Emilio Navarro (September 26, 1905 – April 30, 2011), better known as "Millito Navarro", was a Puerto Rican

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 ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

. Navarro was the second Puerto Rican to play

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 ...

in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

, two years after

Gacho Torres José "Gacho" Torres (July 2, 1896 – December 14, 1963) was a Puerto Rican outfielder in the Negro leagues in the 1920s. A native of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, Torres played for the Newark Stars in 1926. In two recorded games, he went hitless ...

played for the

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

Newark Stars The Newark Stars were a Negro league baseball team in the Eastern Colored League, based in Newark, New Jersey, in 1926. The team's owner was Wilbur Crelin and its manager and third baseman was Andy Harris. The team featured outfielder Charlie Mas ...

. At the time of his death, at age 105, Navarro was the oldest former

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 the last surviving player from the

American Negro League The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro league baseball, Negro leagues established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the United States in 1929. ...

Biography

Navarro was born in Patillas,

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 ...

, to Botello and Pepa Navarro, and raised in the city of Ponce. His father was a well-known shoemaker in Patillas who died when Emilio was 6 years old. His widowed mother soon moved to Ponce where she had family. From a young age, Navarro helped his family economically by selling newspapers, peanuts and ice.El Siglo 21 newspaper
/ref> In Ponce he attended Castillo Public School, a public school on Calle Castillo, Ponce, and worked after school shining shoes and delivering the foods which his mother prepared to support the family. His first contact with baseball occurred when he went to watch the school team play. On one occasion he did not have enough money to pay for an entrance ticket to watch a game between the Castillo and Reina teams. He therefore jumped a fence, which happened to be in the outfield. It so happened that one of the Castillo team members became sick and when the coach saw Navarro jump the fence he asked him to play. He agreed and played baseball since. After graduating from high school, Navarro was offered a grant to attend the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

in Mayagüez, which he turned down. Instead, Navarro felt that he should help his family financially and believed that he was more than ready to play in the Major Leagues in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Baseball career

In the 1920s, the United States was a racially segregated country and Navarro's skin color presented a problem for his participation in American baseball leagues — in baseball, black players were not permitted to play in the same leagues as their

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

counterparts. As a consequence of this policy, a group of white and black businessmen joined forces and organized their own Negro leagues. The teams played against each other and even had their own

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 ...

. Two of those teams were the Cuban Stars, owned by

Alex Pompez Alejandro "Alex" Pompez (May 3, 1890 – March 14, 1974) was an American executive in Negro league baseball who owned the Cuban Stars (East) and New York Cubans franchises from 1916 to 1950. His family had emigrated from Cuba, where his father ...

, and the

Cuban Giants The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they playe ...

. Both of those teams consisted mainly of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

Afro-Latino Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos, are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black ...

players.Negro League Museum
/ref> Navarro played for two years with the Cuban Stars and had a

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 ...

of .337. The experience was bittersweet for Navarro, especially when they played in the South — he felt discriminated against due both to his skin color and his lack of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. After playing with the Negro leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. By the time baseball had become integrated in the United States, Navarro had returned to Puerto Rico. The experience and knowledge he had gained contributed to his success when he became one of the founders of the Leones de Ponce baseball team in his hometown of Ponce. He played, coached, and contributed in various other ways in the team, dedicating 20 years of his life to the "Leones".

Retirement from baseball

After Navarro retired from active baseball, he worked as administrator of the Francisco "Paquito" Montaner Stadium in Ponce, a position that he held for 10 years.

Awards and accolades

In 1938, Puerto Rican sportswriter Emilio Huike voted Navarro as the "Ideal Professional Baseball Player". Navarro became a

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

on September 26, 2005, and the following years saw many tributes to him in both Puerto Rico and the United States. His life and experiences in baseball were part of an American documentary called "Beisbol", on the contributions and influence of

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

s in America's national pastime. He was elected to the Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. The Senate of Puerto Rico presented him with Resolution #1026 in recognition of his contributions to baseball on June 7, 2005.Senado de Puerto Rico
/ref> On December 29, 2006, Navarro was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. Former

Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

great José (Cheo) Cruz presented the plaque of induction to Navarro. On June 6, 2008,

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 ...

held a ceremonial Negro league draft prior to the amateur draft. Navarro was selected by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. He was also honored at a game during the final homestand in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

history on September 18, 2008. In 2010, Navarro was honored by "Experience Works" who recognized him as an outstanding active Senior Citizen in the United States.

Later years and death

On April 27, 2011, Navarro was hospitalized at

Hospital San Lucas A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

in Ponce after suffering a minor heart attack. On April 28, he was transferred to the hospital's

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

after suffering a stroke. He died two days later on April 30, 2011, after failing to overcome the effects of his stroke. He was survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Legacy

On May 1, 2011, the

held a moment of silence to honor Navarro before the start of their game against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

. In 2011, his home municipality of Ponce named a sports complex after him, '' Ciudad Deportiva Millito Navarro''. He is also recognized at Ponce's Parque de los Ponceños Ilustres in the area of sports.''Sports''.
TravelPonce.com Retrieved 18 April 2013.

Notes

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads100th birthday announcement

MLB plans ceremonial Negro League draft for June
{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Emilio 1905 births 2011 deaths African-American centenarians American men centenarians Baseball players from Ponce, Puerto Rico Burials at Cementerio La Piedad Cuban Stars (East) players Negro League Baseball players from Puerto Rico People from Patillas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican baseball players Puerto Rican men centenarians Puerto Rican people of African descent