Miguel Ángel de la Hoz Piloto

Born in Havana, former Major League Baseball player as an infield player.

Miguel Angel "Mike" De La Hoz Piloto, who resides in the city of Miami, Florida, was born at Central Gómez Mena in San Nicolás, province of Havana, but studied and grew up in nearby Güines, where he began playing baseball at the Institute of that locality.

He made his debut in organized baseball with Minot of the Northern League in 1958 and after being promoted by the Cleveland Indians to the Major Leagues on July 22, 1960, he remained at that level for nine years, also wearing the uniforms of the Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds in the final game of his career on September 9, 1969.

He signed with the Cleveland Indians as a free amateur before the 1958 season and played for the Indians (1960–1963), Milwaukee Braves (1964–1965), Atlanta Braves (1966–1967), and Cincinnati Reds (1969). He was a valuable player, a fielder slightly below average with decent batting.

De la Hoz played in 43 games in the 1960 season, his best season, with a total average of .214. His best work was at second base, fielding .972 in 119 appearances. He was often used as a pinch hitter throughout his career.

A game for which de la Hoz is remembered occurred on July 8, 1965 while playing for the Milwaukee Braves. Baseball history remembers the feat accomplished by former Cuban infielder Mike de la Hoz, in a game held on Thursday, July 8, 1965 at County Stadium in Milwaukee, when he wore the uniform of the Braves of that city, then of the National League.

The incredible thing is that that day De La Hoz was on the bench when the game between the Braves and visiting Houston Astros began, who presented Don Nottebart on the mound against Tony Cloninger for the home team.

The Astros scored three times in the first inning, inspired by the first of two home runs by second baseman Joe Morgan with the bases empty, who batted 6-6 with four runs scored and three driven in. The Braves responded with a run from Hank Aaron's 16th home run of the season.

In a truly high and low game, the Astros reached the second part of the eighth inning with a 6-4 lead, with Dave Giusti on the mound who had replaced Nottebart in the sixth inning.

Then Braves manager Bobby Bragan sent De La Hoz to bat as a pinch hitter, who opened the inning and taking advantage of one of Giusti's pitches, hit his second home run of the campaign, bringing the score to 6-5.

But the Astros didn't sit idle in the top of the ninth, scoring twice, in what seemed to be the "finishing" runs, as they say in baseball jargon.

In the dramatic second part of the inning the Braves rebelled and scored twice against Cuban left-hander Mike Cuéllar, who was replaced by Jim Owens. De La Hoz, who had stayed defending shortstop, connected a golden hit that served to tie the disputed game at eight runs a side.

The challenge extended to the twelfth inning and in the bottom, De La Hoz started it by hitting a base hit off reliever and losing pitcher Ron Taylor, later scoring the winning run, which left the Astros on the field, who lost the game 9-8.

De La Hoz, who did not enter to play until the eighth inning, almost when it was time to put away the bats, hit a home run in that inning, got the hit that tied the game in the ninth, and hit a single and scored the winning run in the twelfth. With his totals of 3-3, with two runs scored and two driven in, something truly beyond the imagination of a Hollywood science fiction screenplay, which caused the Astros' manager, Lum Harris, to comment; "If he had started the game it wouldn't have hurt us so much."

De la Hoz's batting totals for 494 games include 280 hits, 25 home runs, 115 runs batted in, 116 runs scored, a batting average of .251, and a slugging percentage of .365.

In addition to being part of the All-Star Team during the last championship of the defunct Cuban Baseball League in 1960-61, wearing the Almendares uniform, for whom he played since the 1957-58 championship, he traveled through several Caribbean countries.

On January 2, 1995 in Miami, the "Association of Former Salesian Alumni of Güines" offered him a well-deserved tribute together with other notable people from Güines.