One of the
many topics of discussion by sportscasters during the recently completed 2017
World Series involved Los Angeles Dodgers’ right fielder Yasiel Puig. The club is still hoping he will continue to
mature and more consistently display his tremendous baseball playing
talent. Puig, a native of Cuba, is one
of the most recent in a pipeline of outfielders from that Caribbean nation to
successfully play professional baseball in the United States. Yoenis Cespedes, currently with the New York
Mets is also from Cuba. Former players
from the pipeline include Oakland A’s All-Star Jose Canceso, two-time American
League batting champion (1964, 1965) Tony Oliva, the defensive star of the
Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1955 World Series Game Seven win over the New York Yankees;
Sandy Amoros, and two-time Negro League, seven-time Major League All-Star
Orestes “Minnie” Minoso.
I forgot to
give a birthday mention last week for
one of the first in the stream of outfielders through the pipeline; Cristobal
Torriente, born November 16, 1893 in Cienfuegos, Cuba (same as Puig). He played with a number of teams in Negro
League baseball from 1913 to 1928; including the Chicago American Giants (1918
– 1925), Kansas City Monarchs (1926), and Detroit Stars (1927 – 1928). In an early 1950’s poll of former Negro
League baseball players and sports writers, Cristobal Torriente received high
consideration as one of the best outfielders in Negro League history.
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| Cristobal Torriente |
In 2006,
Cristobal Torriente and fifteen other individuals from the Negro League
baseball era were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown, New York. I profile the
2006 inductees in my book “Last Train to
Cooperstown: The 2006 Baseball Hall of
Fame Inductees from the Negro League Baseball Era”. The following is an excerpt from my profile
of Cristobal Torriente:
"At the end
of World War I, Chicago was becoming an urban
mecca for
African Americans. The lure of the possibility for
economic
stability and a better life had fueled the migration of
southern
blacks to the city. Rube Foster used the growing aura
Chicago had
for African Americans to attract ballplayers to his
Chicago
American Giants. He felt the city gave
him an advantage
When talking to a player about joining his team. Other owners
accused
Foster of using what Chicago was becoming for African
Americans to
steal their ballplayers. Foster’s approach proved
successful
with Torriente, who went to play for the American
Giants in
1918. He had excellent seasons with the
Cuban Stars,
however it
would be with Foster’s team that Torriente would reach
his peak as
a baseball player.
Having the
most area to cover, centerfield is the most
challenging
outfield position. Most managers choose their fastest
outfielder to
play it. This was Rube Foster’s thinking in regards to
Cristobal
Torriente. Although the Cuban mostly played right field in
his years
with the Cuban Stars, his speed and strong arm were a
perfect fit
for centerfield in Foster’s mind. With Torriente as the
anchor in
centerfield, the American Giants went on to have a
consistently
good outfield for many years. Good ballplayers such as
Hall of
Famer Oscar Charleston, Jimmy Lyons, Floyd “Jelly” Gardner,
and David
Malarcher all shared the American Giants’ outfield at one
time or
another with Torriente.
When Rube
Foster’s vision became a reality in 1920 and the
Negro
National League (NNL) was formed, his Chicago American
Giants
became its premier team from the start. They won the league
championship
the first three years (1920 – 1922). The
lack of
documented
league statistics prevents a true picture from being
given of
Torriente’s performance on the field during the American
Giants’
years of dominance. Research indicates
he finished those
seasons
hitting from .342 to as high as .411. Clearly, they were his
best seasons
in the Negro Leagues."
To read the entire Torriente profile and the other 2006 inductees Last Train to Cooperstown
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