finished sixth in the MVP race and added another Silver Slugger Award to his trophy case. Galarraga followed that up by hitting .318 in 1997. He again reached the 40-homer plateau while pacing the NL in RBI for the second consecutive season. The baseball writers’ rewarded Galarraga with a 7th-place finish for the MVP.

Wanting to up first base for highly-touted prospect Todd Helton, the Rockies let Galarraga walk after the season. El Gato left Colorado as the Rockies’ franchise leader in home runs and RBI.

He wasn’t out of a job for long. The Braves scooped up Galarraga soon after his Colorado release. In Atlanta in ’98 he became the first man in MLB history to slug 40 or more homers in consecutive seasons for different teams. His 44 dingers, 121 RBI and slash line of .305/.397/.595 resulted in a 157 OPS+ and a 6th-place MVP finish.

In spring of ’99 a tumor was found on a vertebra in his lower back. After averaging more than 40 homers and 129 RBI the previous four seasons, Galarraga sat out all of 1999 working to kick cancer. He came back strong in 2000, batting .302, with 28 home runs, and 100 RBI. The Sporting News awarded him his second Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Galarraga bounced from Texas to San Francisco and back to Montreal from 2001 and 2002. The Giants invited him back to the Bay in ’03 and he responded with a .301 average in 110 games.

In 2004 cancer returned. Galarraga had chemotherapy and was hospitalized for three weeks for treatment. He beat the disease for a second time and played 7 games for the Angels at the end of the season.

The Mets invited him to camp in ’05. Though he performed well in spring training, he announced his retirement six days before New York’s Opening Day.

Along with his 2,333 hits, 399 homers, and 1,425 RBI, the four-time All Star has pairs of Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. The National League’s first two-time Comeback Player of the Year, he hit .300 or better in 10 of his 19 seasons and had six top-10 MVP finishes. Remarkably consistent, Galarraga slammed 20 ore more homers in ten seasons and drove in 90 or more runs eight times.

Colorado’s first All Star and batting champion, Galarraga led the NL in each of the Triple Crown categories – in different years – with the Rox. In 2007 he became first Rockies player to gain inclusion into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. Three years later he was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame. That same year he appeared on the Cooperstown ballot. With 4.1% of the vote, he was one-and-done.

Shown here is this first day cover postmarked on April 26, 1995 from the Coors Field postal station the day the stadium opened. The envelope is signed by all four members of the Rockies 1995 30-homer foursome, the Blake Street Bombers.