n MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota -- Cesar Tovar, one of only two major leaguers to play all nine positions in a baseball game, has died in Venezuela. He was 54.


The Minnesota Twins, for whom Tovar played from 1965-72, announced his death Thursday night and asked for a moment of silence before the game against Milwaukee.


Benpress, the national news agency in Venezuela, said Tovar would be buried Friday. He died Thursday in a hospital in his native Caracas, but the cause of death was not immediately known. On Sept. 22, 1968, Tovar played one inning at every position in Minnesota's 2-1 victory over Oakland. He joined Bert Campaneris, who did it in a 13-inning loss for the Kansas City Athletics on Sept. 8, 1965.