Buck O'Neil played in Cuban League's greatest season

Nov. 13: On this day in 1911, former Negro leagues star Buck O'Neil was born in Carabelle, Fla.

Before O'Neil became in household name thanks to Ken Burns' epic 1994 documentary Baseball, he was a star first baseman and later manager for the Kansas City Monarchs and played one season with Almendares -- one very significant season.

O'Neil (shown above in his Almanaque Deportivo Cuban baseball card) was the starting first baseman on the 1946-47 Almendares team that swept Habana in the teams' final three games to capture the Cuban League pennant in what is still considered the greatest climax in league history.

O'Neil only batted a forgettable .214 with 11 RBI that season, but he remembered the celebration of Almendares' pennant-victory on the streets of Havana when I interviewed him in 1999.

“Whew, they turned it out. Everybody was excited. They had people riding all over the streets in cars, hanging onto streetcars, blowing horns, with ribbons and banners and everything. Oh, Havana was outstanding, really.”

In the photo to the left, my wife, Karen, and I met O'Neil at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, where he served as the museum's chairman for many years. O'Neil was gracious enough to sign the Almendares jersey I'm holding in the photo.

As a player in the Negro leagues, he named to the East-West All-Star Classic in 1942, 1943 and 1949. As a manager, O'Neil led the Monarchs to league titles in 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953. In 1962, when he became the first African-American coach in the Major Leagues with the Chicago Cubs.

O'Neil died Oct. 6, 2006 at age 94 -- eight months after he, surprisingly, was not among the 17 Negro leaguers elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a special vote by a 12-member committee.

On this date in 1947: Almendares sweeps Habana to win the pennant

It remains the greatest season climax in Cuba's baseball history.

With less than a month remaining in the season, the Habana Lions, having forged a seemingly insurmountable 6 1/2-game lead over Almendares, were cruising to another league pennant.

But Almendares reeled off 13 victories in its final 14 games to win the league’s championship, as the Habana stumbled to a 5-8 record down the stretch. Six of Habana’s losses came against Almendares.

Included among those was a three-game, three-day sweep in the final three meetings between the two teams thanks largely to the efforts of pitchers Max Lanier (left) and Agapito Mayor.

Born on the same day, August 18, 1915 — Lanier in Denton, North Carolina; Mayor in Sagua La Grande, Las Villas, Cuba, — their names will be forever linked for their exploits on the field at El Gran Stadium of Havana.

On Feb. 23, with Almendares needing to win each of their three games against Habana, Lanier pitched the Scorpions to a 4-2 victory in the first meeting. Mayor took the hill the next day as Almendares won 2-1, setting up the winner-take-all finale on Feb. 25.

Fans began lining up outside El Gran Stadium early that Tuesday morning, hours before the gates opened at 10 a.m. With the stadium filled to capacity, some fans dared to climb the light towers beyond the outfield walls for a glimpse of the historic game.

"It was bedlam,"' Felo Ramirez, who called the series over Cuban radio as a 22-year-old broadcaster, recalled during a 1994 interview. "Cuba was paralyzed. The country shut down. ... No one worked that day."

In the Almendares clubhouse, a deal was brokered to determine the game's starter. Manager Adolfo Luque approached Lanier about pitching in the decisive game on one-day's rest. Lanier, during one of several interviews in the mid-1990s, described the negotiations this way:

Luque: "We'll give you $500 if you pitch the third game and win it."

Lanier: "I won't pitch it that way. I'll pitch it for $500, win or lose because I only have one day's rest.''

Luque relented and Habana never had a chance.

Lanier struck out seven as Almendares cruised to a 9-2 victory and the championship.

After the game, jubilant Almendares fans paraded a stuffed lion in a small, makeshift casket for a funeral procession through the streets of Havana as wild celebrations erupted throughout the city.

Buck O’Neil, played only one season in Cuba, but he still remembers the baseball championship that season launched the game’s most memorable celebration on the streets of Havana.

“Whew, they turned it out,” famed Negro Leaguer Buck O’Neil, who played first base for Almendares that winter recalled during a 1999 interview. “Everybody was excited. They had people riding all over the streets in cars, hanging onto streetcars, blowing horns, with ribbons and banners and everything. Oh, Havana was outstanding, really.”