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Manuel Rafael Mota
Montreal Expos
Outfield
Born: February 18, 1938, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Signed: Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent, February 21, 1957
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1962; Pittsburgh Pirates 1963-68; Montreal Expos 1969; Los Angeles Dodgers 1969-80, 1982
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1977-78
Manny Mota enjoyed 20 seasons in the majors as an outfielder and pinch-hit specialist and was a Dodgers coach for 33 consecutive years following his playing days. Mota was a professional hitter, and with the exception of a few seasons throughout his long career, he was never an everyday player. After debuting with the Giants and then spending six seasons with the Pirates, Mota was taken as the second pick by the Expos in the 1968 expansion draft. He spent a half season with the Expos, and then was dealt with Maury Wills (#45) to the Dodgers for Ron Fairly (#122) and Paul Popovich (#47), beginning an association with the club that continues to this day. His best season came in 1970 when he appeared in a career-high 124 games as the club's regular left fielder. Mota batted .305 with 37 RBIs that season, and he was an All-Star in 1973. Following that All-Star season, Mota settled into his role as a successful bat off the bench and he made only eight starts between 1974 and 1982.
Manny Mota enjoyed 20 seasons in the majors as an outfielder and pinch-hit specialist and was a Dodgers coach for 33 consecutive years following his playing days. Mota was a professional hitter, and with the exception of a few seasons throughout his long career, he was never an everyday player. After debuting with the Giants and then spending six seasons with the Pirates, Mota was taken as the second pick by the Expos in the 1968 expansion draft. He spent a half season with the Expos, and then was dealt with Maury Wills (#45) to the Dodgers for Ron Fairly (#122) and Paul Popovich (#47), beginning an association with the club that continues to this day. His best season came in 1970 when he appeared in a career-high 124 games as the club's regular left fielder. Mota batted .305 with 37 RBIs that season, and he was an All-Star in 1973. Following that All-Star season, Mota settled into his role as a successful bat off the bench and he made only eight starts between 1974 and 1982.
Mota appeared in three postseasons with the Dodgers (1974, 1977 and 1978), and although he batted .375 (3 for 8) his team never won it all. He set the all-time pinch-hit mark in 1979, passing the 144 pinch-hits collected by Smoky Burgess. Lenny Harris eclipsed Mota's mark in 2001. In 1,536 career games, Mota batted .304 with 1,149 hits and he finally got his World Series ring with the Dodgers in 1981. Mota would win another ring with the club in 1988. He served as a Dodgers coach between 1980 and 2012, and that tenure is second only in length to Nick Altrock who coached with the Washington Senators for 42 seasons between 1912 and 1953. After his retirement as a coach, Mota remained with the Dodgers as a minor league hitting instructor and as a color commentator for the team's Spanish language broadcasts.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #567
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
The Card / Expos Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Mota appeared in 31 games with the Expos, batting .315 and making 21 starts before his June 11th trade to the Dodgers. With the Dodgers, he appeared in 85 games, batting .323.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #141
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18): 1963-80
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-MM
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 161 in the Beckett online database as of 10/2/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.
I took my time and found 32 commons and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set. It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to my second stop. This was the eighth of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the eighth of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost a little over $2 after the dealer discount.
The Card / Expos Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Topps didn't want to mess around with a Pirates' logo peaking through on Mota's helmet, so the touch-up artist went to town with the black paint. An unidentified Pirates teammate is making a cameo appearance in the background, and this photo was likely taken at the same time as the photo used on Mota's 1968 Topps card. The back of the card explains how Mota found himself on the Expos and touts hit excellent hitting, bunting and fielding skills.
Accuracy Index: Mota's card scores a -8 and I'd dock more points if I could for the over aggressive paint job on his helmet.
1969 Season
Mota appeared in 31 games with the Expos, batting .315 and making 21 starts before his June 11th trade to the Dodgers. With the Dodgers, he appeared in 85 games, batting .323.
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #141
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18): 1963-80
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-MM
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 161 in the Beckett online database as of 10/2/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#235 Jim Hunter - Oakland Athletics / #237 Bobby Cox - New York Yankees
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