Luis Miguel Castro (November 25, 1876 – September 24, 1941), nicknamed "Jud" and "Count", was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder who was born in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, Colombia. He is considered the first Latin American to play in recognized

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Castro was a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

who played 42 games with the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

in their pennant-winning 1902 season.

Early life

Luis Miguel Castro was born to Nestor Castro, a banker, and Inez Agnes Vasquez in

on November 25, 1876. Castro's father fled the country during a renewed period of civil war; that experience was apparently traumatic for the young Castro, who told a Philadelphia reporter in 1902 (during another period of civil war) that he would "never go back home" because of the political violence. "If they don’t have a rebellion every few months the whole country gets an impatient idea that something has gone wrong. Then they begin a revolution to right it." Castro attended

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

, a Catholic school, then located in Harlem. In 1895, at 18, he joined the college's

Manhattan Jaspers The Manhattan Jaspers are composed of 19 teams representing Manhattan University in intercollegiate athletics. The Jaspers compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Manhattan University fields 19 NC ...

baseball team, playing as a right-handed utility infielder, outfielder, and even as a pitcher; he was named by Sporting Life as one of the top college players on the East Coast by 1898.

Career

Castro was signed by Philadelphia Athletics manager

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. Mack holds records for the most wins (3,731), losses (3,948), ties (76), and ga ...

while he was playing semi-pro ball in the

Connecticut League The Connecticut League, also known as the Connecticut State League, was a professional baseball association of teams in the state of Connecticut. The league was a Minor League Baseball, minor league for most of its existence. It began as offshoot o ...

. He was a replacement for

Nap Lajoie Napoléon Lajoie (; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie, was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "the Frenchman", he represented both Ph ...

, whose contract with the Athletics had been challenged in court by the cross-town

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

; when the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...

barred Lajoie from playing for any other team in the state, the future Hall-of-Famer was traded to the Cleveland Bronchos, and Castro was called up as his replacement. In his brief 42-game stint with the Athletics, he posted a .245

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 ...

, with one

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 ( ...

and 15

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

, 35

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, 18

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

, 8 doubles, 1

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

and two

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 in 143

at bats 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 ...

. Castro proved a decent hitter but a poor defender, and played sparingly through the second half of the season. Nevertheless, the Athletics would eventually win the American League pennant, and Castro, well-liked among his teammates, reportedly took it upon himself to act as master of ceremonies at the team's celebratory banquet. Castro was released by the Athletics in 1903. He played in the Eastern League (today's

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

), first with the

Rochester Bronchos The Rochester Bronchos were a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York, from 1899 to 1911. In 1899, the franchise was purchased by a syndicate of local businessmen doing business as the "Flower City Baseball Company": George W. Swe ...

, who later traded him to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

; Castro hit .329 and led the league in triples (23). The next year he signed a $2,000 contract with the Portland Browns of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, briefly acting as team captain. On the West Coast, his foreign ancestry was more apparent, with one California newspaper describing him as walking "like a Mexican." Nevertheless, he was relatively well-liked and well known for his genial demeanor and practical jokes. Castro played for various teams in the American Association and

Southern Association The Southern Association (SA) was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class B (1902-19 ...

, and managed teams in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

and

Virginia League The Virginia League was a minor league baseball affiliation which operated in Virginia and North Carolina from 1906 to 1928. It was classified as a "C" league from 1906 to 1919 and as a "B" league from 1920 to 1928, folding in June. The most fa ...

Ancestry

During his playing career, newspapers variously described Castro as being Colombian, Spanish, Mexicans, Venezuelan, and Cuban. Castro himself was vague about his ancestry. In 1902, he claimed to be the nephew of Venezuela's then-president,

Cipriano Castro José Cipriano Castro Ruiz (12 October 1858 – 4 December 1924) was a Venezuelan politician and Officer (armed forces), officer of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela, military who served as president of Venezuela, president from ...

, earning him the sobriquet "The President of Venezuela"; he later denied the relationship in 1909 after President Castro had been deposed. Castro applied for U.S. citizenship on July 10, 1917, noting his birthplace as Medellin, Colombia. However, in subsequent documents (a 1922 passport application and the 1930 US census) he listed his birthplace as New York. This has led to confusion about his birthplace. Baseball researcher Gary Ashwill suggests that Castro was not granted citizenship and, fearing reprisal, lied about his American birth from that point on. It is also possible that it was to receive economic benefits in his old age, as he did from the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America in 1937. What is clear is that Castro probably wanted to pass for an American citizen by birth. Several baseball databases such as

Baseball Reference Baseball Reference is a baseball statistics database maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for Major League Baseball (MLB) players and teams as well as records, MLB draft history, and sabermetrics. History Founder ...

and

Baseball Almanac Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with over 500,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseba ...

originally reflected his birthplace as New York, but the discovery of the ship's information and passenger list provides a solid and perhaps irrefutable proof about his immigration to America. Despite the fact that he was not the first player who was brought by a team to play in the Major Leagues, Castro is recognized and credited as the first Major League Baseball player ever born in a Latin American country.

Death and legacy

Castro died in New York City at the age of 64. He was buried with no tombstone at Mount St. Mary's Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York. According to the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

, Castro is at Division 10, row 9, number 18 in this cemetery. On July 20, 2021, Queens State Senator

Jessica Ramos Jessica Ramos (born June 27, 1985) is an American politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, she has represented District 13, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights, in the New Yor ...

unveiled a new tombstone for Castro on Colombian Independence Day at the cemetery.

References

External links