KEY Magazine Fort Worth

Jose Guzman to be Honored by the Fort Worth Cats

The Fort Worth Cats will honor Jose Guzman June 16 when the Cats play the Pensacola Pelicans at LaGrave Field at 7:05 p.m. It’s Jose Guzman Statue Night as the Cats will give away 1,000 figurines of the former Cats’ pitcher. During his two-year stint (2001 and 2002) with the Cats, Guzman pitched just about every big game the Cats played. In 2001, he threw the first pitch consummating the rebirth of a storied franchise. A year later, Guzman opened the new LaG rave Field with an 8-7 win against Edinburg. And on Aug. 28, 2002 pitching before a sellout crowd of 7,219 fans, he concluded his professional baseball career with a complete-game five hitter. That performance was featured the next day in a segment about minor league baseball on the CBS Evening News. Signed by the Texas Rangers as a 17-year-old in 1981, Guzman appeared on the big league scene in 1985 as a hard-throwing right-hander. After missing the 1989 and 1990 seasons with shoulder injuries, he rebounded to go 13-7 in 1991 earning him American League Comeback Player of the Year honors. Also, that season, he was named the Rangers’ pitcher of the year. The following season, Guzman posted his best big league campaign, going 16-11 with a 3.79 ERA. Guzman would later go on to play for the Chicago Cubs before suffering shoulder problems that would spell the end of his big league career. Guzman attempted a comeback and in his first season with the Cats in 2001, at the age of 37, he notched a 5-2 record with a team-leading 1.65 ERA in 60 innings of work. Guzman returned to the Cats in 2002, starting 16 games and posting a 4.20 ERA in 111 innings pitched. The Cats have a number of big promotions in June including fireworks shows on June 9, June 25 and June 26. Fireworks shows are also slated at LaGrave Field July 3-4. For tickets, call 817-226-CATS or visit www.fwcats.com.

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