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.166973.1

SENATE MEMORIAL 65

48

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Stuart Ingle

A MEMORIAL

LAUDING THE LIFE OF OSCAR ACOSTA AND EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCE

OF THE SENATE ON HIS UNTIMELY DEATH.

WHEREAS, Oscar Acosta was born March 21, 1957 in Portales

and grew up in Elida, graduating from Elida high school; and

WHEREAS, Oscar was the proud son of Juan and Concha

Acosta, who came to the United States from Mexico in the 1950s

as part of a federal program that solicited workers to build

railroads; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, at Lubbock Christian college, Oscar was

named an all-American pitcher by the national association of

intercollegiate athletics; and

WHEREAS, he played minor league baseball for three years

with the Philadelphia Phillies and one year in the Mexican

league before a torn rotator cuff ended his pitching career;

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and

WHEREAS, he began his professional coaching career in 1988

in the minor leagues, working for the Texas Rangers and the New

York Yankees organizations and the Columbus Clippers of the

international league, and he moved to the major league as a

pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs in 2000 and 2001 and for

the Texas Rangers in 2002; and

WHEREAS, while with the Chicago Cubs, he helped to turn

around one of the national league's worst pitching staffs and

in 2001, his pitchers set a major league record with one

thousand three hundred four strikeouts; and

WHEREAS, he rejoined the Yankee's organization in 2004 as

manager of its Gulf Coast League team where his skills netted

the team league championships in 2004 and 2005 and earned him

the title "Manager of the Year" in 2004; and

WHEREAS, he and Humberto Trejo were tragically killed in

an automobile accident on April 19, 2006 while they were on a

scouting trip to the Dominican Republic; and

WHEREAS, Oscar Acosta was a tough, intense coach who

taught his pitchers mental toughness and how to be mentally

prepared for the game; and

WHEREAS, while Oscar loved baseball and the young men he

coached, his greatest love was his family; and

WHEREAS, Oscar Acosta was a man molded by the hard life of

rural poverty, steeped in the values of Old Mexico and the

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eastern plains of New Mexico, and he held dear the lessons he

learned from his parents and his community about the value of

persistence and hard work and the importance of respect and

love of family;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE

OF NEW MEXICO that New Mexico's native son, Oscar Acosta, be

recognized for his many accomplishments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that heartfelt condolences be

extended to the family and friends of Oscar Acosta; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to his wife, Kathy, and his children, Melissa,

Amanda and Ryan.

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