One of the most colorful baseball players I ever saw passed away. Former Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andjuar died at age 62 from diabetes complications.

Andjuar was a complete nut. He'd say anything, do anything - nothing was sacred. He especially hated the Cincinnatti Reds, who were the Astros' big rivals in the 70's - 80's. One time in 1979 he and Ray Knight got in a fight. It was freaking awesome. Then Ray Knight challenged the whole Astros bench to a fight and Cesar Cedeno jumped out of the dugout and it was on! Here's audio of that. I think it's the Reds' announcer. Listen to it, it is AWESOME:

http://www.astrosdaily.co...9fight.mp3

SIDE NOTE: Guess who the Astros traded for two years later? Yep - Ray Knight! Everyone hated him. He was such a smartass. It turns out that Knight and Andujar were minor league teammates and were fighting each other even back then, LOL. Unfortunately, the Astros had traded Andujar the year before, so we didn't get to see them together.

The Astros opened up a 10-game lead on the Reds. One day, before a game, a writer saw Andjuar on his hands and knees, examining the Astroturf. "What are you doing?" he was asked. "I'm looking for the Cincinnatti Reds. I can't find them anywhere" Andjuar replied.



That was the episode that earned him the local nickname Joaquin "Where Be My Head?" Andjuar. So what did he do next? Hit an inside-the-park home run, of course! More audio:

http://www.astrosdaily.co...ndujar.mp3

Andjuar was traded to the Cardinals where he had a lot of success. He was so good that he pitched for the Cardinals in Games 3 and 7 of the 1982 World Series, winning both. But his most colorful moment came three years later, in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series.

With the Cardinals down 10 - 0, Andujar entered the game in relief. The home plate umpire was Don Deckinger, who had blown the call in Game 6 that cost the Cardinals a chance to win the Series that day. So Andjuar immediately jumps on Deckinger's call of balls and strikes, and both he and manager Whitey Herzog get ejected from Game 7 of the World Series. To my knowledge, they're the only guys ever ejected from a Game 7!

Andjuar was one-of-a-kind. We could tell stories about him for hours. He will be missed!

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[Edited 9/9/15 12:27pm]

Wow, I remember Joaquin. RIP.

I remember Andujar. The Astros had a hell of a pitching staff back then

with him JR Richard, and Joey Sambito. RIP