So
hot a prospect was Negro League player Luis Angel Marquez, born
on October 25, 1925 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, he was under contract with two
Major League teams at the same time. Marquez started in 1946 with the Baltimore
Elite Giants, but by the end of the year had become a second baseman for the Homestead
Grays. At that time, the Grays were going
through a transition. Owner Cum Posey
died before the 1946 season began, star Josh Gibson would die the following
January of 1947, and Buck Leonard was the only main player from the team’s
nucleus that won Negro National League (NNL) pennants from 1937 – 1945. The 5’10”, 174 pound Marquez shifted to the
outfield in 1947 and led the team in hitting.
The Grays won the last NNL pennant and the final Negro League World
Series in 1948.
After
the Series, the NNL went out of business and Marquez was back under contract with
the Baltimore Elite Giants who had gone to the Negro American League
(NAL). Major League teams saw Marquez’s
potential. The Cleveland Indians paid the Grays for his contract before 1948
ended while the New York Yankees paid Baltimore for it the beginning of
1949. The conflict would not be resolved until in the spring of 1949 when the
Indians were awarded Marquez’s contract.
Although
Marquez hit over .300 in 1949 while playing with the Indians’ Portland minor
league team, the Indians left him unprotected in that year’s Rule 5 draft and
he was claimed by the Boston Braves.
After Marquez again hit over .300 in the Braves minor league system the
next season, the team invited him to spring training in 1951. With his speed in the outfield, they
envisioned him playing beside former Negro Leaguer Sam Jethroe who was the 1950
National League Rookie of the Year.
But
Marquez could not hit Major League pitching.
The right handed batter hit only .197 in 68 games. During the early years of integration in the
Major Leagues, teams showed little patience with black prospects not mega
talents like a Willie Mays or Henry Aaron.
If most black players were not immediately productive, they were sent
back to the minor leagues. That is what
happened to Marquez in 1952. In 1954, he
was traded to the Chicago Cubs and then to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted a combined .195 with those two
teams in what would be his last year in the Major Leagues.
Which of Marquez's 1948 Homestead Grays teammates was also signed by the New York Yankees?
Which of Marquez's 1948 Homestead Grays teammates was also signed by the New York Yankees?
