Latin American baseball players have become major players in Major League Baseball. In most clubs in both the American League and the National, is included in the roaster, a player from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Colombia or Venezuela.
But do you know who were the pioneers of Latin America in the ball of the "Big Show"? Before a restlessness of followers of the big league baseball, we decided to investigate and this was the result of the same.
The first Latin player to perform in the Major Leagues was the Colombian Luis Castro, who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902.
Luis Castro
In 1911 the Cubans Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans arrive at the "best baseball in the world", becoming the first of that Caribbean island in the United States, where they intervened with the Cincinnati Reds.
Rafael Almeida
Armando Marzans
The Venezuelan who happened to be the first of his country to participate in a big league team, was the pitcher Alejandro "Patón" Carrasquel, the same who debuted in 1939 defending the uniform of the Washington Senators.
Alejandro "Patón" Carrasquel
Oswaldo Virgil was the first Dominican, when in 1956 he received a contract from the New York Giants, while Hiram Bithorn represented Puerto Rico for the first time.
Oswaldo Virgil
A photo of when I had the opportunity to interview Oswaldo Virgil, in a visit he made to our country, in the 70s
For its part, Mexico counted on Mel Almada as the first "Azteca" to defend the uniform of a Major League club. He did it with the Boston Red Sox, and the first Panamanians to play in the North American Professional Baseball were utility Hector Lopez and pitcher Humberto Robinson in 1955. Lopez participated defending the cause of Kansas City and Robinson with Milwaukee.
Mel Almada
Hector López
Humberto Robinson
I hope to have contributed to the concern of some of our readers and friends who visit this blog, as well as all the fans of the "Best Baseball in the World". Greetings and we read very soon!
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