Hall of Fame
1968 NCAA & AABC All-American … Hit .375 as a senior to earn team Most Valuable Player honors … As a freshman, hit .306 (30-for-98) with three home runs, six doubles, three triples, 16 RBI, and 13 runs scored as a freshman while going 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA, striking out 15 and scattering 14 hits and four walks in 14 innings … 2009 RGV Sports Hall of Fame Inductee … 2012 Texas A&M-Kingsville Hall of Fame Inductee … 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at the South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet … Earned bachelor's degree from Pan American University and has a master's from UT Brownsville … Passed away on April 30, 2021 … March 3 would have been his 78th birthday.
"Our children honor their dad everyday by carry the torch he stood for," Salinas' widow, Thelma, said. "We met at Pan Am around 1966. Fifty-three years later we had five children, 10 grandchildren and one great granddaughter. One thing he always told our children is that 'it's not how you start, it's how you finish, and you need to finish strong.'"
