Julio Lugo

ABOUT JULIO LUGO

At different points in his career, this Dominican-born baseball infielder played for the Houston Astros, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the Boston Red Sox, and also played single seasons with the L.A. Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, and Atlanta Braves. He was released from his contract with the Atlanta Braves in September of 2011.

He played for the Fort Hamilton High School (New York) baseball team and went on to become a star player on the Connors State College (Oklahoma) team.

He ended his career with a .269 batting average and a tally of 80 home runs. He died of a heart attack the day before his 46th birthday.

Natives of Barahona, Dominican Republic, he and his professional baseball pitcher brother, Ruddy Lugo, spent a large portion of their youths in New York City. He was previously married to Mabel (Mabely) Lugo, with whom he had a son, Josmael. With his wife, Surki Lugo, he had 3 children: Juliana, Julie, and Julio.

In 2007, reacting to Lugo's poor performance, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona re-assigned Lugo to the bottom of the team's batting lineup.