The First Black in Baseball - Page 8

Babe Ruth was perhaps the most famous example of this point. "Ruth was racially insulted so often that many people assumed that he was indeed partly black and that at some point in time he, or an immediate ancestor, had managed to cross the color line," wrote Ruth biographer Robert W. Creamer. "Even players in the Negro baseball leagues that flourished then believed this and generally wished the Babe, whom they considered a secret brother, well in his conquest of white baseball."

Manuel 'Chino' HidalgoWhile there's no evidence that Ruth had any black ancestors, the racist American belief that any possibility of African blood immediately makes the person "black" was disregarded in the case of Estalella, and later in the case of Tomas de la Cruz, another Cuban player of obvious African ancestry who played for Cincinnati in 1944, as well as a Cuban of Chinese ancestry, Manuel "Chino" Hidalgo, who was signed by the Senators and played in the Minor Leagues, but never broke into the majors. Hidalgo was probably the first man of Asian ancestry to play in organized professional baseball in the US.

Another Cuban baseball legend is the story of Branch Rickey and black Cuban player, Silvio Garcia. Silvio GarciaIf we are to believe many Cuban stories of the times, Branch Rickey started to seriously consider that the best strategy to break the color barrier would be by bringing a black Cuban player to the major leagues. His initial choice was a very good Cuban shortstop, Silvio García. According to Edel Casas, the noted Cuban baseball historian, Rickey met with García in Havana in 1945 to explore the possibility of bringing Garcia to the Dodgers. As he would later do with Robinson, Rickey interviewed García and asked him: "What would you do if a white American slapped your face?" García's response was succint and sincere. "I kill him," he answered. Needless to say, García was never a choice after that.

Orestes MinosoIn 1947, after Robinson finally broke the racial barrier for African-Americans, many black Cubans followed in his steps, in many cases becoming the first black players in many MLB teams. None of these was greater than Orestes Miñoso, called "Minnie" in the United States. On April 19, 1949 Miñoso made his debut with the Cleveland Indians, and became the first black Cuban and Afro Latin American to play major league baseball. He collected 1,963 hits in his career and became the second major leaguer to play in five different decades. However, like their American colleagues, many other earlier great black Cubans, such as the legendary Martin Dihigo, now in the Hall of Fame, never had a chance to play in the Majors.

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Article Author: Lenny Campello

F. Lennox Campello is a widely published Washington, DC and Philadelphia based art critic, as well as an award winning artist and curator. He is also often heard on NPR and the Voice of America discussing visual art issues. …

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  • 1 - danielle

    Nov 20, 2009 at 9:39 am

    hi ny name is danielle aka dani

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