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Great Lives from History: Latinos

Freddy Sanchez

by Michael J. Bennett

American baseball player

Although he was born with a clubbed right foot and a seriously pigeon-toed left foot, Sanchez overcame his disability to became a Major League Baseball player. He helped the San Francisco Giants win the 2010 World Series, becoming the first player in league history to amass three doubles in his first three times at bat.

Areas of achievement: Baseball

Early Life

Frederick Phillip Sanchez, Jr., better known as Freddy Sanchez (SAHN-chez), was born on December 21, 1977, in Hollywood, California. Doctors told his parents that he might never walk because he was born with a clubbed right foot and a seriously pigeon-toed left foot. Sanchez underwent foot surgery when he was thirteen, followed by years of physical therapy, and eventually was able to walk properly.

Freddy Sanchez.

324_Sanchez_Freddy.jpg

(AP Photo)

In 1996, Sanchez graduated from Burbank High School in Burbank, California, where he was a three-year varsity baseball player. He then attended Glendale Community College for two years, leading the baseball team to a cochampionship in the Western State Conference, the college’s first play-off appearance since 1981. In his junior year, he transferred to Dallas Baptist University, for which he played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) College World Series. He attended Oklahoma City University in his senior year and was named a NAIA All-Star.

Life’s Work

In 2000, Sanchez was signed by the Boston Red Sox after he was selected in the eleventh round of that year’s draft. He initially played with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, and on September 10, 2002, he made his major league debut with the Red Sox. He played for both Pawtacket and Boston in 2003, and the following year began playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. When Pirates’ third baseman Joe Randa suffered an injury on May 6, 2006, Sanchez assumed this position.

One baseball writer described 2006 as Sanchez’s “storybook season,” because he rose from a low-profile player to the player who attained the most votes for that year’s All-Star team. In that year he also became the first Pirate to be named the National League batting champion since Bill Madlock in 1983; Sanchez beat out Florida Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera on the last day of the 2006 season.

In 2007, Sanchez was moved to second base. He was the only Pirate on that year’s All-Star team, and he ended that season with a batting average above .300 and a career-high 11 home runs. On February 5, 2007, he signed a multiyear contract with the Pirates, guaranteeing him two seasons with the team and an option to remain with the team in 2010 if he met certain performance criteria in 2009. Under the terms of the contract, Sanchez would receive a maximum of $18.9 million.

Sanchez’s performance was lackluster during the first half of 2008, but it improved in the second half, and his batting average was .271, with 9 home runs. On July 29, 2009, Sanchez was traded to the San Francisco Giants. Three months later, it was announced that Sanchez had signed a two-year contract with the Giants.

During 2010, his first full season with the Giants, Sanchez’s batting average was .292 with 7 home runs and 47 runs batted in . That year, the Giants won the World Series, and Sanchez helped lead the team to victory when he amassed three doubles in his first three times at bat.

Significance

In more than a decade with the major leagues, Sanchez has proved to be an award-winning batter. In 2006, in addition to being named the National League batting champion, he was the league’s doubles champion and the winner of the Tony Conigliaro Award for having overcome his physical adversities. In 2010, he helped the San Francisco Giants win its first World Series since the team left New York in the late-1950’s.

Citation Types

Type

Format

MLA 9th

Bennett, Michael J. "Freddy Sanchez." Great Lives from History: Latinos, edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLL_10013240055401001.

APA 7th

Bennett, M. J. (2012). Freddy Sanchez. In C. Tafolla & M. P. Cotera (Eds.), Great Lives from History: Latinos. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Bennett, Michael J. "Freddy Sanchez." Edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera. Great Lives from History: Latinos. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.

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