Henry Cotto's card shows him at what appears to be Tiger Stadium and is enjoying his time having his picture taken. He was signed by the Cubs in 1980 and was sent to the Cubs Gulf Coast League team where he was sent up to Quad Cities, where he spent all of 1981at the Cubs A level team. 82 was Double A Midland and in 83 he was at AAA with Iowa. He debuted with the Cubs in 1984 and hit .274 with 8 RBI's in 105 games while playing all three outfield positions. 84 would also be his best WAR season with a WAR of 1.2 and a dWAR of 0.7. After the season the Dodgers tried to get him from the Cubs in a deal for Ron Cey. Los Angeles also wanted Joe Carter in the deal, but the Cubs turned that version of the deal they eventually made down. Finally he was sent to the Yankees with Porfi Altamirano, Rich Bordi, and Ron Hassey for Brian Dayett and Ray Fontenot. The Yankees general manager, Clyde King said he was going to give Cotto a shot at the center field position because "we know he is an outstanding defensive center fielder and has the potential to be a good hitter some day." Well, he wasn't either with a WAR of -0.2 and a dWar of 0.
From 84-87 Cotto was riding the elevator between the Yankees AAA team at Columbus and the Yankees. In 1987 he was called up five times by the Yankees from Columbus. During the 1985 Winter Meetings the Yankees offered Cotto along with Joe Cowley, Rich Bordi and Dennis Rasmussen to theExpos for Andre Dawson and Bill Gullickson. The Expos were interested but wanted to switch Cotto for Dan Pasqua which the Yankees wouldn't do so the deal died.
Sent to the Mariners after the 87 season where he started but even in the Kingdome displayed little power setting his career high in 89 with 9 HR's. In 1990, the season of this card, Cotto his .259 with 4 HR's and 33 RBI's in 127 games. Traded during the 1993 season he joined the Marlins and after the season was a free agent where he signed with the Orioles but ended up playing for the Yomiuri Giants in 1994. In game six of the Japanese World Series Cotto when 3-3 with a triple, a single and a homer-his second of the series-and the Giants wrapped up their 4 games to 2 victory. He returned to the US and played 17 games for the White Sox AA team at Nashville where he only hit .131 and his career came to an end. He is now working in the Giants farm system .
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