Cesar Gutierrez Dies at Age 61

Posted on Mon, Jan. 24, 2005

The Miami Herald

CABIMAS, Venezuela - Cesar Gutierrez, a Venezuelan shortstop who set a major league record for consecutive hits in an extra-inning game with seven while playing with the Detroit Tigers in 1970, has died. He was 61.

Gutierrez died on Saturday of a heart attack and was buried Monday, according to Jesus Camacaro, a close friend of Gutierrez and a member of Cabimas City Council.

On June 21, 1970, Gutierrez had six singles and a triple to go 7-for-7 in a 9-8, 12-inning win over Cleveland in the second game of a doubleheader. In the NL, Wilbert Robinson (1892) and Rennie Stennett (1975) had seven straight hits in nine-inning games.

Gutierrez began his career with the Caracas Lions in 1960, moved up to the major leagues to play with the San Francisco Giants in 1967 and was with Detroit from 1969-72. He had 545 at-bats in four major league seasons, hitting .235 with no homers, 26 RBIs and seven steals.