Edgar Renteria

Édgar Enrique Rentería Herazo, born August 7, 1975, and known as "the Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian former shortstop who spent 16 MLB seasons with the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds. He finished runner-up to Todd Hollandsworth in the 1996 Rookie of the Year voting. In 1997, his eleventh-inning RBI single off Charles Nagy in Game 7 of the World Series gave the Marlins their first championship, a 3–2 win over the Cleveland Indians. During the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers, Rentería earned the World Series Most Valuable Player Award with the San Francisco Giants after hitting game-winning home runs in both Game 2 and Game 5. He entered the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2025.

Rentería was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and attended Instituto Los Alpes High School there. At age 16, scout Levy Ochoa signed him for the Florida Marlins.

His pro career began in 1992 with the Gulf Coast League Marlins, where he batted .288 with 47 hits in 43 games but made 24 errors for a .897 fielding percentage. In 1993, playing for the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League, he hit .203 over 116 games, cut his errors to 34, and raised his fielding to .934. Promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League in 1994, he improved to a .253 average and a .959 fielding percentage. A breakout 1995 season with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League saw him hit .289 with seven home runs and 30 stolen bases. Before 1996, Baseball America ranked him the top prospect in the Marlins organization. He started 1996 with the Charlotte Knights of the International League, batting .278 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 28 games.

Called up to the Marlins on May 9, 1996, after shortstop Kurt Abbott got hurt, Rentería debuted on May 10 in a 4–2 win over the Colorado Rockies, entering in the ninth inning of a double switch without an at-bat. Initially a backup while Alex Arias started at shortstop, he took over as the everyday shortstop on May 19 against the Chicago Cubs. That day, he collected his first hit—a single off Steve Trachsel—in a 3–2 win. On June 10, he recorded four hits in a 5–2 victory over the Montreal Expos, and the next day he hit his first home run, off Ugueth Urbina, in a 3–2 loss.

The Marlins moved Abbott to second base when he returned from the disabled list. On June 23, Rentería strained a hamstring on a groundout in a 5–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, landing on the disabled list the next day, but he reclaimed the starting job upon returning July 11. From July 25 to August 16, he put together a 22-game hitting streak, the longest for a rookie since Jerome Walton’s 30-game streak in 1989. He finished 1996 with a .309 average, 68 runs, and 16 steals in 106 games, placing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting to Todd Hollandsworth.

In 1997, Rentería hit his first inside-the-park home run on April 5, tying a game against the Cincinnati Reds before winning it 4–3 with an 11th-inning RBI single. On April 27, his ninth-inning single gave the Marlins a 4–3 win over the Dodgers. He had a 13-game hitting streak from May 13 to 29, and from July 16 to 18 he notched three hits in three straight games. On August 15, his ninth-inning RBI single beat the Pirates 6–5.

He ended the season batting .277 with 171 hits and 32 steals in 154 games, helping the Marlins win the wild card and reach the playoffs for the first time. In Game 1 of the NLDS, his ninth-inning RBI single off Roberto Hernández gave the Marlins a 2–1 win over the Giants, whom they swept. After defeating the Braves in the NLCS, the Marlins faced the Indians in the World Series. In Game 7, with the score tied 2–2 in the 11th inning, Rentería’s walk-off RBI single off Charles Nagy scored Craig Counsell, clinching a 3–2 win and the franchise’s first championship.

By the 1998 All-Star break, Rentería was batting .302 and was the only Marlin selected to the All-Star Game. On May 1, his 11th-inning RBI single beat the Padres 6–5. From June 8 to 22, he had a 14-game hitting streak, the longest by a Marlin that season. During the streak, on June 9, he delivered his first career pinch hit—a single that drove in Dave Berg in the ninth inning for a 5–4 win over the Blue Jays. On June 14, he scored the winning run in a 5–4 victory over the Mets, and from June 8 to 14 he earned NL Player of the Week honors. On July 13, he tied a Florida record by scoring four runs in an 8–7 win over the Expos. On August 24, he sprained his right knee sliding into second base in the third inning of a 7–4 loss to the Padres.