before jackie robinson joined the mlb as the first black player, was there any hispanics in the game already?

Question

were there any cubans or mexicans if not then who was the first hispanic

Answer 1

I'm not working from any fixed definition of "Latino" here, just broadly looking at nations generally south of Florida or the Rio Grande...

Cubans have been in MLB forever.

The first was Steve Bellan, who debuted with the 1871 Troy Haymakers of the National Association (this is a predecessor organization to MLB which has been recognized as a major league of its time). Stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TRO/1871.shtml

The second was Chick Pedroes, who played in two games for the 1902 Chicago Orphans (now Cubs). There were plenty more Cubans in the 1910s and 1920s.

The first non-Cuban was a Mexican, Mel Almada, who debuted with the 1933 Boston Red Sox. He was followed by countryman Chile Gomez in 1935 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The next was a Venezuelan, Alex Carrasquel, who debuted with the 1939 Washington Senators.

First Puerto Rican, Hi (Hiram) Bithorn, 1942 Chicago Cubs (these are debut teams, I'm not listing entire careers). If the name is familiar, the San Juan ballpark where the Expos played 1/4 of their "home" schedule in 2003-04 was named in his honor.

Three other non-Cuban Latinos predated Robinson: Mexican Jesse Flores (1942 Chicago Cubs), Puerto Rican Luis Olmo (1943 Brooklyn Dodgers), and Venezuelan Chucho Ramos (1944 Cincinnati Reds). And there was a whole bunch of Cubans, too many to list. Cubans have been in baseball practically forever.

Firsts for other nationalities:

Panama: Webbo Clarke, Hector Lopez, and Humberto Robinson, 1955.

Dominican Republic: Ozzie Virgil, 1956.

Nicaragua: Dennis Martinez, 1976.

Curacao: Andruw Jones and Ralph Milliard, 1996.

Colombia: Orlando Ramirez, 1974.

Jamaica: Chili Davis, 1981.

Clemente debuted in 1955, on April 17, the same day as fellow PR Roberto Vargas (and three days before Luis Arroyo), so Clemente and Vargas are the 9th and 10th Puerto Ricans in MLB.

Answer 2

Historically, there are several other African Americans who can be considered better overall than Robinson - such as: Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Ricky Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan. Robinson was the pioneer to break the color barrier in MLB in 1947. Since then, he isn't necessarily the best of his race to play in MLB. Add: Frank Robinson is NOT Jackie Robinson's brother - or any blood relative that we know of. And the two of them are not related to Brooks Robinson.

Answer 3

Actually the first black player was Moses Fleetwood Walker. He played one season in 1884, long before segregation.

The first Cuban was Esteban Enrique "Steve" Bellán (1871-1973, Troy NA and New York NA).

The first player of Mexican decent was Vincent Irwin "Sandy" Nava (1882-1886, Providence NL and Baltimore AA). He was born in San Francisco. His mother was a native of Durango, Mexico.

The first Columbian was Louis Castro (1902 Philadelphia A's). Although baseball-reference.com says he was born in NY, he was born really in Columbia and moved to USA at age 9.

Answer 4

There were some Hispanics who played when I first starting following baseball in the early 50's, but none of them had dark skin.

Answer 5

no i just watched a documentary on jackie



it was such a huge deal cuz he was the first non white player in the game and he showed up everyone




the hispanics came shortly after once everyone accpeted jackie

Answer 6

I don't remember if he was first but, i believe "Lefty" gomez played before Jackie....

edit: I just looked it up, he did play before Jackie, still don't know if he was the 1st

Lefty debuted in 1930

Answer 7

I'm not sure but wasn't Luis Aparicio already in the Majors?

Answer 8

Yeah they were cleaning the dugouts


...I couldn't help it sorry...

Answer 9

i dont think any played in mlb.