bats death_date death_place birth_place image_size position birth_date image article_title name throws
right 09 january 2014 caracas , venezuela carúpano , sucre , venezuela 200px third baseman / manager 11 september 1929 luis garcia -lrb- third baseman -rrb- . jpg luis garcía -lrb- third baseman -rrb-
 luis garcía right
luis garcía -lrb- third baseman -rrb-

luis garcía beltrán -lrb- september 11 , 1929 -- january 9 , 2014 -rrb- was a venezuelan professional baseball player and manager .
listed at 5 ' 11 '' -lrb- 1.80 m -rrb- , 189 lb -lrb- 86 kg -rrb- , he batted and threw right handed .
at an early age garcía was dubbed camaleón by his family , and he carried this nickname throughout his professional career , which spanned 22 years .
he was born in carúpano , a city located in the eastern coastal area of sucre state in venezuela .
despite his short , stocky build , he was a gifted athlete and knew more about baseball than his playmates , so he became the natural leader in pickup games and later in school .
he was also a fine , dependable third baseman and , from the start , he had the ability to hit the ball to all fields , regardless of size or capacity .
owner of a strong throwing arm , he had good range , being able to catch fly balls from his left field and infield teammates , making everything look easy .
garcía played in the chicago white sox , cincinnati reds , st. louis browns and washington senators minor league systems , but never appeared in a major league game for either club .
his career was largely associated with the navegantes del magallanes club of the venezuelan professional baseball league , but he also had a distinguished career in the mexican league in a span of ten seasons .
a member of four hall of fame organizations , garcía amassed more than 3000 hits , appeared in eight caribbean series , was the first player to reach 1,000 hits in venezuelan baseball , and also set several records in the vpbl that still remain intact .
