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Timeline 1910-1929

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The U.S. Invasion

The following timeline is a summary of the main events in Cuban Baseball history. It covers baseball in Cuba and the exploits of players of Cuban heritage from the 1860's to the year 2000. For more recent news see Latest News section. For the resources used see the Bibliography page.

1910 The Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers played a long series of games against Cuban teams. Ty Cobb was thrown out three straight times, while trying to steal second base, by catchers Bruce Petway and Gervasio "Strike" Gonzalez...Also to visit Cuba was Rube Foster's Leland Giants which won 5, lost 4 and had one tie...Cubans debut in the Minor Leagues when Armando Marsan, Rafael Almeida, Alfredo "El Pajaro" Cabrera and Luis Padron play for the New Britain Class B team of the Connecticut League...Two Cuban teams apear in the Negro Leagues. In the West the Stars of Cuba (Amendares) and in the East Stars of Cuba (Habana).

1911 Cubans Armando Marsan and Rafael Almeida debut for the Cincinnati Reds of the National League...The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants Visit the Island. The highlight was a ten inning duel between Christy Mathewson and game winner Jose Mendez...The Cuban Stars play in the Eastern division of the Negro Leagues. Jose Mendez wins all four games won by the Cubans.

1912 Cuban great Miguel Angel Gonzalez begins his major league career with the Boston Braves...The Cuban Stars play in the Western division of the Negro Leagues.

1913 Cubans Merito Acosta and Jacinto Calvo make their debut with the Washington Senators and Alfredo "El Pajaro" Cabrera debuts with the St. Louis Cardinals...The Cuban Stars bring Cristobal Torriente with them to the Negro League season. Cristobal leads all hitters with a .383 average and 3 HRs.

1914 The first Amateur League Championship was won by the Vedado Tennis Club, the leagues founding team (1907)...Cuban great Adolfo Luque makes his Major League debut along with Angel Aragon and Manuel Cueto. Other debuts in the decade include Emilio Palmero (1915), Joseito Rodriguez (1916), Eusebio Gonzalez (1918), Oscar Tuerro (1918), Jose Acosta (1920) and Ricardo Torres (1920)...The Cuban Stars in the Negro Leagues are anchored by Cristobal Torriente who bats .366 and goes 4-3 on the pitching mound...The Lincoln Giants, of the Negro Leagues, visit Cuba and win four, lose 9 and have one tie.

1915 Oscar Charleston first plays in Cuba when the Indianapolis ABCs visited the Island...On August 28th in a game between the Cuban Stars and the Cuban-American Giants, Cristobal Torrienti kicked the umpire in the ribs after a assumed bad call. A brawl and then riot starts as players and fans got into it with bats, balls, chairs and bricks...Two Cuban teams play in the Negro Leagues this trend would continue through the 1933 season...The famous All Nations multi-racial barnstorming team is formed. It included Cubans Pelayo Chacon, Cristobal Torriente and Manuel Villa.

1916 Two Cuban Stars teams play in the Negro Leagues and the All Nations team included Jose Mendez and Cristobal Torriente.

1917 Two Cuban Stars teams play in the Negro Leagues and the All Nations team again included Jose Mendez and Cristobal Torriente.

1918 On December 2, Baldmero "Merito" Acosta performs rare unassisted triple play from his outfield position...On December 22, Bienvenido Jimenez steals eight bases in one game...Two Cuban Stars teams play in the Negro Leagues.

1919 Adolfo Luque becomes the first Cuban and Latin American Player to make an appearance in a World Series. He pitched in two relief appearances against the legendary Black Sox of Chicago...Two Cuban Stars teams play in the Negro Leagues. The Cuban Stars (West) lead the division with a 13-4 record. They win eventhough Jose Mendez and his battery mate Jose Rodriguez are sent to the Detroit Stars and Cristobal Torriente is sent to the Chicago American Giants...The Pittsburgh Pirates and the All-Americans team visit the island. The Cubans would win 13 and lose 11 against the two teams of Major Leaguers.

1920 Babe Ruth plays several exhibition games in Cuba as a member of the visiting New York Giants team. In a game on November 14 he was bested by Cuban Cristobal Torriente who hit 3 homers and hit a double with Babe Ruth pitching...The Cuban Stars (West) became a charter member of the Negro National League. Jose Mendez becomes the Player-Manager of the K.C. Monarchs, which also feature Bartolo Portuondo.

1921 The Cuban Stars (West) move to Cincinnati, because of Reds star pitcher Adolfo Luque, and play as the Cincinnati Cubans. They rent Redland Park for one year becoming the first Negro League team to rent a Major League park for a whole season...The Negro League Championship series featured a pair of Cubans: playing for the American Giants, Cristobal Torriente, and the Bacharach Giants, Julio Rojo.

1922 Club Marianao makes its debut in the Cuban Professional League and won the 1922-23 season Championship...Martin Dihigo makes his first appearance as player for the Habana team...In a game against the New York Giants, Pitcher Adolfo Luque became enraged after excessive taunting from the opposing bench. He threw his glove down and ran into the Giants bench landing a punch on Casey Stengel's jaw...The Cuban Stars (East) bring rookie Martin Dihigo along to play in the Negro Leaues. The Negro League Championship series featured a couple of Cubans: playing for the American Giants, Cristobal Torriente and Juan (Luis) Padron and the Bacharach Giants, Julio Rojo and Ramiro Ramirez.

1923 Adolfo Luque has one of the best seasons of any pitcher in the history of the Major Leagues as he records 27 wins and only 8 losses with a 1.93 era...Santa Clara goes down in history as one of the greatest Cuban baseball teams with a strong lineup of Cuban and Negro League Stars including Oscar Charleston and Alejandro Oms...The Cuban Stars (East) became a charter member of the Eastern Colored League. Jose Mendez, Player Manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, leads team to three straight pennants (1923-1925).

1924 On October 11, Oscar Levis pitches first no hit game of the 20th Century in Cuban League action...In the deciding game of the first Negro League World Series, Kansas City Monarchs, Manager, Jose Mendez pitched shutout ball to win the game...Cristobal Torriente is selected to the Cum Posey Negro League All-Star Team...Pedro Dibut makes his first appearance in the Major Leagues. He is followed by Ramon "Mike" Herrera (1925) and Oscar Estrada (1929).

1925 Adolfo Luque leads the AL in ERA (2.63)...Julio Rojo is selected to the All East Negro League All-Star Team by fans in the Pittsburgh Courier. Jose Mendez leads the Kansas City Monarchs, who lost to Hilldale, to their second Negro League World Series.

1926 Club Cienfuegos makes their debut in the Cuban Professional League...Martin Dihigo leads Eastern Colored League in home runs. He would tie for the league lead the next season...The Kansas City Monarchs, with Jose Mendez and Cristobal Torriente, loses in the playoffs against the Chicago American Giants.

1927 Cristobal torriente plays for the Detroit Stars of the Negro leagues. Martin Dihigo plays for both the Cuban Stars and the Homestead Grays.

1928 Alejandro Oms records the longest hitting streak in Cuban League history with 30 straight games. He would also set a game high record with 6 hits in one game which would be matched by 3 other players.

1929 On the first of January, Jimmy "Cool Papa" Bell has a historic game in which he hits 3 home runs. Becoming the first player in the 20th century to do so in Cuban Professional League play...Miguel Angel Gonzalez becomes the second Cuban and Latin American player to make an appearance in a World Series. He made two appearances for the Chicago Cubs...Martin Dihigo is selected to the Negro League (East) All-Star Team by the Sports Editor of the Pittsburgh Courier.

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