Elías Sosa
baseball player
Elías Sosa Martínez (born June 10, 1950) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He was signed by the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB) as an amateur free agent on March 4, 1968, and played for the Giants (1972–1974), St. Louis Cardinals (1975), Atlanta Braves (1975–1976), Los Angeles Dodgers (1976–1977), Oakland Athletics (1978), Montreal Expos (1979–1981), Detroit Tigers (1982), and San Diego Padres (1983).
Sosa was used almost exclusively in relief during his 12-year MLB career. He appeared in 601 games, just three as a starter, and performed as both a closer and a long reliever. He twice had an earned run average (ERA) below 2.00 (1977 and 1979), and in his rookie year, 1973, he won 10 games, saved 18, and pitched in 71 games, all of which would become career highs.
In 1973, he saved nine of teammate Ron Bryant's major league-leading 24 wins, including #20.
He finished in the top ten American League or National League pitchers four times for games pitched and games finished, three times for saves, and once for winning percentage.
Other career highlights include:
3 scoreless innings to earn a save against the Philadelphia Phillies (June 2, 1973)
won games on two consecutive days vs. the Atlanta Braves, pitching a combined 4 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts, no walks, and giving up just one hit (September 1 and 2, 1973)
4 scoreless innings to earn a save against the Cincinnati Reds (July 26, 1974)
4 innings, allowing just one run (unearned), to earn a save against the San Francisco Giants (May 23, 1976)
4.1 scoreless innings, with a career-high 6 strikeouts, for a no decision vs.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Elías Sosa” is baseball player. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Elías, Sosa and baseball, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “baseball player” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5368673. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 1968, 1972 and 1974.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Elías Sosa”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Elías Sosa primary sources, Elías Sosa archive and Elías research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Elías Sosa”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Elías Sosa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.