SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Former big league outfielder Rufino Linares was killed early Saturday when his car slid off a highway and crashed into two palm trees.

  Linares, who was 47, played for the Atlanta Braves and the California Angels from 1981-1985 and was a star in the Domincan Winter League, where he batted a career .285 with 32 home runs and 561 RBI in 16 seasons.

  More recently, Linares was a coach with the Toyo Carp team in Hiroshima, Japan.

  The accident occurred at 2 a.m. Saturday outside the town of San Pedro de Macoris, about 17 miles east of Santo Domingo, the capital, according to a police report. Linares was killed instantly.

  Linares' death was the third fatal traffic accident involving professional baseball players in the Dominican Republic in the last two years. Jose Oliva died in December and William Suero was killed in an accident in late 1996.