Specialized Catalog Cuban Cards Answer

[GeoPoto]

Ramón "Mike" Herrera was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a second baseman for the Boston Red Sox in part of two seasons. 261 hits and 1 home run in 5 MLB seasons.

Long before Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, Herrera was one of the first men to play in both the major leagues (1925-1926) and the Negro leagues (1915-1928). He played for the Cuban Stars (West) of the Negro National League in 1920 and 1921, and for the Cuban Stars (East) of the Eastern Colored League in 1928. He joined the Boston Red Sox in September 1925, appearing in 10 games. He was enshrined in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963.

From Herrera's SABR biography: Were the Boston Red Sox the last major-league team to sign a black player? Or were they one of the first? Did the Red Sox actually have a black ballplayer long before Pumpsie Green and 22 years before Jackie Robinson debuted with the Dodgers? Havana’s Ramon “Mike” Herrera totaled 276 at-bats in 1925 and 1926 while serving as a second baseman for the Red Sox (an even .275 batting average). He also played for Negro League teams both before and after his stretch with Boston, one of just 11 players who played in both the Negro Leagues and major leagues before World War II.

Before joining the Red Sox, Herrera had played for Almendares in Havana, as well as with La Union, All Leagues, and the (Cuban) Red Sox. The Boston Red Sox purchased him from their Springfield (Eastern League) club. The Boston Globe termed him a “splendid prospect” and he did go 2-for-5 in his first game.

Negro Leagues historian Todd Bolton, asked about Herrera’s history in the Negro Leagues, replied: “In the pre-Negro League years he barnstormed in the US with the Long Branch Cubans and the Jersey City Cubans. When the first Negro National League was formed in 1920, Herrera was a member of the Cuban Stars (West), one of the inaugural teams in the league. He stayed on with the team in 1921 when it became the Cincinnati Cubans. Herrera returned to the Negro Leagues for one final season in 1928 with Alejandro Pompez’ Cuban Stars (East).”

Photographs of Mike Herrera seem to show that he could easily “pass” for white, and for those who want to measure such things, he may have been more white than black. So did he have to “pass for black” when he was in the Negro Leagues? Not really, Bolton explained. There were a number of light-skinned players in the Negro Leagues and even more “white” Cubans. These players were used to playing together in Latin America. It was only in the United States that they were segregated.

Herrera was one of 16 Cubans listed by Pete Bjarkman as having played in both the major leagues and the Negro Leagues. [Bjarkman, A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006, McFarland, 2007, p. 134] Ocania Chalk, author of Pioneers of Black Sport: A Study in Courage and Perseverance, states that Herrera “has been verified as a black“ – however this is determined. [Unattributed clipping in Ramon Herrera player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame]

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[Jason19th]

While I think you can make the argument that Herrera was not “white” I think it’s a stretch to argue that he was black. Unlike players like Roberto Estalella and Luis Padron, and Tomas De La Cruz who clearly looked mixed race, Herrera appears to be of entirely white hispanic heritage. . Nothing I have every read other then Chalk - who was terrible with his sourcing and also claimed that Mike Gonzalez was black, suggested that Herrera had any black heritage. This however in no way diminishes Herrera’s story as he was able to move back and forth between white and black baseball like almost no other player. Below is a 1926 minor league team ball with one of the few existing Herrera autographs

[Roland 49]

Paito Herrera, thanks to George and Jason for their comments I consider very good, Paito I think that perhaps his grandparents or later, some of them had some race that was not pure white, in Cuba when the Spanish colonized it and then slavery came Of the blacks brought from Africa, the mixture of both races gave rise to what we call "mulatto", but according to the next generations, they were mixed, the color of the skin and hair improved, and some features sometimes remain, and He calls them "triguenos" almost white, but the skin is somewhat darker, but they are considered white, and that is the case of Paito, Almeida, Marsans, Estalella and others, now I show a photo that I edit where Paito appears, who is the first Standing from left to right, we also see Julio Rojo, Alejandro Oms, Bartolo Portuondo and others.

[GeoPoto]

Rafael D. Almeida was a Major League Baseball third baseman with the Cincinnati Reds (1911-13). 77 hits and 3 home runs in 3 MLB seasons. Almeida and Armando Marsans debuted together with the Reds on July 4, 1911. They are sometimes named the first major league players born in Cuba, although that is incorrect.

Six years before Cincinnati, Almeida and Marsans both played "Negro baseball" in the United States as 1905 members of the integrated All Cubans. Almeida played winter baseball in the Cuban League from 1904 to 1925 and was one of ten players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in its 1939 inaugural class.

From Almeida's SABR biography: “Wish we had him. He is not colored.”

Those were the words that Frank Bancroft, the Cincinnati Reds’ business manager, wrote to team president and National Commission Chairman Garry Herrmann in 1911 about Rafael Almeida. The Reds were in the midst of acquiring Almeida and fellow Cuban player Armando Marsans, and, as the first two Cubans to play major-league baseball, their signings marked a significant milestone in terms of who could participate in white Organized Baseball at its top level. However, as evidenced in Bancroft’s letter, Almeida’s presence on the Reds roused the suspicions of the league’s white-supremacist gatekeepers, and questions of his perceived skin color and racial background dominated much of his short playing career in the National League.

Anticipating the intense suspicion regarding Almeida’s racial background, Bancroft and the Reds issued a barrage of letters and press insisting on his whiteness. The club called the players “pure Spaniards, without a trace of colored blood,” but the most infamous of justifications came via the pen of the Cincinnati Enquirer: The two Cubans were of “a noble Spanish race, with no ignoble African blood to place a blot or spot on their escutcheons. Permit me to introduce two of the purest bars of Castilian soap that ever floated to these shores.”

Jack Ryder, the Reds beat writer near the start of his 30-year career with the Enquirer, continued to relay Almeida’s performance and the Reds fans’ reactions to his play. In a characteristic column, Ryder wrote of Almeida’s “timely hitting” as a “great [factor] in the Reds’ success” that day, driving in the two winning runs. A few lines below, he captured the crowd’s feelings and alluded to Almeida’s purported racial makeup: “Almeida was greeted with rousing cheers from the populace and responded by doffing his cap in a polite Castilian manner as he left the field. His double was one of the longest and hardest hits of the day and came just when it was most needed to give the Reds the edge on the contest.”

This sort of writing is emblematic of how many tied Almeida’s skill to his perceived white professionalism and class background, a theme common with Latino players in the pre-Jackie Robinson era. Ryder directly linked Almeida’s good performance, his favor among the Cincinnati faithful, and his “Castilian manner,” an important schema of thought for those invested in upholding the color line. When faced with the prospect of those who didn’t fit the black/white binary upon which the segregated major leagues were built, it became vital for those white gatekeepers to engage in the rhetorical whitening of those players. Rafael Almeida’s major-league experiences are an important piece in the story of Cubans gaining entry — or failing to gain entry — to white Organized Baseball in the United States.

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[Roland 49]

George, you always post something interesting, in this case of Rafael Almeida, he married twice and his grandchildren from those marriages, I met them and they visited my house years ago and I got some interesting things, now I show a photo of Almeida in the grounds of the Almendares Park, with the Havana team uniform.

[GeoPoto]

Armando Marsans Mendiondo was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1911 to 1918. He played in three different major leagues in his career: with the Cincinnati Reds in the National League (1911–1914), with the St. Louis Terriers in the Federal League (1914–1915), and with the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees (1916–1918). 612 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons.

Six years before Cincinnati, Marsans and Almeida played "Negro baseball" in the United States as 1905 members of the integrated All Cubans. Marsans also played Negro league baseball in 1923 for the Cuban Stars. Marsans played winter baseball in the Cuban League from 1905 to 1928 and was one of ten players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in its 1939 inaugural class. Marsans was also a long-time manager in the Cuban League and won a championship in the winter of 1917 as manager of the Orientals team.

From Marsans' SABR biography: Though almost universally well-liked, Marsáns was known for being headstrong and temperamental, which in 1914 led to the biggest scandal of his career. During spring training he got into a heated argument with his new manager, Buck Herzog, who accused Marsáns of lying about suffering an injury. Herzog suspended Marsáns, who then demanded to be traded, a request that was refused by Herrmann. Then on May 31, Herzog berated Marsáns for getting ejected from a game. “He is too sensitive,” Herzog said. “He should remember that baseball is a red-blooded game for rough and hardy men.”

Herzog’s comments, according to one observer, were “not at all to the liking of the classy outfielder,” and Marsáns responded by jumping his three-year contract with Cincinnati. After being wined and dined by the owners of the St. Louis Terriers, he signed with their outlaw Federal League franchise. Marsáns was offered a three-year, $21,000 contract by the Feds, which he accepted after giving the Reds 10 days’ notice, the same notice a ballclub was required to give before terminating a contract with a player. Cincinnati immediately filed a lawsuit (in federal court because Marsáns was not a US citizen) claiming that its “property” had been jeopardized. After Marsáns had played only nine games with St. Louis, an injunction was issued barring him from playing in the Federal League pending the trial’s outcome.

Marsáns’ case, along with that of Hal Chase, became a cause célèbre for supporters of the Federal League. Baseball Magazine dubbed it “the sensational Marsans case, one of the series of recent legal battles which have thrown the baseball world into an upheaval, and which threaten to wreck the entire game.” Unable to play while the two sides battled it out in court, Marsáns could do little but return to Havana, where he spent his days shark-fishing in the bay. “We are not restraining Marsáns and Chase from playing, but trying to get them to play,” Herrmann insisted. “It is the Federal League that is keeping them from playing, if any one is.” The Reds, who had been half a game out of first place when Marsáns jumped, finished the season dead last.

Because the National Commission had threatened to ban any player who competed against Marsáns, he was forced to play the 1914-15 Cuban Winter League season under the assumed name “Mendromedo.” In February 1915, with Marsáns still on the sidelines, his friend John McGraw visited him in Cuba, offering to trade for Marsáns if he would return to the National League with the Giants. But Marsáns would have none of it. He believed that the press, and New York writers in particular, treated him unfairly, saying they “always thought it funny to poke jokes at me.” Moreover, Marsáns said, the St. Louis owners “have treated me like a white man should be treated, and I am going to stick with the Feds.” Finally, on August 19, 1915, a federal judge in St. Louis set aside Herrmann’s injunction, ruling that Marsáns could play in the Federal League until the case was decided in appeals court. Marsáns returned to the Terriers the next day, and the team finished the season only percentage points out of first place.

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[Roland 49]

George, good writing about Armando Marsan's career in the Major Leagues, now I show a photo of Marsan with the New York team, in the photo appears John McGraw.