Whatever happened to that Porfi Altamirano?Interesting facts about Porfirio:
- At the beginning of his career, he toyed with the idea of going by Pickles Altamirano.
- Porfi pitched in 36 games for the Phillies in 1982 and 1983, all in relief.
- He was the other guy in the Bob Dernier and Gary Matthews trade with the Cubs, when the Phils acquired Bill Campbell and Mike Diaz in March 1984.
- He was fine with the Porfi nickname, but he'd fly into a violent rage if someone called him just "Porf".
- He only appeared in five games with the Cubs in 1984 and was traded to the Yankees in December of the year. However, there's no record of Porfi playing anywhere in the Yankees' system in 1985.
- In his native Nicaragua, Porfi's nickname was "El Guajiro," or The Hillbilly.
- Porfi and Vicente Padilla are the only players of Nicaraguan descent to have played with the Phillies to date.
- Two of these interesting facts are complete fabrications. (The Hillbilly nickname is not one of the fabrications.)
8 comments:
One's gotta be "Porf." Although the thought of that is funny as hell.
That is correct! There is no documented proof that anyone ever called him Porf. :)
I know Porfirio! I live in Jacksonville FL but visited Estelí, Nicaragua Jan-Mar this yr. He is an awesome guy. He IS a very spirited guy, so I would not be able to vouch for his behavior 30 some years ago. But he has since become one of Jehovah's Witnesses and enjoys teaching people the Bible. He has an awesome house and is living out his years very happily
Anonymous - Thanks for the information! For the record, the Pickles and Porf comments above were completely made up by me. I doubt Porfirio would have been angy had someone referred to him as just Porf.
If get a chance to revisit Esteli, please tell Porfirio that Jim from the Phillies Room blog says hello.
I definitely will! I'm hoping to go back down there maybe next spring. And since you actually know him, you'll understand when i say that he is HILARIOUS!
In the back room of his house he has all kinds of pix of him and the Phillies, etc. Very surreal for a commoner like myself, especially to be in Nicaragua to see it all!
I think the reason he never played with the Yankees was that (as best as i could understand in my limited Spanish) that he blew out his rotator cuff in his shoulder?
Anyways thanks for remembering a really good guy!
Porfirio Altamirano was a STAR as a closer for our beloved Aguilas del Zulia the first time we won the Venezuelan championship.
I remember him very fondly, along with Terry Francona (most beautiful swing I have ever seen) and others.
I wish he knew how special those memories are for those "smaller" team fans he played for.
Anonymous - Is Porfirio ever State-side? I would love an autograph on a 1983 Fleer card to help complete my set! (83f.blogspot.com) Or is there an address in Nicaragua to send to him? Thanks!
great information this way we can reduce the arguments over beers about who did what at what time.
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