This meandering path started with a question: Who was the first Hispanic to appear in an All-Star Game?
On October 12, 1963, in a game slimly attended and little noted, Hispanic players from the National League squared off against their compatriots from the American League in what was dubbed the first Hispanic All-Star Game. Few of the men who gathered at the Polo Grounds in New York City — for what would turn out to be the last professional game played there — had ever made an All-Star Game squad … though many would, and four would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The paucity of available talent produced a definition of “Latin” American that extended to Al McBean and Joe Christopher, of the U.S. Virgin Islands and to — most preposterously — Joe Pignatano, an Italian whose last big-league game had taken place the year before.
But in 1963 players born in Latin America were still something of a novelty, their total population a tiny fraction of the African-American ranks in Major League Baseball. The pipeline from Cuba that had produced so many players in the 1950s had been shut off.
Only seven years before, in 1956, Ozzie Virgil had become the first player born in the Dominican Republic to reach the majors. At this writing, 684 have followed him.
Only five years before that, in 1951, three players became the first of Hispanic birth to appear in the All-Star Game, and all were on the American League squad: shortstop Chico Carrasquel of the White Sox, from Venezuela; Cuban outfielder Minnie Minoso, also of the White Sox though he had started the season with Cleveland; and Washington Senators pitcher Conrado “Connie” Marrero, also from Cuba. All are gone now, after distinguished careers; Minoso seems destined for the Hall of Fame (look at those stats!). Marrero, 40 years old in 1951, lived to within two days of his 103rd birthday and remained vital to the end, in 2014; he was the last living Cuban big leaguer from pre-revolution days. And Carrasquel, “El Gato,” became a four-time All-Star, an inspiration to countryman Luis Aparicio, and a hero who played ball in Venezuela until 1967.
As we mark the 2017 All-Star Game in Miami, with so many Hispanic players on the rosters of both leagues, let’s look back to that 1963 Hispanic All-Star Game as a milestone in how far Hispanic players have come, and how America’s national pastime has been enriched by their presence. “Our Game” had long been “Their Game” too, of course, and now it is everyone’s — an international pastime.
The outcome of the game of October 1, 1963 was unimportant; the NL beat the AL 5–2. Juan Marichal started for the winners and threw four shutout innings. The other future Hall of Famers that day were Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Aparicio. Felipe Alou, Tony Oliva, and Minoso also played, and each may yet garner a plaque in Cooperstown. There were other solid players on the field that day, including the man who two years later would become the first Hispanic MVP — shortstop Zoilo Versalles of the Twins — and a healthy sprinkling of players whose names will send you scurrying to the encyclopedias.
How many Latinos made an All-Star Game squad before that game of October 12, 1963, the last of its sort? Here is the record, from 1951 through 1963; several players made more than one in All-Star Game in this period and afterward, but only their debut year is offered.
1951
Chico Carrasquel
Connie Marrero
Minnie Minoso
1952
Bobby Avila
1954
Sandy Consuegra
1955
Vic Power
Luis Arroyo
1958
Luis Aparicio
1959
Pedro Ramos
Camilo Pascual
Orlando Cepeda
Tony Taylor
1960
Roberto Clemente
1961
Mike Fornieles
1962
Juan Marichal
Felipe Alou
1963
Zoilo Versalles
Juan Pizarro
Julian Javier
The All-Star Game debut of Cleveland pitcher Mike Garcia in 1952 brings one to a dilemma. Not Hispanic-born, he does not make the list above. But clearly he was of Hispanic descent. The same goes for Chuck Estrada in 1960. In years to come Reginald Martiniez Jackson springs to mind.
And there were other All-Star representatives of Hispanic descent before, notably Ted Williams, whose mother, Micaela May (Venzor) Williams, was born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican natives Pablo Venzor and Natalia (Hernandez). And there is the tangled case of Al Lopez, the Brooklyn Dodgers catcher who played in the All-Star Games of 1934 and 1941 and then managed the American League squads in 1955 and 1960. Lopez was the son of Spanish immigrants who came to Cuba to launch a cigar business. They came to the United States in 1906, settling in Tampa, where Alfonso was born in 1908. So, not Hispanic by birth or origin, but oh so close!
Such parsing is today, thankfully, largely pointless. The game is better than in Babe Ruth’s day because its players are better, and much of the reason for that will be found in Latin America. The Hispanic influence on MLB extends to an invigorating style of play — a new infusion of speed and power and grace and joy — that has changed the face of the game as well as the way it is played.
Viva Béisbol!
This story appears in MLB’s All-Star Game Media Guide for 2017.
Early Hispanic All-Stars was originally published in Our Game on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.