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Home , 2003 Caribbean Series, 2005 World Series, Albert Pujols, Alvin Dark, Arte Moreno, Ben Oglivie

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PROFESSIONAL SPORT 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 12 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 13

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LATINOS IN MAJOR LEAGUE by Richard Lapchick

A few years ago, wrote, “Baseball isn’t just America’s sport anymore” for ESPN.com. He concluded that, “What is actu- ally being invaded here is America and its hold on its theoretical na- tional pastime. We’re not sure exactly when this happened—possi- bly while you were busy watching a Yankees-Red Sox game—but this isn’t just America’s sport anymore. It is Latin America’s sport.” While it may not have gone that far yet, the presence of Latino players in baseball, especially in , has grown enormously. In 1990, the Racial and Gender Report Card recorded that 13 percent of MLB players were Latino. In the 2009 MLB Racial and Gender Report Card, 27 percent of the players were La- tino. The all-time high was 29.4 percent in 2006. Teams from South America, , and the Caribbean enter the with superstar MLB players on their ros- ters. Stark wrote, “The term, ‘baseball game,’ won’t be adequate to describe it. These games will be practically a cultural symposium— where we provide the greatest Latino players of our time a monstrous stage to demonstrate what baseball means to them, versus what baseball now means to us.” American youth have an array of sports to play besides base- ball, including soccer, basketball, football, and hockey. Now more and more play tennis, golf, and X-Game sports. Some Latinos think baseball is the only sport and in many countries that is true. This is especially the case in Venezuela and the . Nearly four of every five international 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 14

14 Part 1: Professional Sport players in the minor leagues are from those two countries. And more than 40 percent of players are from outside the US. It is also not lost on corporate America that Latinos now com- prise the second-largest population group in the , only surpassed by whites. They provide a huge marketplace and fan bases. Endorsement deals have made Latino athletes even richer. When the athlete is bilingual, his potential to reach Latinos in the US and in his or her home country is even broader. Lots of MLB clubs market heavily to the Latino community but perhaps none more than the of Anaheim. This approach soared after bought the club in 2003 as pro sports’ first Latino owner. They market their Latino stars in a bilingual blitz, putting the faces of the stars on billboards across L.A. Spanish language broadcasts are given on many teams. How- ever, the influence of Latinos in is hardly new. That is a fact that sportswriters, league and team administrators, fans, and even players are just starting to embrace. It is our intent in this section on baseball to illuminate not only the greatest Latino names in baseball but also those that played his- torical roles in the game. Before MLB was integrated by in 1947, Lati- nos played ball on both sides of the color line. Some light-skinned Latinos passed in MLB while others of all skin colors played in the Negro Leagues. In one of the ironies of racism, African-American players in the Negro Leagues were able to play winter ball in Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America but could not play in their own country’s MLB. It was no cakewalk for Latinos in baseball. Viva Baseball, di- rected by Dan Klores, allowed some of the silent voices of the early days after integration to be heard. , one of the greatest of his time, said in the film, “I used to go to my room and cry.” He faced a barrier because of his skin color and the fact that he had no English lan- guage skills when he entered pro baseball in the minors and MLB. Tiant became a dear friend and worked with me at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society in the 1990s. He would share with Boston-area youth the battles he faced from fans making racist assumptions. Tiant came from and by the time he joined us at NU, he was beloved in Boston. 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 15

Latinos in Major League Baseball 15 The had great Latino talent including Felipe, Matty, and Jesús Alou, , and . They were actually ordered not to speak in their own language so they would not be suspected of talking about teammates in negative terms. Some Latino players anglicized their names. Vic Pellot be- came . Some Latinos with darker complexions faced racism because people thought they were Black. When he was de- nied entrance to a movie theater, Cepeda tried to explain that he was Puerto Rican. He said the owner only saw him as being Black. Stereotypes went both ways. said, “I thought all Ameri- cans were white . . . The first time I heard a black man speaking Eng- lish, I was confused.” Players were criticized or stereotyped. was the Gi- ants in that era and admitted in the film that he did not un- derstand Latinos. When he was manager, Dark suggested that Latino players were less intelligent and were not clutch hitters. Forty years later, he admitted, “I really did not know enough about their cul- ture.” was one of the greatest players of all-time yet at points in his Hall of Fame career he was criticized for not being a clutch hitter. There were so many stories like this. Tony Menéndez compiled a list of the top 20 Latinos in MLB by country in the “Bleacher Report.” Each country including Cuba, Mexico, , the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela could have fielded its own MLB All-Star team. Menéndez noted to not for- get “the greats from Central America, such as Nicaragua’s Dennis Martínez and ’s , Ben Oglivie, , and ; and the great from Colombia, and Edgar Rentería.” So you can see how hard it was to choose those Latinos pro- filed in this chapter on baseball. To some degree we were guided by those who made the Hall of Fame. But there were others included for their special roles who are not in the Hall. And , the only modern day player, was chosen because of his unique greatness as a player and as a humanitarian. The Players Historians credit Esteban Bellán with introducing Cubans to their national pastime. He was the first Latino and Cuban baseball player in the American Major Leagues. Bellán played baseball for the 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 16

16 Part 1: Professional Sport Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club while attending Fordham Univer- sity in and participated in the first ever nine-man team college baseball game in 1859. In 1871, he joined the Troy Haymak- ers, which later became the New York Giants. Bellán returned to Cuba, where he participated in the country’s first organized baseball game in December of 1874 and helped create the Baseball Club, the country’s first club dedicated to the sport. In the early 1900s, José Méndez became the first baseball leg- end from Cuba. He was called “El Diamante Negro,” or the “Black Diamond,” and because the nickname was a giveaway for the color of his skin, there was no hope that Méndez would ever play in the major leagues. Méndez was 8-7 in exhibition games against major league competition and finished his career with a 76-28 record. His .731 winning percentage is the highest among players with a minimum of 40 wins in Cuban League history. Cristóbal Torriente earned the nickname “The Cuban ” for his tremendous power displayed in a 1921 showdown vs. the Major League’s New York Giants who were touring with Ruth. For the series, Torriente batted .378 to Ruth’s .345, and he three home runs to Ruth’s two and his team won the series. In 1918, Tor- riente signed with the Negro League’s American Giants. He would lead the American Giants to three consecutive championships by hitting .411, .338, and .342 during the three-year championship . For his career, Torriente ranks 11th on the Negro League all- time list in RBI’s with 309, 12th in with a .517 mark, and 16th in with 1,055. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Hall of Famer and Negro League legend said the best player of all time was Cuba’s Martín Dihigo. Dihigo was legendary for being able to play all nine positions at an All-Star level. Dihigo played 22 seasons in Cuba (1922Ð29, 1931Ð46) and finished with a lifetime .291 average. As a he went 119Ð57 and in his career, spanning across several leagues in different countries, Dihigo is credited with more than 260 wins. In 1977, he was the first Cuban elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. In 1972, Lefty Gómez was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, decades after his career as one of the 1930’s most dominant pitchers ended. A six-time champion with the Yankees, 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 17

Latinos in Major League Baseball 17 Gómez’s 6-0 win-loss World Series record made him the most win- ning World Series pitcher without a loss in major league history. Gómez made seven consecutive All-Star teams (1933Ð39), making five starts and recording three wins. In 1962, the American Baseball Coaches Association started presenting the annual Lefty Gómez Award. Considered one of the most prestigious awards in amateur baseball, it is awarded to an individual who has distinguished them- selves amongst their peers and has contributed significantly to ama- teur baseball in America. Many think of Roberto Clemente when they think of pioneers from Puerto Rico. Far less known, but every bit the pioneer, was . On April 15, 1942—13 years before Clemente would play in the majors. Bithorn made his debut. He was light-skinned, had a name that did not sound Latino, and joined a field of Major League players that had been seriously depleted by World War II. Bithorn posted a 34-31 career record with a 3.16 ERA. He completed 30 of the 53 games he started and finished with eight shutouts. The national stadium that sits across the way from the Coliseum in San Juan was named . Opened in 1962, it honors the island’s first citizen to play in Major League Baseball. Roberto Clemente was undoubtedly one of the most beloved MLB players of all time. He died when his plane crashed as he was trying to help the people of Nicaragua who suffered a terrible earth- quake in December of 1972. His 12 Gold Gloves are tied with for the most ever by an . He was named to 12 All- Star teams and he hit .317 for his career with 3,000 hits. With every accolade Clemente earned, he went back to Puerto Rico a hero. It was a scene that repeated itself for many years in his career. On March 20, 1973 Clemente became the first Latino elected into the Hall of Fame, and the only player in history who had the five-year waiting period waived. In 1973, the Major League Baseball’s Commissioner’s Award was renamed the , which is awarded annually to a player that represents the game of baseball with dignity and serves as an ambassador to the community. is considered one of baseball’s all-time best shortstops. He led the in stolen bases in 1956, winning the MLB Rookie of the Year award. He led the American League in stolen bases for a record nine consecutive seasons 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 18

18 Part 1: Professional Sport (1956Ð64), a record that still stands today. Even with his great skills on the base path, it was Aparicio’s ability in the field that was his most valuable service. Aparicio was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, becoming the first Venezuelan player to achieve this honor. He was given the honor of throwing out the at Game One of the , the first World Series home game to be played by the White Sox since the 1959 World Se- ries, when Aparicio was the starting . Orlando Cepeda’s brilliant career, which began in 1958, in- cluded nine seasons batting .300 or better and eight seasons of 25 or more home runs. He won Rookie of the Year honors for the San Fran- cisco Giants. Cepeda was named MVP and helped lead the Cardi- nals to a World Championship in 1967. After his retirement in 1975, Cepeda was recognized for his humanitarian efforts as an ambassador for baseball. However, in 1978 he was arrested on charges of trying to pick up 160 pounds of marijuana. He was sentenced to five years in prison and served 10 months. This haunted Cepeda for years and affected his Hall of Fame balloting until 1999 when he was elected into the Hall by the . Juan Marichal was unquestionably one of the greatest pitchers the game as ever seen. In 1963 he had a breakout year, going 25-8 and leading the league in victories while totaling 248 and a 2.41 ERA. Marichal was a dominant pitcher during the 1960s in which he won 191 games, more than any other major league pitcher. For his career, Marichal started 457 games and worked more than 300 three times. Commanding excellent control, he had 2,303 strikeouts with only 709 walks, a -to-walk ratio of about 3.25 to 1. This ranks among the top 20 pitchers of all time. Marichal amassed 243 wins, including 52 shutouts and was named to nine All-Star teams. I sat with Tony Pérez on a panel during MLB’s Civil Rights Weekend in 2009 in Cincinnati. The audience of 500 showed the adulation that he had earned during his career there. He played 23 seasons of Major League Baseball, debuting with the in 1964 becoming a key cog in Cincinnati’s “Big Red Ma- chine,” the nickname given to the Reds for their dominance in the from 1970Ð1976 in which they won four National 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 19

Latinos in Major League Baseball 19 League pennants and two World Series titles. By the end of his career, Pérez finished with a lifetime .279 batting average, 379 home runs, 1,652 RBI, and 2,732 hits. Pérez ranks first all-time among players from Latin America in career RBIs. Born in the in 1945, Rod Carew moved to New York in 1961. Six years later, he made the majors and was named American League Rookie of the Year. He was an amazingly consistent hitter with a .300 or better batting average for 15 straight years. He got his 3,000th hit in 1985. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1991 and became a in 1992. Roberto “Bobby” Ávila introduced baseball to millions of Mexicans during his career. As a member of the , Ávila became only the fourth Mexican native to play in Major League Baseball and the first to have great success in the league. He was an excellent and clutch hitter. He had a .978 during his time with the Indians. Ávila helped the Indians win the American League pennant in 1954 when he be- came the first Latino to earn the American League batting crown with a .341 average. He batted over .300 three times in his 11-year career. Saturnino “Minnie” Miñoso was the first black player in White Sox history and the first black Latino in Major League Baseball. In 1948 Miñoso was signed by Cleveland Indians owner . Miñoso made his brief MLB debut with the Indians in 1949. He was one of the best players of the 1950s. He also made his mark by being the only player to compete in pro baseball in seven decades. Miñoso hit over .300 in eight seasons and made seven All-Star Game ap- pearances. He also collected three Gold Gloves for his play in left field. He finished his major league career with 1,963 hits, 205 stolen bases, a .298 batting average, a .389 on-base percentage, and a .459 slugging percentage. Miñoso was not done yet and played in the for more than a decade. In 1973, he had a .265 average, 12 home runs, and 83 RBIs in 120 games in the league. In 2003, at the age of 77, Miñoso made an appearance with the St. Paul Saints, becoming the first player ever to play in seven different decades. Albert Pujols is the only baseball player in history to hit 30- plus home runs in each of his first nine seasons. He is an eight-time 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 20

20 Part 1: Professional Sport All-Star, has been named the National League MVP three times, and has claimed one World Series title. In May 2009, the named Pujols the No. 1 player in baseball. In 2004 he led the Cardi- nals to the World Series, before being swept by the . In 2006, Pujols would lead the Cardinals back to the World Series, this time winning the Championship in five games versus the De- troit Tigers. By the accounts of many writers and historians, Pujols may go down as the greatest baseball player ever. Latino Managers in MLB Mike González’s career as the first Latino manager in Major League Baseball lasted only 21 games over two seasons. Even so, he is un- doubtedly a pioneering figure in the history of minority participation in the sport. He managed the Cardinals for the last 16 games of the 1938 and for nine games during the 1940 season. More im- portant than the number of games he managed was the symbolism behind his position as González proved that Latinos could move off the field and into positions of leadership in the league. Al López became the first full-time Latino manager in Major League baseball history after the Cleveland Indians hired the former player in 1951. The 111 wins by the 1954 Indians was an American League record that stood for more than four decades until 1998. López became the manager in 1957, winning the pennant in 1959 with the “Go-Go” White Sox. López managed the White Sox for another six seasons before retiring after the 1965 season. López finished his career with a 1410-1004 record, which as of the beginning of the 2009 season ranked him 22nd all-time in victo- ries and his .584 winning percentage ranks eighth all-time. In 1977, López was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. First Latino Manager to Win a World Series Ozzie Guillén grew up in Venezuela, had a good career in MLB, and became the first Latino manager to win a World Series after his 2005 White Sox won their first American League pennant in 37 years and their first World Series title since 1917. The Sox won 11 of 12 post- season games and swept the Astros in Guillén’s second 100Campeones_Text.qxp 8/31/10 8:12 PM Page 21

Latinos in Major League Baseball 21 year at the helm. The Baseball Writers Association of American voted Guillén the 2005 American League Manager of the Year. After his first year with the White Sox in 1985, he was named American League Rookie of the Year. In 16 seasons, he was considered as one of the best shortstops of his generation. Executive and Pioneer Alex Pompez is credited for much of the Latino presence in baseball beginning early in the 20th century and running through the 1960’s. The son of Cuban immigrants, his first team was the New York Cubans, which he formed in 1916 for a tour of the United States and the Caribbean. Among the players Pompez is credited with signing either directly or through his network are Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, , Juan Marichal, Minnie Miñoso, , , and the Alou brothers. He is also noted for getting Stoneham interested in signing Willie Mays. All of this earned him induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. First Latino in Major League Baseball , of Dominican descent, but who was mostly raised in , NY, became MLB’s first Latino General Manager at the helm of the . As the general manager of the Expos, Minaya was able to recruit star players who helped the 2002 team finish second in the with a record of 83-79. In 2004, Minaya began serving as the ’ general man- ager. He added stars like Pedro Martínez and Carlos Beltrán, among others. The Mets finished the 2005 seasons with 83 wins. The next season, Minaya’s decisions continued to pay dividends as the Mets won the National League East and finished with 97 wins, tied for the best record in Major League baseball. First Latino Majority Owner in MLB In 2003, Arturo Moreno, a fourth-generation Mexican-American, purchased the Anaheim Angels to become the first Latino majority owner in Major League Baseball history and the first Latino to own a major sports team in the United States. A master marketer, Moreno challenged the L.A. Dodgers’local supremacy and put up the money