José Rafael Santiago Alfonso (born August 15, 1940) is a Puerto Rican former right-handed professional baseball pitcher.

He played the outfield in high school, but became a pitcher in college at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico.

When the Giants assigned him to pitch for their minor league Class-D team, still promising his unpaid bonus was coming, Santiago returned to Puerto Rico and to college.

[6] The Athletics were managed by Haywood Sullivan in 1965,[7] and he moved to Boston as player personnel director in 1966, and he was the one who wanted Santiago to join the Red Sox.

[8] The 1966 Red Sox finished with a record of 72–90, and were in second-to-last place in the standings, 26 games behind the eventual world champion Baltimore Orioles.

[1] In 1967, the Red Sox would win the American League (AL) title, and go on to play in a seven-game World Series, under manager Dick Williams, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.

[13] He final eight wins were consecutive, at the end of the season, including a September 30, 1967 game he started and won against the Twins that created a tie for first place.

[2] Although Santiago lost both of his World Series decisions to the St. Louis Cardinals and compiled an ERA of 5.59,[12] he began the 1968 campaign in the Boston rotation, compiling a 9–4 record with a 2.25 ERA in 18 starts before an elbow injury, resulting from a collision with his catcher Mike Ryan, ended his season and derailed his career.

[2] In 1979, Santiago managed in a short-lived Triple-A circuit, the Inter-American League, as skipper of the San Juan Boricuas.