Sam Bankhead led Cuban League in hitting, Santa Clara to title in '37-38

July 24: On this day in 1976, Negro leagues star Sam Bankhead died in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Bankhead, whose Negro leagues career included playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, Kansas City Monarchs, Pittsburgh Crawford and Homestead Grays, played Four Cuban League seasons -- three with Santa Clara and one with Almendares -- from 1937-41.

According to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961, Bankhead lead the Cuban League in batting (.366), RBI (34), runs (47), hits (89) and triples (5) in 1937-38 as the Leopards won the Cuban League pennant.

Oliver Marcelle was a member of dominant 1923-24 Santa Clara team

June 24: On this day in 1897, Negro leagues star Oliver "The Ghost" Marcelle was born in Thibedeaux, La.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, Marcelle played for Santa Clara, Matanzas, Habana, Havana Reds, Almendares and Cuba during nine winters in the Cuban League from 1922-30.

According to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961, Marcelle (shown in this image from a 1923-24 Billiken card) led the Cuban League with a .393 average in 1923-24.

That season, Marcelle was a member of a Santa Clara team that Jorge S. Figueredo's book, Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961, said is "considered the most dominant team ever in the history of Cuban baseball."

Aside from Marcelle, Santa Clara included Jose Mendez, Oscar Charleston, Alejandro Oms, Pablo Mesa, Frank Warfield, Frank Duncan and Dobie Moore as the Leopards won the pennant by 11 1/2 games over second-place Habana.

Satchel Paige counted Santa Clara among his many teams

June 8: On this day in 1982, Negro leagues legend and Hall of Famer Satchel Paige died in Kansas City, Mo.

Paige, who played in the Negro leagues from 1926-50 and played six major-league seasons with the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics between 1941-58, played just one seasons in the Cuban League.

According to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961, Paige (shown in this photo that drew a winning bid of  $925.77 at Lelands in December 2004) went 6-5 for the 1929-30 Santa Clara Leopardos, which finished second, six 6 1/2 games behind Cienfuegos for the Cuban League pennant.

Paige was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1971 by a vote of the Negro Leagues Committee.

Santos Amaro, father of Ruben; grandfather of Ruben Jr., starred in Cuba and Mexico

March 14: On this day in 1908, Cuban star Santos Amaro was born in Havana, Cuba.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, Amaro played for Santa Clara, Almendares, Alacranes and Cuba during 14 winters in Cuba between 1936-50.

He ranks sixth in Cuban League history in hits (725) and ninth in RBI (321) and batted over .300 five times in his career, according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961.

Amaro never reached the major leagues, playing in Cuba and the Mexican League with Veracruz and Tampico.

But his son, Ruben Amaro, who was born in Mexico, played for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and California Angels during 11 major-league seasons from 1958-69.

And Santos Amaro's grandson, Ruben Jr., now the senior vice president and general manager of the Phillies, played eight seasons -- six with the Phillies -- in the majors between 1991-98.

Raymond Brown was a dominant pitcher for Santa Clara from '36-39

Feb. 23: On this day in 1908, Negro leagues star Raymond Brown was born in Ashland Grove, Ohio.

Brown, who played most of his career with the Homestead Grays, played five seasons in Cuba, three with powerful Santa Clara between 1936-39.

Brown is shown in this photo that was up for auction at Cuban Baseball Cards in September 2010 with his children (also dressed in Santa Clara uniforms) during the 1936-37 season. That season, he went 21-4, including throwing a no-hitter.

Despite Brown's efforts -- according to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961 -- the Leopardos finished second, a game behind Cuban League-champion Marianao after losing a three-game playoff series. Marianao had forced the tie-breaking series by sweeping Santa Clara in the final three games of the regular season.

The next season, Santa Clara, with Brown going 12-5, won the pennant. The team followed with a second pennant in 1938-39 as Brown went 11-7.

Brown was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

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.

Santa Clara's 1923-24 team perhaps greatest in Cuban League history

The 1923-24 Cuban League champion Santa Clara team.

Perhaps the greatest team in Cuban League history, the Leopardos went 36-11 to win the pennant by 11 1/2 games over Habana.

According to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961, seven of Santa Clara's eight regulars batted well over .300 to set a league record with a team batting average of .331.

This photo posted at Baseball Fever shows (standing from left to right) Jose Mendez, Oscar Charleston, Oliver Marcelle, Esteban Montalvo, Frank Warfield, Julio Rojo, (middle row from left) Frank Duncan, Alejandro Oms, Pablo Mesa, (sitting from left) Rube Currie, Dave Brown, Dobie Moore, Pedro Dibut, Matias Rios and Eustaquio Pedroso.

Mendez and Charleston are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

No fewer than nine of the 15 players shown in this photo are members of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame: Mendez, Charleston, Mesa, Oms, Marcelle, Pedroso, Montalvo, Rojo and Dibut.

Josh Gibson led Cuban League in home runs in 1938-39

Dec. 21: On this day in 1911, Negro leagues slugger Josh Gibson was born in Buena Vista, Ga.

Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, Gibson only played two seasons in the Cuban League, but they were significant ones.

In 1937-38, Gibson played for Habana. Although the team finished last, Gibson batted .344.

The following season, Gibson (left in a photo that sold for $1,150 on Robert Edwards Auction) helped lead Santa Clara to the league pennant, leading the league with 11 home runs and 50 runs scored while batting .356.

Gibson's teammates on that great Santa Clara team included Sam Bankhead, Ray Brown and Cuban stars Lazaro Salazar, Santos Amaro and Manuel Garcia.

Garcia and Brown each won 11 games. Salazar won six while batting .293 and also serving as the team's manager. Amaro batted .366.

Alejandro Oms batted .432 for Santa Clara in 1923-23

Nov. 9: On this date in 1946, Cuban and Negro leagues star Alejandro Oms died.

Elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1944, Oms is third on the All-time Cuban League list in batting average (.345) and holds the records for the longest hitting streak (30 games in 1928), most consecutive seasons batting over .300 (eight) and most seasons batting over .300 (11), according to Who's Who in Cuban Baseball: 1878-1961.

Between 1922-46, Oms played for Santa Clara, Matanzas, San Jose, Cuba, Marianao, Habana and Almendares and led the Cuban League in batting four times.

He was the MVP of the 1928-29 season, when he set the all-time Cuban League mark with a .432 batting average while leading Habana to the pennant. And he teammed with Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston and Pable Mesa to form what is considered the greatest outfield in Cuban League history with the pennant-winning Santa Clara team of the 1923-24 season.