The All Cubans were a team of Cuban professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

players that toured the United States during 1899 and 1902–05, playing against white semiprofessional and

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

teams. The team was the first

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

n professional baseball team to tour the United States. As a

racially integrated Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...

team, future major league players

Armando Marsans Armando Marsans Mendiondo (October 3, 1887 – September 3, 1960) was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1911 to 1918. He played in three different major leagues in his career: with ...

and Rafael Almeida got their start in the United States on the team. The team was also a forerunner for later Negro league teams staffed by Latin American players, such as the

Cuban Stars (West) The Cuban Stars were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that competed in the United States Negro leagues from 1907 to 1930. The team was also sometimes known as the Cuban Stars of Havana, Stars of Cuba, Cuban All-Stars, Havana Reds, Alm ...

, the

Cuban Stars (East) The Cuban Stars (East) were a team of professional baseball players from Cuba and other Latin American countries who competed in the Negro leagues in the eastern United States from 1916 to 1933. They generally were a traveling team that playe ...

, and the

New York Cubans The New York Cubans were a Negro league baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in ...

. Negro league stars Luis Bustamante and Carlos Morán started their American careers with the All Cubans.

History

The team was organized by Cuban baseball executive

Abel Linares Abel Linares (1872 – August 21, 1930) was a Cuban baseball executive in the Cuban League and Negro league baseball. Linares founded the All Cubans in 1899 and served as owner and business manager, and briefly managed the club in 1904. Linares als ...

and its field manager was Tinti Molina.Hogan, p. 89. The American sponsor of the 1899 tour was former baseball player and entrepreneur

Alfred Lawson Alfred William Lawson (March 24, 1869 – November 29, 1954) was an English born professional baseball player, aviator and utopian philosopher. He was a baseball player, manager, and league promoter from 1887 through 1916 and went on to play a ...

. Linares later described the tour as calamitous. He recalled arriving in New York in June 1899 with $25 and 12 players. So little money was earned that at the end of the tour, Linares and two players were stranded in New York until money could be sent from Havana to pay for their return home. The team's first recorded game was on July 28, 1899, against a white semi-pro team in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

; the All Cubans won 12–4. On July 31, a crowd of 1,800 watched them lose to the West New York Field Club, 8–5. The All Cubans then defeated the Mountain AC club 9–3. The Jersey City, New Jersey, team then beat them 14–4. The 1899 All Cubans most famous games, however, came in August against the

Cuban X-Giants The Cuban X-Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team that played from 1896 to 1906. Originally most of the players were former Cuban Giants, or ex-Giants. Like the Cuban Giants, the original players were not Cuban (though the team ...

, one of the premier Negro League teams, which had no actual Cuban players. The newspapers described it as a challenge; according to the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', the All Cubans protested "against the Cuban X-Giants posing as representatives of Cuba." The games took place in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58, ...

. The X-Giants won the first game 7–3 behind the 5-hit pitching of James Robinson. The X-Giants also won the second match, 11–6. This series was a precursor for a Cuban tour by the Cuban X-Giants the following year, the first major tour of Cuba by an American Negro league team. The players on the 1899 All Cubans were Cuban

criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...

and

mestizos (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

, but the teams that toured in 1902–05 included

afro-cuban Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural ...

black players. In 1903, there were reports the team had run into trouble in Florida because it was carrying three black players. These teams continued to play successfully against independent white semi-pro teams and Negro League teams, such as the Cuban X-Giants and the Philadelphia Giants.

Notable players

Members of the

Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame The Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame (''Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Cubano'') is a hall of fame that honors eminent baseball players from Cuban baseball. Established in 1939 to honor players, managers, and umpires in the pre-revolution Cuban League ...

who played with the All Cubans include:; * Rafael Almeida – 3B, 1904–05 *

Alfredo Arcaño Alfredo Arcaño (1868 - death date unknown) was a Cuban baseball left fielder in the Cuban League. He played from 1888 to 1909 with several ballclubs, mostly with the Habana club. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1940. Career ...

– CF, 1899 * Luis Bustamante – SS, 1903–05 * Alfredo Cabrera – 1B, 1903, 1905 * Antonio María García – 1B, 1899, 1904–05 *

Regino García Regino "Marmelo" García (1875–?) was a Cuban baseball catcher in the Cuban League and Negro leagues. He played from 1901 to 1914 with several ballclubs, including San Francisco, Almendares, the Fe club, Habana, Cuban Stars (West), ...

– C, 1905 * Heliodoro Hidalgo – CF, 1905 * Julio López – LF, 1899, 1903 *

– LF, 1905 *

Agustín Molina José Agustín "Tinti" Molina Becerra (August 28, 1873 - January 10, 1961) was a baseball catcher, first baseman and manager (baseball), manager in the Cuban League and Negro league baseball, Negro leagues. He played and managed from 1894 to 193 ...

– C, 1903 *

Carlos Morán Carlos Fernando Morán Guillén (born 19 July 1984) is a Honduran football midfielder, who most recently played for F.C. Motagua in the Honduran national league. Club career Morán started his professional career at hometown club Victoria an ...

– 3B, 1902 * José Muñoz – P, LF, CF, RF, 1903–04 *

Luis Padrón Luis "El Mulo" Padrón Otorena (ca. 1878 – 1939) was a Cuban baseball player in the Negro leagues and Cuban League. Padron played from 1902 to 1917 with several Cuban ballclubs, including Habana, San Francisco, Club Fé, San Francisco Park ...

– 2B, LF, 1902–03 *

Emilio Palomino Emilio Palomino (ca. 1880 – unknown death date) was a Cuban baseball outfielder in the Cuban League. He played from 1901 to 1912 with several Cuban ballclubs, but he played mostly with the Almendares club. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball ...

– P, RF, CF, 1904–05 * Moisés Quintero – 1B, 1899, 1904 * Carlos Royer – P, 1899, 1902 * Gonzalo Sánchez – C, 1904

Notes

References

* * * {{Negro League teams, Independent Cuban-American history Negro league baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in New Jersey Baseball teams disestablished in 1905 Baseball teams established in 1899