"Candelita" Iglesias: a swing for Cuba's greatest and most mysterious home run record in MLB

August 14, 2025

Of all the Major League stadiums where full-time play has taken place in the last five years, Oracle Park in San Francisco is where the fewest home runs have been hit (700), tied with PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Giants' home field has not been particularly friendly to batters, to the point that no player from the franchise has surpassed the 30 home run barrier in a season since 2004.

But right there, against the breeze of San Francisco Bay, Cuban José Iglesias broke a streak of 91 games with at least one plate appearance without hitting a home run, the worst stretch of his MLB career by a wide margin. The event happened this Wednesday in the game between the Padres and the Giants, in which "Candelita" caught a slider right down the middle from left-hander Robbie Ray and sent it flying over the left field.

On the first pitch, Iglesias quickly extended his arms and dispatched a fly ball that left his bat at 96.2 mph and traveled 358 feet, not a particularly long hit by home run standards. But the Cuban takes it just the same, because he managed to give the Padres a two-run advantage in a game that they would later win to continue their spectacular hunt against the Dodgers in the West of the National League.

"It was a great swing to put the team in a good position. Ray is a competitive pitcher, we'll probably face each other again, but I was ready to have a quick reaction and hit," Iglesias said about his connection, which ended up becoming the seventh shortest home run of his career in the Major Leagues among all those monitored by Statcast. In fact, according to that same data source, the hit would not have been a home run in 16 of the 30 stadiums in the circuit.

In this way, "Candelita" broke a streak of 300 plate appearances without hitting a home run and, in the process, established a home run record for Cuban players in MLB that little—or perhaps nothing—has been said about.

The mysterious record

How is it possible that a player with only 52 home runs for life has set a new home run mark for Caribbean players in MLB? Well, that's exactly where the mystery of the matter lies. It turns out that Iglesias is the first Cuban to hit at least one home run with eight different teams in the Majors, which broke the tie with José Cardenal, José Canseco, Yonder Alonso, Adeiny Hechavarría and Kendrys Morales, who managed to clear the ball wearing the uniform of seven organizations.

"Candelita's" journey began more than a decade ago, on September 20, 2012, when he was playing for the Red Sox. That day, with only 25 games in MLB, he hit the ball beyond the limits at Tropicana Field in Tampa against pitches from J.P. Howell, a left-hander for the Rays who was his first victim.

From that point on, Iglesias, despite not being a power hitter, has never missed his home run date, in fact, he has displayed at least one home run in each of the 12 seasons he has played in the best baseball in the world from 2012 to date. In this journey, he has contributed to eight different teams:

* Boston Red Sox: 3 home runs in 121 games

* Detroit Tigers: 19-558

* Cincinnati Reds: 11-146

* Baltimore Orioles: 3-39

* Los Angeles Angels: 8-114

* Colorado Rockies: 3-118

* New York Mets: 4-85

* San Diego Padres: 1-87

Of his 52 home runs, 15 have been measured beyond 400 feet, and the longest one he hit was on April 8, 2017. Against left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez (Red Sox), "Candelita" dispatched a missile of 433 feet over the left field woods at Comerica Park in Detroit.

But there's more miscellany about his home run record:

* Of his 52 home runs, nine have served to tie games and 12 to give his team an advantage.

* He has hit nine home runs on the first pitch, but the count on which he has hit the most balls (11) has been one ball and one strike.

* Of his home runs, 30 have been at home and 22 away, while he has hit more right-handers (29) than left-handers (23).

* He has punished 51 pitchers, but the only one he has hit a home run against twice is Trevor Hildenberger.

* His only game with two home runs was on July 12, 2024 against the Rockies. That day he bombed Tanner Gordon and Peter Lambert.

* He has hit home runs against 26 Major League teams. He still needs Detroit, Arizona, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

* Of his home runs, 27 have been with no one on base and two with the bases loaded, both in 2019 and against the Pirates. The first grand slam came on May 27 (vs. Mitch Keller) and the second on July 29 (vs. Montana DuRapau).

Home runs everywhere

José Iglesias could have home runs with nine different teams, because in 2023 he signed with the Marlins, but he never made it to MLB with the South Florida organization and chose to opt out of his contract. However, a hypothetical four-bagger with Miami would not have placed him at the top of players who have hit home runs with the most different teams.

That honor is shared by Todd Zeile and Matt Stairs, who managed at least one home run with 11 different teams. Meanwhile, Venezuelan Henry Blanco, Dominican José Guillén and Americans Kenny Lofton, Tommy Pham, Marlon Byrd and Russell Branyan accomplished it with ten teams.

Slightly broader is the list of players who have accumulated home runs with nine different teams. It stands out Dan Brouthers and Rickey Henderson, members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, as well as Venezuelan Orlando Cabrera. The others included are Tom Brown, Jerry Hairston, Gregg Zaun, Dave Martínez, Royce Clayton and Tommy Davis.

For their part, home runs with eight different teams have been hit by 33 players, including "Candelita", Panamanian Roberto Kelly, Dominican Melky Cabrera and Puerto Ricans Benito Santiago, René Rivera, Juan Benítez, Fermín López, José Hernández and Rubén Sierra.

In total, there are 288 players in Major League history who have played for a minimum of eight different teams. Of them, 50 have hit home runs with at least eight of their teams. The only Cuban name included in these lists is that of José "Candelita" Iglesias, owner of one of the least known Caribbean records in MLB.