A detail view of a San Diego Padres hat on a glove in the dugout in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on June 17, 2022. Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Former Padres Pitcher Passes Away

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By J.P. Hoornstra | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 12:30 PM ET

Eduardo "Coca Cola" Acosta, who pitched for the San Diego Padres from 1971-72, died Thursday in his native Panama. He was 81.

News of Acosta's death was first reported on Instagram by Ronald Acosta Flores, Ed Acosta's nephew, of Radio Boquete in Panama.

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But Acosta was leading the International League in ERA (2.72) with the Triple-A Charleston (W.V.) Charlies at the time of the trade. The Padres saw his potential, and immediately plugged him into their starting rotation.

In his first game as a Padre, on Aug. 24, 1971, Acosta tossed a complete game shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies for his first MLB victory.

Acosta tossed two more complete games before the season ended, finishing 3-3 with an excellent 2.74 ERA in eight games.

Despite the strong debut, Acosta was ticketed for the Padres' bullpen to begin the 1972 campaign. He went 3-6 with a 4.45 ERA in 46 games (two starts), and did not record a save. It was Acosta's first full season in the majors — and it also proved to be his last.

Acosta spent the entire 1973 and 1974 seasons with the Hawaii Islanders, the Padres' top minor league affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. After two seasons in the Mexican League, Acosta retired from baseball as a player and returned to private life in Panama.

It was a remarkable career arc for a player who, by his own admission, didn't pick up a glove until he was 21 and was pitching for the Pirates at 27.

"My father told me not to play the game," Acosta said in a 1971 interview with the Philadelphia Daily News. "He said I'd get hurt. So the first time I went to bat I got hit in the face with a pitch and came away with a black eye. When I got home I told my father I had been stung by a bee."