The curious career of Luis Padron

[Jason19th]

Luis Padron may be one of the more interesting "unknown" players in baseball history. Possible born in Mexico but most raised in Cuba, he played on teams and danced back and forth over the color line. Playing in Cuba he stared on teams that included Rube Foster and Pete Hill. He moved to the States and played in the minors in the Connecticut League in 1908 with New Britain. He then went back to Cuba and stared until he came back to America and played with the Long Branch Cubans a team that played both in the Atlantic State league and then barnstormed in the Negro Leagues. He was apperently signed by a few major league teams but than considered a bit to dark to appear in the big league. He was a pitcher and played many other positions and excelled at both. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1943 Below are images of Padron with Habana in 1908, Long Branch in 1914 and in game clippings. While the paper doesn't mention it I wonder what the opposing managers offensive coaching was.

He has a Punch Card and a few other but I would love to see any thing that board members have

Sorry about the image sizes-- If anyone can enlarge I would appreciate it

Jason

[RUKen]

Here's a better image of the 1914 Long Branch team photo. Padron is seated on the far left:

[Jaybird]