Spring training in Cuba launched Robinson's historic 1947 season

Jan. 31: On this day in 1919, Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Ga.

The 1947 season which ushered Robinson's ascension to the majors, breaking baseball's color barrier, began with spring training in Havana for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Robinson's Montreal Royals.

According to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961, Robinson batted .421 in games against a Cuban all-star team and the Havana Cubans of the Florida International League.

In this Associated Press wire photo, Robinson is sitting next to Dodgers manager Leo Durocher in the dugout at Havana's El Gran Stadium.

The photo received a winning bid of $100 at Leland's June 2010.

Sandy Amoros starred with Habana, Almendares, in Caribbean Series

Jan. 30: On this day in 1930, Edmundo "Sandy" Amoros was born in Havana, Cuba.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978, Amoros is best known for his game-saving catch in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Amoros (left, with Cuban baseball legend Miguel Angel Gonzalez) played six seasons for Habana and five for Almendares during 11 winters from 1950-61.

He was the the Cuban League rookie of the year in 1950-51, led the league with a .373 average in 1952-53 and ranks sixth all-time in home runs, according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961.

Amoros also starred in the Caribbean Series, three times with Habana and once with Almendares, compiling .354 lifetime average in the event.

His best Series came in 1952 when he batted. 450 as Habana, representing Cuba, won the Series. Amoros batted .333 when Almendares won the Series in 1959.

Julio Moreno starred in Cuban League, for Havana Cubans

Jan. 28: On this day in 1921, Cuban League star Julio Moreno was born in Guines, Havana, Cuba.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976, Moreno played for Marianao, Havana Reds, Cienfuegos and Habana in 13 winters in Cuba between 1945-61.

He ranks sixth in league history in games pitched and led the league in ERA (2.03) in 1960-61 and strikeouts (103) in 1952-53, according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961.

"Jiqui" also pitched for Habana in three Caribbean Series from 1951-53.

And as a member of the Havana Cubans, Moreno compiled a 50-16 record with a 2.24 ERA from 1847-50. He went 19-4 with a 2.13 ERA in 1947 and 16-4 with a Havana Cubans of the Florida International League.

Chuck Connors helped Mike Sandlock land in Cuba one winter

Looking to identify players in this poster of the 1948-49 Almendares team, the unexpected words lept from the caption: el hijo de Sandlock, "Sandlock's son."

Sandlock's son, Mike -- he's the then-6-year-old boy sitting on the ground, wearing a Montreal Royals uniform -- had come across this blog weeks earlier and offered to put me in tough with his father, former major-league catcher Mike Sandlock (shown standing, second from the right).

I expected to find the elder Sandlock among various images of that championship team, just not the 6-year-old who spent the winter of '48-49 playing on a Havana beach with Chuck Connor's dog and being adopted as a quasi-mascot by the Cuban League team, which included Hall of Famer Monte Irvin (standing, second from left).

"They (the players) played with that kid all the time that he was around," the Elder Sandlock said in a telephone conversation this week from Tennessee. "It was so nice of them, kind of welcoming. It was nice (of them) accepting him at the ballpark."

It was Chuck Connors (top left), who went onto a successful Hollywood career, who called Sandlock to ask his teammate with the Dodgers' Montreal farm team if he would be interested in playing in Cuba.

Sandlock, who played five seasons in the majors with the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates, played only that one season in Cuba, as a third-string catcher behind Gilberto Valdivia and Andres Fleitas  with Almendares.

But he batted .311 in 15 games -- according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961 -- as Almendares captured the Cuban League pennant before helping the Scorpions win the inaugural Caribbean World Series.

For his part in Almendares' championship, Sandlock, like his other teammates, received a $600 bonus.

"I’m glad of that because that helped me," Sandlock said. "I was rebuilding my house. My wife said, 'You know all we got left is a $100 in the bank.' ... That’s when we got a nice call. The man upstairs was very nice. I got this job with Almendares and I made a few dollars. It kept me out of the red."

The younger Sandlock said his father, 95, is the seventh oldest, living former major league player. The oldest is former Dodgers infielder Tony Malinosky, 101.

Wells won pennants with Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Almendares

Jan. 22: On this day in 1989, Negro leagues star Willie Wells died in Austin, Texas.

The best shortstop in black baseball in the 1930s and '40s, Wells, who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, played for Cienfuegos, Santa Clara and Almendares during seven winters in the Cuban League from 1928-40, compiling a .320 batting average according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961.

This postcard of the 1929-30 Cuban League champion Cienfuegos team shows Wells, who earned the nickname El Diablo during his playing days in Mexico, standing second from the left. The postcard sold for $4,991.80 on Leland’s in 2005.

Wells batted .322 as Cienfuegos topped the standings by beating beating defending champions Habana in 15 of 20 match-ups, according to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961. Aside from that seasons, Wells also played on Cuban League championship teams in 1935-36 (Santa Clara) and 1939-40 (Almendares).

Among Wells' Cienfuegos teammates was Cool Papa Bell, seated second from the left.

Santa Clara, Habana star Josh Gibson's death the stuff of myth

Jan. 20: On this day in 1947, Josh Gibson died in Pittsburgh, Penn.

The Negro leagues star and National Baseball Hall of Famer played two memorable seasons in the Cuban League. In 1937-38, he batted .344 for last-place Habana.

The following season, Gibson (fourth from the left, back row) helped lead Santa Clara to the league pennant, leading the league with 11 home runs and 50 runs scored while batting .356.

According to his his bio at Negro League Players Association, Gibson, who's career long ago attained mythic status, has had his death has been shrouded in myth as well:

Gibson, it was said, believed he was going to die and gathered his family around his bedside. He even sent his brother out to gather up his trophies. While talking and laughing he supposedly raised his head, spoke incoherently, then laid down and died. The true story was not as sentimental or dramatic. Gibson suffered a stroke in a movie theater and was taken unconscious to his mother's house where he died a few hours later.
Teammate and friend Jimmie Crutchfield often said that Gibson died of a broken heart at not having made the white major leagues. Gibson himself might have disagreed, though at times his depressed mental state threw him into fits of rage and rambling outbursts.

Camilo Pascual starred in the majors and with Cienfuegos

Jan. 20: On this day in 1934, Camilo Pascual was born in Havana.

Pascual (being handed a trophy by a member of Fidel Castro's revolutionary regime during the 1959-60 season in this photo that recently sold on eBay) was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.

A major-league pitcher for 18 seasons -- mostly with the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins -- Pascual won 174 games, which ranks fourth behind Luis Tiant  (229), Adolfo Luque (194) and Mike Cuellar (185) for career wins by Cuban-born pitchers. Pascual was a seven-time all-star.

In the Cuban League, he compiled a 58-32 record with a 2.04 ERA, mostly with Cienfuegos, according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961. Pascual the league's MVP in 1955-56, twice led the league in strikeouts (108 in 1958-59 and 163 in 1959-60) and twice won 15 games in a season (1956-57 and 1959-60).