Edric León Kellman (September 4, 1924 – September 13, 1981) was a Panamanian

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Listed at 5' 11", 160 lb., Kellman batted and threw right handed. He was born in Gatún,

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

. He played three seasons with the

Cleveland Buckeyes The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1942 to 1950 in the Negro American League. The Buckeyes played in two Negro World Series, defeating the Washington Homestead Grays in 1945, and losing to the New York Cub ...

of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

. Primarily a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

, Kellman was also competent as a

corner outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. Eventually, he volunteered to fill whatever role the team needed, whether it was

spot starter This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See #count, coun ...

long reliever A long reliever or long-relief pitcher is a relief pitcher in baseball who enters the game if the starting pitcher leaves the game early. Long relievers often enter in the first three innings of a game when the starting pitcher cannot continue, w ...

. Although he never played in the major leagues, Kellman achieved a measure of notoriety for his many successful years in the Panamanian Baseball League, both during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and later for his career in the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. A four-time Negro league All-Star, he played in the

Negro World Series The Negro World Series was a post-season baseball tournament that was held from 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east-coast counterparts. The series was ...

, managed in Panama and Mexico, and usually represented his country in international tournaments.

Early life

At age 17, Kellman started his baseball journey with the

Panama national baseball team The Panama national baseball team (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Panamá'') is the baseball team that represents Panama at an international level. Along with Nicaragua national baseball team, Nicaragua, they are considere ...

that competed in the 1941 Baseball World Cup held in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

of the tournament. He then led the BWS batters with two homers in the 1945 tournament.

Career

In 1945 Kellman became a member of the General Electric club of Panama, playing for them two seasons before joining the

of the Negro leagues in 1946. He posted a .301

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

as the regular third baseman of the Buckeyes, improving to a .306 mark in 1947. In that season, Cleveland won the

championship behind catcher/manager

Quincy Trouppe Quincy Thomas Trouppe (December 25, 1912 – August 10, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and an amateur boxing champion. He was a catcher in the Negro leagues from 1930 to 1949. He was a native of Dublin, Georgia. Early life ...

, advancing to face the Negro National League champions

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 pl ...

in the

1947 Negro World Series The 1947 Negro World Series was the championship tournament for the 1947 season of the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues. It was the sixth edition of the second incarnation of the Series and the tenth overall played. It was a best-of-seven pl ...

. The Cubans, guided by catcher/manager José Fernández, defeated the Buckeyes four games to one. Kellman went 8-for-20 (.400) to lead the Buckeyes in the Series, though they featured future big leaguers as Trouppe,

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

and

Sam Jethroe Samuel Jethroe (January 23, 1917 – June 16, 2001), nicknamed "the Jet", was an American center fielder in Negro league and Major League Baseball. With the Cincinnati & Cleveland Buckeyes he won a pair of batting titles, hit .340 over seven se ...

(.316), who was the only other player over .300. In 1948 Kellman batted .307 for Cleveland, posting a better average than Jethroe (.296),

Elston Howard Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder. During a 14-year baseball career, he played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues and Major Leag ...

(.283) or

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of ...

(.262) collected in the league. The team moved and became the Louisville Buckeyes in the 1949 season. Kellman slumped to a .254 average that season. He opened 1950 with the

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the l ...

, batting a huge .329 average. In addition, he made four consecutive appearances from 1947 to 1950 as a backup third baseman for the West Division team in the

East-West All-Star Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. In 1951 Kellman journeyed to Mexico, where he enjoyed a solid season with the

Azules de Veracruz The Azules de Veracruz (English: Veracruz Blues) were a professional baseball team that played in the Mexican League from 1940 to 1951. Originally from Veracruz, Mexico, the team relocated to Mexico City shortly after its foundation, while keeping ...

, batting a

slash line This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See count. 1 ...

of .292/.407/.450, which included 10 home runs in 271

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

s, helping the team to clinch the championship. After that Kellman returned to the Negro leagues, dividing his playing time with the

and

Indianapolis Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. Th ...

in 1952 and part of 1953, when he came back to Mexico and joined the

Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo The Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos (English: Two Laredos Owls), formerly known as the Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo (English: Nuevo Laredo Owls), are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League. The Tecolotes are a binational baseball team, spli ...

for the rest of the year, batting .268 in 79 games.The Mexican League/La Liga Mexicana His most productive season in Mexico came in 1954, when he posted a slash of .357/.502/.608 and 13 home runs for Nuevo Laredo, while driving in 61 runs and scoring 74 times in 73 games, being surpassed by René González in the batting race by a measly .002 points. In addition, Kellman became the first player in Mexican baseball history to hit two

grand slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

s in the same game, accomplishing his feat against the Diablos Rojos de México on May 5, 1954. Kellman continued contributing with the Tecolotes in 1955, batting .336/.458/.487 in 100 games. He caught and managed for them in part of 1956, then moved to the

Leones de Yucatán The Leones de Yucatán (English: Yucatán Lions) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League. The team plays its home games at Parque Kukulcán Alamo in Mérida, Yucatán. The Leones have won the Mexican League title five times in 1957 ...

during the midseason, hitting a combined .297/.444/.429 in the two stints. He batted 309/.435/.423 for Yucatán in 1957, and then found himself on the move again, this time to the Diablos Rojos late in 1958, during what turned out to be his last season in Mexican baseball. Kellman hit a combined line of .279/.405/.394 in 34 games, while accumulating .309/.440/.456 during his seven seasons in the league. As was customary in those years, Latin American players as Kellman participated in the winter leagues of their respective countries. As a catcher/manager for the Spur Cola Colonites, Kellman had the distinction of leading his homeland's first team through the inauguration of the

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series ( Spanish: ''Serie del Caribe'') is an annual club tournament contested by professional baseball teams in Latin America. It is organized by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. The series is normally played in ...

in 1949 in the city of

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Indios de Mayagüez The Indios de Mayagüez (Mayagüez Indians) are a baseball team in Puerto Rico's Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League, in Spanish). Based in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, the ''Indios' ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, which was the first game played in Caribbean Series history. Panama won the contest, 13–9, following an amazing 10-run rally in the seventh inning. The team finished third with a 2–4 record.Nuñez, José Antero (1994). ''Serie del Caribe de la Habana a Puerto La Cruz''. JAN Editor. Kellman led back Spur Cola to the Series in its 1951 edition. The team ended 1–5 in last place. After that, he was added as a reinforcement of the

Carta Vieja Yankees The Carta Vieja Yankees (), also known as the Licoreros de Carta Vieja (English: ''Carta Vieja Distillers''), were a professional baseball team active in the Panamanian Professional Baseball League in the late 1940s and 1950s. The team's name orig ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and the Chesterfield Smokers in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, while managing his Cerveza Balboa champion team to a second-place finish (3–3) behind Cuba's Tigres de Marianao (5–1) in the 1957 Series.

Later life

Kellman retired with a career average of .297 in the Panamanian league and batted .205 (9-for-44) in five Caribbean Series, while tying with teammate

Sam Bankhead Samuel Howard Bankhead (September 18, 1910 – July 24, 1976) was an American baseball player in the Negro leagues. He played from 1931 to 1951. He also played for the Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo along with Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. In 1951 ...

and Cuba's

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played in both Majo ...

for the most

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s with four during the inaugural tournament. His early efforts would enable future generations of fellow countrymen to follow him, including

Humberto Robinson Humberto Valentino Robinson (June 25, 1930 – September 29, 2009) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1955 through 1960 for the Milwaukee Braves (1955, 1958), Cleveland Indians (1959) and Philadelphia Phillies (1959–60). L ...

, the first Panamanian-born big leaguer, as well as

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, first baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minneso ...

, Webbo Clarke,

Héctor López Héctor Headley López Swainson (July 8, 1929 – September 29, 2022) was a Panamanian professional baseball left fielder and third baseman who played in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees from 1955 to 196 ...

Ben Oglivie Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer (born February 11, 1949) is a Panamanian former professional baseball left fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox (1971–1973), Detroit Tigers (1974–1977), and Milwaukee Brew ...

Mariano Rivera Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian Americans, Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and " ...

, Carlos Ruiz,

Manny Sanguillén Manuel De Jesus Sanguillén Magan (born March 21, 1944) is a Panamanians, Panamanian former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher in 1967 and from 1969 through 1980, most notably as a member of the Pittsbu ...

and Pat Scantlebury, among many others. Kellman later became a long time resident of

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, where he died in 1981 at the age of 57.

Sources

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellman, Leon 1924 births 1981 deaths Azules de Veracruz players Baseball catchers Baseball managers Baseball players from Orlando, Florida Baseball second basemen Baseball third basemen Caribbean Series managers Carta Vieja Yankees players Cleveland Buckeyes players Diablos Rojos del México players Indianapolis Clowns players Leones de Yucatán players Louisville Buckeyes players Memphis Red Sox players Minor league baseball managers Panamanian baseball players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Mexico Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo players People from Colón Province