Emilio Navarro
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Emilio "Millito" Navarro (born September 26, 1905 in the city of Patillas, Puerto Rico) was the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues. Navarro is now the oldest living professional baseball player, and oldest former Negro Leaguer since the death of Silas Simmons on October 29, 2006 (the oldest former Major League baseball player is Rollie Stiles).
Navarro was born in Patillas but, raised in Ponce. His father was a well known shoemaker in Patillas who died when Navarro was 6 years old. His widowed mother soon moved to Ponce where she had family. In Ponce he attended Castillo Public School and worked after school. His first contact with the game came about when he went to watch the school team play. Navarro developed a burning desire to play baseball. On one occasion he didn't have enough money to pay for an entrance ticket to watch a game between the Castillo and Reina teams. He therefore, jumped a fence which happened to be in the outfield. It so happened that one of the Castillo team members became sick and when the coach saw Navarro jump the fence he asked him to play. He did and ever since then he's been playing baseball.
After graduating from high school, Navarro was offered a grant to attend the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, which he turned down. Instead 23 year old, Navarro felt that he should help his family financially and believed that he was more than ready to play in the Major Leagues in the U.S..
In the 1920s, the United States was a racially segregated nation and his colour was therefore a problem; in baseball, blacks were then not permitted to play together with their white counterparts. As a consequence of this policy, a group of white and black businessmen joined forces and organized their own "Negro Leagues". Here the teams would play against each other and even had their own "World Series". Two of those teams were the "Cuban Stars", owned by Alex Pompez, and the "Cuban Giants". Both of those teams consisted mainly of black or dark-skinned latino players.
Navarro played for two years with the Cuban Stars and had a batting average of .337. The experience was bittersweet for Navarro, especially when they played in the South. Not only did he feel discriminated because of the color of his skin, but also because he didn't speak English. After playing with the Negro Leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela.
By the time baseball had become integrated in the U.S., Navarro had returned to the island. The experience and knowledge that he gained served him well when he became one of the founders of the Puerto Rican baseball team, "Leones de Ponce" (Ponce Lions). He played, coached and did a little bit of everything for the team. He dedicated 20 years to the team.
After Navarro retired from active baseball, he was named administrator of the "Francisco "Paquito" Montaner Stadium" in Ponce - a position that he held for 20 years.
Navarro reached the century mark on September 26, 2005. Many tributes to honor him have been planned in Puerto Rico and the United States. His life and experiences in baseball will be part of an American documentary called "Beisbol" which will be about the contributions and influence of Hispanics in American's national pastime.
Navarro was inducted into the "Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame" in 2004.
