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Robin Mark Ventura (born July 14, 1967) is an Americans former professional baseball third baseman and manager. Ventura played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was also the manager for the White Sox for five seasons. The White Sox selected Ventura with the tenth overall pick in the 1988 amateur draft from Oklahoma State University (OSU). He is a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner, two-time MLB All-Star selection and a National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.
While playing college baseball for the Cowboys at OSU, Ventura was a three-time who achieved a Division I-record 58-game hitting streak. In 1988, he won the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award and played for the gold medal-winning Olympic baseball team. In his MLB career, he hit 18 grand slams, ranking fifth all-time. In Game 5 of the 1999 National League Championship Series, Ventura hit the "Grand Slam Single" that won the game but did not actually become a home run because he was unable to complete the circuit around the base paths. Later in his playing career, cartilage and arthritis issues in his ankle hampered his abilities in the field.
After the 2011 season, the White Sox hired Ventura to be their manager. He managed the team from 2012 until 2016.
With the Cowboys, Ventura led the nation in runs (107), runs batted in (RBIs; 96) and total bases (204) in 69 games as a freshman in 1986. In 1987, he had an NCAA-record 58-game hitting streak, breaking the previous record of 47; he also led Division I in RBIs two years in a row. His hitting streak remains the Division I record, though his mark was surpassed in 2003 by Damian Costantino of Division III Salve Regina University, who had a 60-game streak.
Ventura helped OSU reach the finals of the 1987 College World Series, although they lost the championship game to a Stanford University team that included future teammate Jack McDowell. Ventura collected four hits – including a pair of doubles – in the final game and batted .364 for the series. That summer, he played for the Hyannis Mets in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), hitting .370 and led the league in runs batted in with 37. On January 19, 2002, Ventura was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2001. In January 2020, Ventura returned to Oklahoma State to complete his degree and serves as a student assistant coach for the baseball team.
In 1988, Ventura earned a spot on the gold medal-winning Olympic baseball team, batting .409 during the tournament. He won both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy for outstanding collegiate play, concluding his 3-year OSU career with a .428 batting average, a .792 slugging percentage, and 302 RBI. On July 4, 2006, Ventura was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class.
In , Ventura saw his batting average drop 20 points to .262, though both his slugging and on-base percentages rose slightly. He also collected his 500th hit that May and won his third straight Gold Glove, while becoming the first AL third baseman with three consecutive 90-RBI campaigns since Graig Nettles (1975–78). On August 4, 1993, during a game against the Texas Rangers, Ventura was hit by a pitch thrown by Nolan Ryan. Ventura charged the mound, where Ryan, 20 years Ventura's senior, placed Ventura in a headlock and punched him six times, causing a bench-clearing brawl. This brawl was voted the top baseball brawl of all time by ESPN's SportsCenter. The White Sox won the AL West that year, which resulted in Ventura's only playoff trip while in Chicago. They would lose in the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays.
When play resumed in following the 1994 strike, Ventura had ten errors in the first ten games. He spent some time at first baseman that year amid trade rumors, but ended the year with a career-high .295 average, and on September 4 hit two grand slams in one game, the eighth player in history to do so and the first since Frank Robinson in 1970. The next season, he won his fourth Gold Glove, reached new highs in fielding percentage, homers and RBIs, and set team records in career homers by a third baseman (142) and grand slams (9).
When spring training began in the White Sox were picked by many to win their division. In a spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium, Ventura slid into home plate and caught his foot in the mud, suffering a compound fracture and dislocation to his right ankle. The initial prognosis was that he would be lost for the season. However, Ventura was able to return on July 24, more than a week ahead of the most optimistic predictions. He collected the game-winning hit that night, and homered in his first at-bat the next evening. The White Sox did not make the playoffs, in part due to the "White Flag Trade". In , Ventura's final season with the Sox, he won his fifth Gold Glove, but only hit .263. His homer and RBI totals were close to his career averages, but the White Sox attempted repeatedly to trade him and declined to renew his contract, with owner Jerry Reinsdorf claiming that he was "deteriorating."
Despite his injury, Ventura provided the game-winning, bases-loaded, two-out single in the eleventh inning against the Pirates on the final weekend of the regular season. After sweeping Pittsburgh, the Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds in a play-in game to determine the National League Wild Card team. In Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS, with the Atlanta Braves up 3–2 in the fifteenth inning, a bases-loaded walk to Todd Pratt forced in the tying run and brought Ventura to the plate. Ventura hit a home run into right-center field. Pratt, however, did not see the ball leave the park and ran back to first base, hoisting Ventura into the air and lugging him off the field before he could round the bases. The hit was officially scored an RBI single, commonly referred to as the "Grand Slam Single." The Mets eventually lost the series. He won his first NL Gold Glove that fall, bringing his career total to six.
In , still recovering from off-season surgery on both his knee and right shoulder, he hit just .232 with 24 homers and 84 RBI. He spent part of July on the disabled list with inflammation in his repaired shoulder, and was plagued with errors; but rebounded to hit .320 with three homers and 13 RBIs in the last two weeks of the season. When the Mets reached the World Series, he hit his only World Series home run against the Yankees' Orlando Hernández. In , he batted .237 with 21 homers and 61 RBI.
After hitting free agency, Ventura re-signed with the Yankees on a one-year deal with $5 million. In , he was platooned at third base with Todd Zeile, another former Met. Ventura struggled through the first few months of the year; by late July he hit nine homers and 42 RBI. He tied Shea Hillenbrand for the major league lead in errors by a third baseman, with 23.
Re-signed by the Dodgers in December, Ventura entered with a chance to be the Dodgers' starting first baseman, but that changed during the last week of spring training when new general manager Paul DePodesta traded for Cleveland outfielder Milton Bradley. This set off a domino effect that ended in Ventura being relegated to a bench role as a backup infielder and pinch hitter.
He had a game-winning RBI in the second game of the season against the San Diego Padres. He only hit five home runs that season, two of which were pinch-hit game-winning home runs: on July 17 against the Arizona Diamondbacks and on August 1 against the San Diego Padres. He also hit his 17th career grand slam on August 29 against the Mets and his 18th career grand slam on September 7 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ventura made his pitching debut on June 25 during a blowout loss against the Anaheim Angels, allowing a single amid three fly ball outs. The Dodgers made it to the NLDS, but lost in four games. The Dodgers went a perfect 10–0 in games that he hit a home run. Ventura retired after the season due to arthritis in his right ankle.
Ventura's first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame was in 2010, when he received just 1.3% of the votes, failing to reach the 5.0% threshold to stay on the ballot. His next opportunity for Hall of Fame consideration will be in 2023 by the Expansion Era Committee.
He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. In January 2020, Ventura returned to Oklahoma State to complete his degree and serve as a student assistant coach for the baseball team. He earned his bachelor's degree in 2022. Ventura remained on staff with the Cowboys as a volunteer assistant for the 2023 season.
Chicago planned to bring him back for the 2017 season, despite growing dissatisfaction with Ventura among the fan base. However, after four straight losing seasons, he resigned after the 2016 season.
Third basemen with highest career slugging average (Minimum 1500 games at 3B)
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