The 1930s through World War II
The next Latin group of note comprised Cubans signed by Joe Cambria, who became a special Latin American scout for the American League Washington Senators in the early 1930s. These included catcher Fermín (Mike) Guerra, Roberto Estalella, who played both the infield and outfield, and pitcher René Monteagudo. During World War II Cambria increased the number of Latins he signed, all in an attempt to win a pennant for the Senators with Cuban players who were, of course, not subject to the U.S. military draft. Playing against major league teams whose regular players were away at war, the Senators almost won the pennant in 1945 with a roster that included Cubans Gilberto Torres, Guerra, José Antonio Zardón, and pitchers Santiago Ulrich and Armando Roche. Cambria also signed the first Venezuelan to play in the majors, pitcher Alejandro (Patón) Carrasquel. Through the late 1940s and the '50s, the Senators were the sole team to feature Latin American players prominently on the roster.
Other teams had dipped into the Latin American talent pool in the 1930s and '40s. Cubans Salvador (Chico) Hernández, a catcher, and Regino Otero, a first baseman, had brief stints with the National League Chicago Cubs, as did Mexican pitcher Jesse Flores, who moved to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1943 and pitched in the majors for seven years. Flores was not the first Mexican major leaguer; in 1933 Baldomero (Mel) Almada and in 1935 José (Chile) Gómez had played a few games with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively.
Other teams followed the Senators' example of trying to find men to fill the positions vacated by Americans in military service. Cuban right-hander Tomás de la Cruz pitched 18 games for the Reds in 1944, winning 9 and losing 9, and his compatriot Napoleón Reyes, an infielder, began his four-year career with the New York Giants in 1943. Meanwhile, in 1942 Hiram Bithorn, pitching for the Cubs, became the first Puerto Rican to play in the majors, and the Brooklyn Dodgers fielded the second in 1943, outfielder Luis (El Jibarito [the Little Hick]) Rodríguez Olmo. Revered on the island and throughout the Caribbean, particularly in Cuba, where he played in the winter of 194748, Rodríguez Olmo became a legend in Caribbean baseball. While a major leaguer, he had a creditable career, with a batting average of .281 for six seasons. But because he played in the Mexican League and was declared ineligible by organized baseball to play in its league in the late 1940s, El Jibarito did not play with major leaguers during his prime. (The Mexican League threatened the reserve clause of organized baseball. Players, known as jumpers, who went from major league baseball to the Mexican League threatened the ability of major league team owners to tightly control player salaries. Thus, organized baseball decreed that players who had played in the Mexican League were ineligible to play professionally in the United States.) The first Puerto Rican who was truly a baseball star was Peruchín Cepeda, a powerful infielder who, because he was black, could not play in organized baseball; his own career unjustly forgotten, he is remembered now only for being the father of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda.
During the 1940s the Negro leagues enjoyed a resurgence that included many black Latin players. One such team was the New York Cubans (a team of black Latins, and not just Cubans). The Cubans played in the Negro leagues from 1935 to the early 1950s and won the championship in that pivotal year of 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier. Players included future Hall of Famer Martín Dihigo, Ramón Bragaña, Rodolfo Fernández, José María Fernández, Luis (Lefty) Tiant (Sr.), Heberto Blanco, Silvio García, Rafael (Sam) Noble, Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso, and Edmundo (Sandy) Amorós. Other great players for this team were two Dominican standouts, Horacio Martínez and Tetelo Vargas; Puerto Ricans Pancho Coímbre and José (Pantalones) Santiago; and Panamanian Pat Scantlebury. Another legend of Caribbean baseball was also playing in the Negro leagues at the time: Puerto Rican slugger Luis (Canena) Márquez.
The Latin talent pool in the late 1940s, combining both black and white Latins, was extraordinary. Cuba was no longer the only source; with Bithorn, Olmo, Coímbre, Márquez, Santiago, and others, Puerto Rico could field quite a team. This was not lost on Mexican baseball magnate Jorge Pasquel, who signed many of these players away from the Negro leagues for the Mexican League, along with not a few Anglo-American players from organized baseball. He also grabbed the Mexican talent, including Bobby Avila, the first celebrated Mexican player in U.S. major league baseball. As the Cleveland Indians' second baseman, Avila won the 1954 American League batting championship. Pasquel's Mexican League offered salaries that competed favourably with those in organized baseball, which caused Major League Baseball to declare players who played professionally in Mexico to be ineligible to play in the United States. Being forced to choose, many Latins entered U.S. major league teams in the 1950s.
The Mexican League profited from the strength of the winter professional leagues in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and, to a certain extent, Panama. The winter leagues played (and still play) their seasons from October to December, which is the off-season for U.S. baseball. These winter leagues, and the developing winter league in the Dominican Republic, benefited from the plethora of talent and long experience of the Cuban League. At one point in the 1950s, the four managers in the Dominican League were Cuban, and during another period three of the four managers of the Venezuelan League were Cuban. Cuban stars, such as black slugger Pedro (Perico) Formental, played in Venezuela when they were too old to make it in Cuban League teams, and others went to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Panama. In 1946 Cuba became part of organized baseball when the Havana Cubans of the Class B FloridaInternational League were founded. A farm team for the Washington Senators, the Havana Cubans fed mature talent such as veteran right-hander Conrado Marrero to the parent club. In 1954 they switched leagues, entering the AAA International League as the Sugar Kings, a Cincinnati Reds farm team, and became a developer of Latin and not just Cuban talent. Future Cuban major leaguers such as Leonardo Cárdenas, Cookie Rojas, Raúl Sánchez, Miguel Cuéllar, and Orlando Peña played for the Sugar Kings, as did Puerto Rican standout reliever Luis (Tite) Arroyo and outfielder Saturnino Escalera. The team also included Venezuelans Julián Ladera, Emilio Cueche, Pompeyo Davalillo, and Elio Chacón. Many of these players reached the majors in the 1950s.