Mario Mendoza Aizpuru (born December 26, 1950) is a Mexican former professional baseball infielder. Mendoza, a lifetime .215 hitter, is best known for being the source of the name for the threshold for batting ineptitude, the "Mendoza Line", meaning a batting average of .200. Mendoza managed in the minor leagues and in Mexico after his nine-year Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career. He is a member of the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Playing career Pittsburgh Pirates Mendoza first caught the eye of the Pittsburgh Pirates while playing for the Mexico City Red Devils (Diablos Rojos) of the Mexican League in 1970. His ability for picking grounders prompted the Pirates to purchase Mendoza's contract from Mexico City. Mendoza played four seasons in the Pirates' farm system before debuting with the Pirates on April 26, 1974, as a pinch runner for Willie Stargell. With the Pirates down 3–2 in the ninth inning to the Houston Astros, Mendoza scored the tying run in the Pirates' 4–3 victory. For the season, Mendoza batted .221 in 91 games, but had only 177 plate appearances as he was primarily a defensive replacement when starting Pirates shortstop Frank Taveras (who himself only had a .246 batting average in 1974) had been pinch hit for late in a game. He reached the postseason for the only time in his career during his rookie season. He started game three of the 1974 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and went one for three with a walk and an RBI infield single. On June 28, 1977, Mendoza pitched two innings of mop up duty in the second game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates, having used seven pitchers in a doubleheader with the Montreal Expos two days earlier, had already used three pitchers in the first-game 6–1 loss. Completely depleted of pitchers, Pirates manager Chuck Tanner started relief pitcher Grant Jackson in the second game, pitching six innings despite giving up ten runs (only six of which were earned), and the Pirates were already down 10–3 by the time Mendoza was handed the ball. After getting Keith Hernandez to line into a double play to end his first inning of work, Mendoza gave up a three-run home run to Ken Reitz the following inning, giving Mendoza a career 13.50 earned run average. Mendoza remained with the Pirates as a defensive replacement