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Pionerd is a daily Minnesota history podcast. Every day, one story drawn from the people, places, and moments that shaped the state we call home. From the Iron Range to the Mississippi headwaters, from the Twin Cities to the small towns most maps forget, Minnesota's history is richer and stranger than most people realize. Join us every day and find out what happened here.
INTRO: The Canvas of Nine Gloves
On September 22, 1968, a modest crowd of 11,340 gathered at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington to watch two struggling teams near the end of the 1968 season. They came for a circus stunt.Twins owner Calvin Griffith wanted to sell tickets, so he turned one man into a multi-position novel attraction.
César Tovar had a different plan. The five-foot-nine Venezuelan utility man stepped onto the field with nine different gloves and a point to prove. This was not a joke to him. It was a masterclass in professional grit. Across nine innings, Tovar turned a corporate gimmick into an immortal display of athletic agency and total diamond mastery.
ACT I: From Caracas Sandlots to Twins Stardom: The Rise of César Tovar
An eight-year-old boy worked the dusty streets of Caracas, Venezuela, shining shoes for ten dollars a day to buy his first baseball glove. César Tovar played sandlot ball with pure fire. Big league scouts barely looked at him.
On New Year’s morning in 1959, Cincinnati Reds executive Gabe Paul arrived to sign Tovar’s childhood friend, Gus Gil. Gil made a firm demand. He refused to sign his two-thousand-dollar contract unless Paul signed Tovar too. Paul surrendered to the demand. Tovar received zero bonus dollars, landing only a plane ticket to America.
Tovar fought his way through the minor leagues. He dominated Class D Geneva and stole eighty-eight bases in a single season. Yet Cincinnati saw no clear path for him. On December 4, 1964, Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith acquired Tovar in a straight trade for pitcher Gerry Arrigo.
Tovar brought unmatched grit to Minneapolis, playing six different positions during the 1967 pennant chase. League records show he logged 164 games and led the American League with 726 plate appearances. Minneapolis writer Max Nichols cast the lone dissenting vote for American League Most Valuable Player. Nichols chose Tovar over Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski, citing Tovar's ability to win games anywhere on the diamond.
By late September 1968, his teammates voted him Most Valuable Twin for the second straight year. Calvin Griffith then scheduled a wild stunt for the home finale. Tovar was set to play all nine positions in one game.
ACT II: Nine Positions in Nine Innings: César Tovar’s Historic Day at Met Stadium
César Tovar took the mound to start the game on September 22, 1968. His first opponent was Oakland shortstop Bert Campaneris, the only other man to play all nine positions in a big league game. Campaneris popped out to third. Next came slugger Reggie Jackson. Tovar worked the count and caught the future Hall of Famer swinging for a strikeout. He walked Danny Cater after committing a double-and-triple-pump balk, but retired Sal Bando on a foul popup to complete a nineteen-pitch, scoreless inning. In the bottom of the frame, Tovar stepped to the plate as Minnesota's leadoff hitter, becoming the first starting pitcher in Twins history to bat in the top spot.
Tovar moved behind the plate in the second inning. According to contemporary press accounts in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the catcher's shin guards were far too long for Tovar's five-foot-nine frame, forcing him into a semi-crouch stance. He handled rookie relief pitcher Tom Hall without dropping a single ball. When Oakland starter Blue Moon Odom struck out, Tovar recorded a clean putout behind home plate.
He moved to first base in the third inning. Reggie Jackson pulled a hard grounder down the line. Tovar snared the ball and fired it from his knees to Hall covering first base for the out.
In the bottom of the third, Tovar singled off Odom. He quickly stole second base, his 33rd steal of the year, setting a new Twins single-season record. Bob Allison then drilled an RBI triple to drive Tovar home for the game’s first run. Tovar spent the next three frames handling second base, shortstop, and third with flawless precision, wrapping up his entire infield tour.
ACT III: The Outfield Arc and the Final Out
César Tovar trotted out to left field to begin the seventh inning. He moved to center field in the eighth. The entire stadium felt the rising tension as Oakland mounted a late threat. Reliever Tom Hall allowed consecutive singles to Dave Duncan and Bert Campaneris. An infield error loaded the bases with only one out.
Danny Cater stepped to the plate and lifted a high fly ball into deep center field. Tovar drifted back, tracked the trajectory, and squeezed the ball securely in his glove. Bert Campaneris weighed a push for home from third base. Tovar unleashed a perfect throw to third, forcing Campaneris to hold and keeping the runner frozen.
Reliever Al Worthington entered the game to strike out Sal Bando, preserving Minnesota's narrow 2-1 lead.
Tovar took right field for the top of the ninth inning. He had officially played every position on the scorecard. Worthington set down three straight Oakland batters to close out the victory. Hall earned the relief win after six and a third innings, while Worthington secured a five-out save.
Official box scores recorded Tovar's complete stat line: one hit, one walk, one stolen base, one run scored, five putouts, and one assist. According to team archival records, the Twins organization presented Tovar with a new color television on the field after the final out. He had not just survived a publicity stunt. He had anchored a major league victory from every angle of the grass.
ACT IV: Beyond the Nine-Position Gimmick: César Tovar’s Lasting Baseball Legacy
César Tovar stood apart from Bert Campaneris. Campaneris accomplished his nine-position effort in a loss that ended in a hospital visit after a home-plate collision. Tovar played all nine spots, scored the go-ahead run, made the key defensive throw to hold the lead, and walked off the field victorious.
His historic afternoon was no isolated flash of brilliance. Tovar was the engine of the Twins' lineup during their 1969 and 1970 Division Championship runs. On May 18, 1969, he and Rod Carew set a major-league record by pulling off five stolen bases in a single inning against Detroit, including both men stealing home in the same frame. In 1970, he led the league with 36 doubles and 13 triples. Major league record books confirm Tovar also broke up five potential no-hitters during his career, a spoiler mark he shares with Eddie Milner.
On September 19, 1972, he capped his peak in Minnesota by launching a walk-off home run to hit for the cycle. Yet the business of baseball eventually forced Tovar onto a journeyman's path. Minnesota traded him to Philadelphia, where he mentored a young Mike Schmidt. His old advocate Billy Martin brought him to Texas in 1974 and later to the New York Yankees in 1976, making Tovar the first Venezuelan to wear pinstripes.
Oakland owner Charlie Finley abruptly released him in August 1976 after Tovar missed months with a broken wrist. Yet Tovar never stopped playing. He competed across 26 winter seasons in Venezuela, playing until age 45 and proving his undying passion for the game.
CONCLUSION: The Master of Nine Gloves: César Tovar’s Enduring Minnesota Legacy
Pancreatic cancer claimed César Tovar in Caracas on July 14, 1994, at fifty-four years old. Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera joined thousands at his funeral, honoring a national icon. The Minnesota Twins inducted Tovar into their Hall of Fame in 2022, ensuring his relentless hustle lives on in franchise history.
Behind his fierce competitive edge lived a quiet generosity. At the end of every season, Tovar gathered bats, balls, and gloves, claiming they were for off-season workouts, and secretly shipped them to impoverished children in Caracas. The shoe-shine boy, who once scraped together coins for his first glove made sure the next generation had a chance to play.
Today, that legacy continues on college diamonds. Tovar’s grandson, PJ Jones, built on his standout roots at Cretin-Derham Hall and the University of Maryland to take the field for Kansas State, wearing number twelve in honor of his grandfather. Every time he steps into the box, he honors a legacy that refused to be limited by size or expectation.
César Tovar proved that true greatness isn't bound to one spot on the diamond. On an autumn afternoon in Bloomington, a kid signed for zero dollars put on nine different gloves and showed us what total dedication looks like.