Former MLB closer Francisco Cordero was robbed at gunpoint in the Dominican Republic while sitting around a table with others, surveillance video shows.
El Nuevo Diario reported that Cordero was sitting at a table playing dominoes in Santo Domingo before two armed assailants on a motorcycle drove up, with one wearing a black hooded jacket, blue hat and a mask/bandana.
The armed assailant approached Cordero, who quickly put his hands over his head while the indivdiual pointing a gun at him ripped the chain off the ex-closer’s neck.
As the chain ripped off Cordero’s neck, the armed assailant fell over and scurried back to their motorcycle, now pointing their gun at a female wearing a green shirt, who was present for the entire incident.
The perp fell off the motorcycle while a group of five watched on.
After failing to get back on the motorcycle, the robber ran off with the chain, leaving the motorcycle behind.
“It doesn’t seem like it was a random robbery because the assailant jumped off the motorcycle, grabbed the gun and went straight to me, took off my chain and left,” Cordero told Dominican Republic outlet N Digital.
“He didn’t take the money I had in my pockets, nor my cell phone, nor did he address anyone else.”
Cordero, 49, was born in Santo Domingo.
He spent 14 seasons in the big leagues, spanning from 1999 to 2012, and notably served as one of the better closers in baseball during the mid-2000s.
Cordero spent most of his prime years with the Rangers and Reds while playing for six teams in his career.
Cordero accumulated 302 saves from 2004-11, the second most in all of baseball during that time period behind only Yankees legend Mariano Rivera.
Ex-Red Sox star David Ortiz was shot in Santo Domingo in an attempted robbery in 2019..
