Chito Martinez, the first native of Belize to reach Major League Baseball, died on Tuesday. He was 59.

Martinez played 158 games with Baltimore from 1991-93, hitting 18 home runs, driving in 58, and finishing his career with a .259/.330/.445 slash line.

Martinez was born in Honduras City, Martinez was born in Dec. 1965 in British Honduras, 16 years before the country currently known as Belize achieved independence from the United Kingdom.

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Martinez’s family moved to New Orleans when he was 2 years old. He grew up and learned to play baseball in the United States.

“My parents came here because there was more opportunity,” he told the Baltimore Sun in 1991. “It was a better place to raise a family.”

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Martine was drafted in the sixth round of the 1984 MLB draft by the Kansas City royals out of Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. Seven years later, he made his major league debut.

Martinez spent the 1994 season with the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, and the following year with the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, before retiring as a player.

More to come on this story from Newsweek Sports.