| Cuban Stars (West) | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
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| Ballpark |
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| Established | 1907 |
| Disbanded | 1930 |
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The Cuban Stars were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that competed in the United States Negro leagues from 1907 to 1930. The team was also sometimes known as the Cuban Stars of Havana, Stars of Cuba, Cuban All-Stars, Havana Reds, Almendares Blues or simply as the Cubans. For one season, 1921, the team played home games in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was known as the Cincinnati Cuban Stars.
The Cuban Stars were organized by Abel Linares and Tinti Molina as a traveling team that played only road games. For its first five years, the team competed primarily in the eastern states, near New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore[ citation needed ] although it made a famous sojourn into Chicago in 1910 and 1911, taking on the Leland Giants and numerous semi-pro teams in the Chicago area.
By 1916, however, the team was competing primarily in the midwestern states and a competing Cuban team was organized in the New York area, which was also named the "Cuban Stars." To differentiate between the two teams, this team is known as the "Cuban Stars (West)," and the new team (organized by Alex Pompez) is known as the Cuban Stars (East). In 1919, they were the western champions, having the highest winning percentage of any Negro league team playing in the west. [2]
From 1920–30, the Cuban Stars competed in the Negro National League.
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Oscar McKinley Charleston was an American center fielder, first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball and the Cuban League. Over his 43-year baseball career, Charleston played or managed with more than a dozen teams, including the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Negro league baseball's leading teams in the 1930s. He also played nine winter seasons in Cuba and in numerous exhibition games against white major leaguers. He was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season.
The first Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues that were established during the period in the United States when organized baseball was segregated. The league was formed in 1920 with former player Rube Foster as its president.
Charles Wilber Rogan, nicknamed "Bullet Joe", was an American pitcher, outfielder, and player-manager for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro baseball leagues from 1920 to 1938. Renowned as a two-way player who could both hit and pitch successfully, one statistical compilation shows Rogan winning more games than any other pitcher in Negro leagues history and ranking fourth highest in career batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. They were one of the prominent independent teams prior to World War I before organized league play began.
The Cincinnati Tigers were a professional Negro league baseball team that was based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cristóbal Torriente was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as an outfielder and pitcher in the Negro leagues and the Cuban League with multiple teams. He played from 1912 to 1932 and was primarily a pull hitter, though he could hit with power to all fields. He had a stocky and slightly bowlegged build, but was known for deceptive power and a strong, accurate arm from center field. Indianapolis ABC's manager C. I. Taylor stated, "If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub.'" Torriente was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
José de la Caridad Méndez Báez was a Cuban professional baseball right-handed pitcher, shortstop, third baseman and manager in the Negro leagues. Born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he died at age 43 in Havana. Known in Cuba as "The Black Diamond", he became a legend in his homeland. He was one of the first group of players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2006.
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known as the "Cuban Winter League."
The Cuban Stars were a professional baseball team that competed in the Negro leagues in the eastern United States from 1916 to 1933. The team was largely composed of professional baseball players from Cuba and other Latin American countries. They generally were a traveling team that played only road games. From 1916 to 1929, the Cuban Stars were owned by Alex Pompez.
The East–West League was an American Negro baseball league that operated during the period when professional baseball in the United States was segregated. Cum Posey organized the league in 1932, but it did not last the full year and folded in June of that year. It was the first Negro league to include teams from both the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
The Negro Southern League (NSL) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The NSL was organized as a minor league in 1920 and lasted until 1936. It was considered a major league for the 1932 season and it was also the only organized league to finish its full schedule that season. Prior to the season, several established teams joined the NSL, mainly from the collapsed Negro National League.
The American Series was the name given to the exhibition baseball games played between Cuban and American teams in Cuba. Before the Cuban Revolution, American teams would regularly travel to Cuba and play various professional, all-star and/or amateur Cuban teams throughout the country. The series usually took place either in the fall, after the end of the American season, or during spring training before the season began. The first American Series took place in 1879, with then minor league Worcester team going 2–0 against its Cuban opponents.
The Long Branch Cubans were a professional baseball team that played from 1913 to 1916. It was the first U.S. minor league baseball team composed almost entirely of Cubans. Several players, including Dolf Luque and Mike González, went on to play in the major leagues. The Cubans played in Long Branch, New Jersey from 1913 to 1915, except for the first half of the 1914 season, when they played in Newark, New Jersey. In 1916, they started the season playing in Jersey City, New Jersey as the "Jersey City Cubans." Later that summer, they moved their home games to Poughkeepsie, New York, where they were usually referred to as the "Long Branch Cubans." In late July 1916 they briefly moved to Harlem and finally to Madison, New Jersey in August.
Pollock's Cuban Stars were a traveling Negro league baseball team that played from about 1927 to 1936 featuring players primarily from Cuba.
The following is a timeline of the evolution of major-league-caliber franchises in Negro league baseball. The franchises included are those of high-caliber independent teams prior to the organization of formal league play in 1920 and concludes with the dissolution of the remnant of the last major Negro league team, the Kansas City Monarchs then based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in about 1966. All teams who played a season while a member of a major Negro league are included. The major leagues are the original Negro National League, the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro League, the East–West League, the second Negro National League and the Negro American League. Teams from the 1932 original Negro Southern League are also included which allows for the inclusion of the few high caliber minor Negro league teams.