Bartolo Colón (born May 24, 1973), nicknamed "Big Sexy", is a Dominican–American former professional baseball pitcher. He previously played for 11 different Major League Baseball (MLB) teams: the Cleveland Indians (1997–2002), Montreal Expos (2002), Chicago White Sox (2003, 2009), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004–2007), Boston Red Sox (2008), New York Yankees (2011), Oakland Athletics (2012–2013), New York Mets (2014–2016), Atlanta Braves (2017), Minnesota Twins (2017), and Texas Rangers (2018). Colón also played for the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Professional Baseball League (Dominican Winter League) and the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League.
Colón was selected to four MLB All-Star Games, one each for the Indians (1998), Angels (2005), Athletics (2013), and Mets (2016). He won the American League Cy Young Award with the Angels in 2005, when he led the league in wins. With the Mets in 2016, he became the oldest player to hit his first career home run, at 42 years and 349 days old. At age 45 during the 2018 season, Colón was the oldest active major league player and the last to have played for the Montreal Expos. He holds the record for most career wins by a Latin American-born pitcher.
In his last major-league season (2018), Colón and Rangers teammate Adrián Beltré were the last active players to have played in the 1990s. In August 2022, Colón announced that he intended to retire after the 2022–23 Dominican winter season.
Bartolo Colón was born on May 24, 1973, in the town of Altamira in the Dominican Republic, where he grew up. He worked long days alongside his father, Miguel, harvesting coffee beans and fruit from the age of 9 to 14. Colón credited his childhood job with the development of his strength. He frequently does major charity work for his old community. Colón's mother, Adriana, died in 2014 of breast cancer.
Colón was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent in 1993 and began his career in their minor league system. In 1995, pitching for Kinston of the Single-A Carolina League, he finished second in wins with 13 and ERA with 1.96, and led the circuit with 152 strikeouts. He was named the league's Pitcher of the Year, despite shutting down on August 1 with a bruised elbow. He was named the Indians' 1995 Minor League Player of the Year (receiving the "Lou Boudreau Award"). He played Triple-A ball with the Buffalo Bisons in 1997 and on June 21 became the only player in team history to throw a no-hitter at Sahlen Field, then called North AmeriCare Park.
Colón made his major league debut against the Anaheim Angels on April 4, 1997, receiving a no decision. In his first MLB season, Colón went 4–7 with a 5.65 earned run average. He was left off the postseason roster as the Indians made it to the World Series, losing in seven games to the Florida Marlins. The following year, he set the modern-day but unofficial major league record for throwing the most pitches (20) in a single at bat on June 26, 1998 against Ricky Gutiérrez, who eventually struck out. That record was broken in 2018. Later that season, Colón won his only start of the 1998 American League Championship Series, pitching a four-hit, one-run complete game. In his 1999 season, Colón finished 18–5, pitching over 200 innings with 161 strikeouts and a 3.95 earned run average.
On September 18, 2000, Colón pitched a one-hitter against the New York Yankees. In both 2000 and 2001, Colón posted over 200 strikeouts, making him the first Indians pitcher since Gaylord Perry to record at least 200 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons.
On June 27, 2002, the Indians traded Colón and Tim Drew to the Montreal Expos in exchange for Lee Stevens, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, and Cliff Lee. Colón finished 2002 with a combined 20–8 record and a 2.93 earned run average, including 76 earned runs with 70 walks in 233+1⁄3 innings, three shutouts, and eight complete games. Ultimately, he was the last active player who had played for the Montreal Expos.
Before the 2003 season, Colón was traded to the Chicago White Sox with minor leaguer Jorge Nunez for Orlando Hernández, Rocky Biddle, Jeff Liefer and cash.
Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004–2007)
A free agent after the previous season, he signed with the Anaheim Angels in 2004. Colón won 18 games with Anaheim in 2004. During the 2005 season, he went 21–8 with a 3.48 earned run average, and became the first Angels pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Dean Chance in 1964. Due to a partially torn rotator cuff that he received in a playoff game against the Yankees in 2005, Colón spent much of the 2006 season on the injured list with soreness or inflammation in his right shoulder. In 10 starts, Colón went 1–5 with a 5.11 earned run average.
On April 21, 2007, his first start of the 2007 season following his return from the injured list, Colón pitched 7 innings, allowing one run on seven hits for his first win in 2007.
On February 25, 2008, Colón signed a minor league deal with the Boston Red Sox and was invited to spring training. On May 15, 2008, he threw a one-hitter for the Red Sox' Triple-A team, the Pawtucket Red Sox. Six days later, Colón's contract was purchased by the Red Sox, and he was added to the active roster. Colón pitched his first game for the Red Sox on May 21, 2008, against the Kansas City Royals. He earned his 150th career win on June 11, 2008, against the Baltimore Orioles.
On September 19, 2008, Colón was placed on the suspended list by the Red Sox after leaving for the Dominican Republic to handle "personal matters" and deciding to stay, effectively ending his Red Sox career. He was placed on the restricted list on September 25, 2008. Colón spent the postseason on the restricted list as the Red Sox won the 2008 ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 4 games, but lost the 2008 ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays in 7 games. He filed for free agency after the end of the 2008 season.
Second stint with Chicago White Sox (2009)
Colón agreed to a one-year, $1 million contract to return to the Chicago White Sox in January 2009, shortly after they traded Javier Vázquez to the Atlanta Braves. He competed for the fourth and fifth starters' positions in the White Sox rotation.
Colón made his comeback from off-season surgery to remove bone chips from his pitching arm elbow during the White Sox Spring training, in the Cactus League in Arizona. Manager Ozzie Guillén named him the White Sox' fifth starter before the start of the regular season. Colón won his first start in his second stint in Chicago, pitching six strong innings of three-hit ball as the Sox blanked Minnesota 8–0 on April 11, 2009. In doing so he became the first White Sox starting pitcher to win a regular season game in 2009. Colón then suffered another injury and did not pitch again for the remainder of the season. He was released on September 16.
Colón did not pitch in 2010 due to ongoing right shoulder and elbow pain and damage to the rotator cuff, ligaments and tendons. In March 2010, he received a transplant of stem cells to repair the damaged tissues in his right shoulder. The orthopedic surgeon who performed the surgery said he had used human growth hormone in previous surgeries of the same type but not with Colón. The surgery was scrutinized by Major League Baseball but no wrongdoing was found.