Rafael Almeida (baseball)

Rafael Almeida
Rafael Almeida, 1912.
Third baseman
Born: (1887-07-30)July 30, 1887
Havana, Cuba
Died: March 19, 1968(1968-03-19) (aged 80)
Havana, Cuba
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 4, 1911, for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
July 18, 1913, for the Cincinnati Reds
MLB statistics
Batting average.270
Home runs3
Runs batted in46
Teams
Member of the Cuban
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1939

Rafael D. Almeida (July 30, 1887 – March 19, 1968) was a Major League Baseball third baseman from 1911 to 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds.

Almeida and Armando Marsans debuted together with the Reds on July 4, 1911.[1] They are sometimes named the first major league players born in Cuba, which is incorrect because Havana-born Chick Pedroes played in the National League in 1902; in addition, Cuban-born Steve Bellán played from 1871 to 1873 in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), a league whose status as a major league is disputed.

Six years before Cincinnati, Almeida and Marsans both played "Negro baseball" in the United States as 1905 members of the integrated All Cubans.[2]

Almeida played winter baseball in the Cuban League from 1904 to 1925 and was one of ten players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in its 1939 inaugural class.[3]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Players Born in Cuba - Baseball-Reference.com
  2. ^ Riley, 33
  3. ^ Figueredo 2003, pp. 484, 508.

References

[edit]
  • Figueredo, Jorge S. (2003), Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1250-X.
  • Riley, James A. (2002). The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. 2nd edition. New York: Carroll & Graf Publ. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.
[edit]