This is the worst part about being a fan of the game, saying goodbye to the great players that have made the game what it was. And Saturnino Orestes Minoso was not just a great player, he was a great man, and an ambassador for the game he loved. That he wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame in his lifetime is yet another strike against a Hall that has lost its way. I read an interview with him not long ago, and his dream was to be inducted while he was alive. Well, he has always been a Hall of Famer to me.
What Jackie Robinson did for black men who were kept out of the game because of a "gentlemen's agreement", as it was called between the owners of the day, Minnie Minoso did for not only Latin American players, but all foreign players. There may have been a few other Latin American players who preceded him (just like there were black players who preceded Robinson, though decades earlier), but Minoso's talent, and charisma, broke down barriers. Not only did he face racial discrimination because of the color of his skin, he was also discriminated against because he was a foreigner. And when I think of that, I don't know how this "Golden Era Committee" didn't vote him in. When he came to the United States from his homeland of Cuba, he spoke very little English. But he still excelled. And he became beloved.
Look at all the players in the Major Leagues now from other countries, not just Latin America. Not only do we have players from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America, but also Korea, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Germany...everywhere. Anywhere that baseball is played, there are representatives in the Major Leagues. Now there are players in the minors from India, too.
Minnie Minoso made that possible. He faced what Jackie Robinson did, and more. And, like Robinson, he was a fantastic player.
How is he not in Cooperstown?
God's Speed, Cuban Comet.
