Negro leagues star Oscar Charleston also starred in Cuban League

Oct. 6: On this date in 1954, Oscar Charleston died.

The Negro leagues star also was a star in the Cuban League, playing seven seasons between 1920-30 for Bacharach, Santa Clara, Almendares, Habana, Cuba and Marianao.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, Charleston -- according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961 -- tops the all-time Cuban League list in career batting average (.360). He twice led the league in batting average and twice led the league in stolen bases.

This photo is from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's eMuseum website.

Charleston, who was born Oct. 14, 1896, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1976.

1959 Junior World Series: Havana Sugar Kings vs. Minneapolis Millers

Partido de béisbol. from Memoria de Cuba on Vimeo.

Many thanks to a reader of this blog from Cuba. He alerted me to this amazing video from a Cuban newsreel of the 1959 Junior World Series between the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League and the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. The series took place in the months following Fidel Castro's rise to power on Jan. 1, 1959. Just the next season, the Sugar Kings were forced to relocate to Jersey City because the revolution put a chill on U.S.-Cuba relations. The newsreel shows Castro in attendance at Havana's Gran Stadium as the Sugar Kings rally in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 to win the Series. The video is posted at vimeo.com. Hopefully, there will be others to come.

Sandy Amoros' catch saved 1955 World Series

Oct. 4: On this date in 1955, Sandy Amoros saved Game 7 of the World Series for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Amoros is best remembered for what was the defining moment of the 1955 World Series (shown in this Life magazine photo on the right), his running, one-handing catch of Yogi Berra's drive down the left field line.

With the Dodgers up 2-0 in the decisive Game 7, Amoros came in as a defensive replacement in left field to start the sixth inning. After the first two Yankee batters of the inning reached base, the left-handed hitting Berra sliced toward the left-field corner for an apparent double that would have tied the game.

Instead, Amoros raced toward the line, extending his gloved right hand at the last instant to snare the drive. He then threw back to the infield, where a relay throw by Pee Wee Reese doubled Gil McDougald off first base.

The Dodgers got the final out of the inning without surrendering a run and would go on to win the franchise's only World Series title in Brooklyn.

Never more than a part-time player in seven major-league seasons, Amoros was a star in the Cuban League with Almendares and Habana and was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.

Amoros, who went on to live in Tampa, Fla., after his playing days, suffered from diabetes, and doctors amputated part of his left leg in September 1987. Amoros died in Miami, Fla., on June 27, 1992, at age 62.

During a 2008 interview, Glorida Mayor, the widow of Cuban baseball legend Agapito Mayor recounted the friendship between Amoros and her husband while the two former players lived in Tampa.

Mayor adored Amoros. He helped him a lot. Amoros was in Tampa for 11 years, and for 11 years Mayor was fighting to help Amoros. When they amputated his leg we were with him in the hospital. Mayor would go every day to the hospital. Mayor would buy his groceries, buy him food until his daughter took him back to Miami. He died in Miami. Mayor loved Amoros, even though there was a big age difference. Amoros started playing just as Mayor was finishing his playing career. But he was so fond of Amoros and Amoros was so fond of Mayor. Amoros used to say that Mayor was his brother. One of the last times, he saw Amoros, Mayor went to get Amoros at his home and took him to the stadium to one of the Cuban legends games. Amoros had a prosthetic leg. He found Amoros and took him to the stadium. Mayor would never leave Amoros behind.

On this date in 1887, Amrando Marsans was born

Oct. 3: On this date in 1887, Armando Marsans was born in Matanzas, Cuba.

Marsans, along with Rafael Almeida, were the first Cuban-born players to play in the majors during the modern era -- Esteban Bellan played for the Troy Haymakers of the National Association in 1871 -- when they debuted on July 4, 1911 with the Cincinnati Reds.

Marsans batted .269 in eight major league seasons with the Reds, St. Louis Federals, St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees.

In the Cuban League, Marsans, elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, played 20 seasons, mostly with Almendares. He's the all-time league leaders in stolen bases and led the league with a .400 batting average in 1913.

He also led Orientals to the Cuban League pennant as manager in 1917.

Video: Habana vs. Cienfuegos, circa 1940s

Béisbol. from Memoria de Cuba on Vimeo.

Newsreel footage of a Cuban League game between Habana and Cienfuegos at Estadio La Tropical that appears to be some time between 1943-46 because at 1:22 Cuban great Adolfo Luque (wearing No. 32) is clearly visible coaching third base while wearing a Cienfuegos uniform. According to Jorge S. Figueredo's Who's Who In Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961, Luque managed Cienfuegos during the 1943-44, '44-45 and '45-46 seasons, leading the Elefantes to the 1945-46 pennant.

Cuban baseball has early ties to ... Fordham University

Listed among Fordham University's Archives and Digital Collections are several web pages dedicated to Cuban Baseball.

That's because Esteban Bellán, the first Cuban and Latino to play in major league baseball, during his time at Fordham (1863-1868), played for the newly created Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club.

Bellán played from 1869-71 for the Troy Haymakers, who in 1871 joined the National Association, which became the National League in 1876. On Dec. 27, 1874, Bellán played in the first organized baseball game in Cuba. Bellán's Habana club beat Matanzas 51-9 at Estadio Palmar de Junco.

Also the Zaldo brothers, Charles, Henry, and Frederick; who were from Havana, Cuba, also were all enrolled as students at Fordham from 1875-1878. Upon returning to Cuba in 1878, the Zaldo brothers founded the Almendares Baseball Club.

Charles Zaldo, who according to Jorge S. Figueredo's book, Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961, also was responsible was responsible for building Almendares Park, was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

Outside of baseball, Zaldo became secretary of state in Cuba's first Constitutional cabinet in 1902.

Fifty-five years ago, Cuba watched World Series live for the first time

This year's Major League Baseball postseason hasn't even begun, but in 1955, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers were already playing Game 4 of the World Series by Oct. 1.

And thanks to some "pioneering and innovative use of technology," fans in Cuba had been watching that epic World Series -- the Dodgers won their first and only Series title while calling Ebbets Field home -- unfold live on their television sets for the first time.

My father, then almost 16, was among the Cuban fans who watched the 1955 World Series live, including Cuban-born Dodger Sandy Amoros' series-saving catch during Game 7.

A blog post by Manuel Márquez-Sterling explains how the transmission was made possible:

"(long before satellite TV) engineers custom-equipped a Cubana Airlines DC-3 which flew a circular pattern between Key West and Havana, acting as a relay transmission station for the live TV signal. The airplane took off a half hour before the game and remained airborne throughout, flights lasting about three hours."

And later on a NASA website, I found the above high-resolution version of the schematic diagram in Márquez-Sterling's blog post.

According to the NASA website:

"Equipment aboard the airplane received video signals from television stations in Miami and retransmitted them to a station belonging to a Cuban television network with coverage over a large part of the country (audio signals were transmitted separately by cable and shortwave)."