[Jason19th]

I was lucky enough recently to pick up (for a very low price no less) an 1906 edition of Spalding's "Guia Oficial Del Baseball de Spalding" Most people don;t know that from 1906 to 1918 Spalding published a number of guides in Spanish that centered on the Cuban leagues. The later editions are even better as a number of Negro leaguers like Pop Lloyd are featured. While there are only a few pictures in the 1906 edition the has a team photo of the Almendares teams that is a great illustration of the absudity of the color line for American baseball as players like Marsan and Almedia were judged light enough to pass and play in the majors while teammates like Hidalgo and Garcia were to dark and had to play in the Negro Leagues if they wanted to play in the US.