New York Cubans
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The New York Cubans were a Negro Leagues baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro Leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in general were largely ignored by the major league baseball teams before Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers for the first time.
[edit] History
In 1900, the Cuban All-Stars became the first all-Hispanic team to travel to the United States and stage exhibition games, against established Negro League powerhouse teams. The All-Stars kept traveling to the United States each year until 1910, when they became accepted as a Negro leagues team. Over twenty five years, the team was struck by controversies and economical problems, which led the Cuban All-Stars to be divided into two squads, the "Eastern Cuban All Stars" and the "Western Cuban All-Stars". As both teams played close to each other in the New York city area, it was decided, in 1935, that the teams would be re-merged, under the new name New York Cubans. Unlike what the teams's name may lead some to believe, the team was not exclusively comprised of Cuban players, there were players from other Hispanic nationalities and the United States as well. In 1941, Perucho Cepeda, father of National Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Peruchin Cepeda and a legendary player around the Caribbean himself, became the first Puerto Rican to play for the New York Cubans. Apart from Cepeda, there were also players from Mexico and the Dominican Republic playing for the New York Cubans. From 1941 to 1944, the Cubans had the services of well known utility player "Tetelo Vargas".
Only one other team of the era, the Indianapolis Clowns, boasted a line up with as many international players as the Cubans did.
[edit] Negro League World Series
With a team that included such notables as Luis Tiant, Sr., Minnie Minoso and Martín Dihigo, the New York Cubans won their only Negro League world series title in 1947, defeating the Cleveland Buckeyes.
The Cubans did not win another championship, and, because of many different reasons, which included economical strain and exodus both from African American and Hispanic players to the Major Leagues, the Negro League stopped playing in 1950,
One of the New York Cubans, Martín Dihigo, holds the distinction of being in three different baseball Hall of Fames, the Cuban, Mexican and United States ones. Another, Tetelo Vargas, is a member of the Puerto Rican and Cuban baseball Hall of Fames, despite never having played a single game in Cuba. His election to the Cuban baseball Hall of Fame has been credited to his participation with the New York Cubans.
[edit] External links
