Quote:
Originally Posted by barrysloate
There was a player by the name of Vincent Nava who debuted with Providence in 1882. Although he was born in San Francisco, I've heard he was of Cuban descent. I can't confirm that, however.
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Generally the first Cuban to play in the bigs is acknowledged to be Esteban Enrique Bellan. He made his debut May 9, 1871.
He was not a pitcher, however, and the original statement was about pitching in the USA.
The understandable mix up with Robinson stood out to me only because he passed away recently and I read an article referencing his start in MLB and the timing 50+ years later with Mariano Rivera winding down his career.