Calixto Vargas

Calixto Vargas Gutiérrez
(El Socio)

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 150 lb.

• Born October 12, 1945 in La Paz Centro, León Nicaragua

Biographical Information

Calixto Vargas played for the Nicaraguan national team regularly in the 1970s.

He hit .346 in the 1970 Amateur World Series, he hit .346, splitting first base with Antonio Membreño. He hit .258/.325/.333 for Boer in the 1970 season then .319/.455/.431 in 1971. He was 1 for 27 in the 1971 Amateur World Series and hit .200 in the 1971 Pan American Games. With Boer in '72, he was at .338/.404/.459. He batted .424 in the 1972 Amateur World Series but lost the batting title to Masaru Oba's .415; he had 46 plate appearances when 47 were needed and was in the on-deck circle when Nicaragua's last game ended. He was named the All-Star 1B and Nicaragua won the Bronze Medal.

Vargas hit .301/.409/.536 in 1974 then moved to the Bufalos in 1975, producing at a .275/.387/.407 clip his first year (leading the league with 19 intentional walks) and .403/.483/.672 his second, driving in 32 runs in 36 games. He also played for UCA that year and hit .353/.426/.609. He appeared for Nicaragua in the 1976 Amateur World Series. In 1977, he hit .337/.412/.565 with 19 homers, 77 runs and 84 RBI in 99 contests for Granada. He batted .376/.415/.663 with 26 dingers and 86 RBI in 90 games for them in 1978. He hit .275 in the 1978 Amateur World Series. He played for Carazo in 1980, batting .304/.372/.502 with 50 RBI in 64 games; he tied Julio Mairena and Julio Molina for the RBI lead. He split time between two clubs in both 1981 (.333/.404/.488 at age 35) and 1982 (.167/.266/.204). He rebounded to .316/.386/.437 with Leon in 1983 but eked out a .179/.286/.256 line for Boer in 1984 and retired. He had hit .317/.389/.500 with 124 home runs and 594 RBI in 883 games in Nicaragua.

He was one of the organizers of the players' union and was a baseball commentator as well as working for the Houston Astros (seemingly as a bird dog scout).

Calixto made the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Sources: Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame, Nicaraguan Olympic Committee, ecured, Nicaraguan Baseball Federation