Antonio María García

[jerseygary]

I was wondering if anyone can help me with a player I am researching. His name is Antonio María García, known as "El Ingles" (1868-1923). He played in Cuba from the mid-1880s through the early 1900s, including a couple seasons in the US with the All Cubans.

Primarily a catcher but also a untility man, he was regarded as the best player from Cuba at the time he played and was in the first class elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

Not exactly Negro League, but Negro League adjacent since the All Cubans was a mixed race club and many of their players played in the Negro Leagues.

I found the usual wiki pages and BB reference pages but was looking for some more detail on his life and career. I have looked through "Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961" by Jorge S. Figueredo and "A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006" by Peter Bjarkman but there is only what is already available online.

"Roland 49" posted a little about him in post 848 of the "New Member Cuban Cards" thread.

Can anyone direct me to any other sources for articles? I can get text translated from Spanish if needed.

Thanks,
-Gary C.

[JustinD]

I found this with a quick look - https://deportescineyotros.com/2020/...cia-el-ingles/

It is advisable to remember all those figures who in past times managed to delight Cuban baseball fans. There is always a lot of discussion about who was the most complete Cuban baseball player of all time, it is difficult for them to agree on the matter. However, let's talk here about one of those who was considered the best in the 19th century, an opinion shared by former baseball players and experts of this sport, such as Abel Linares, Camilo Pérez, Tinti Molina, Antonio María de Cárdenas, Manuel Calcines , Ramón S. Mendoza and Alfredo Suárez among others. The player is Antonio María García Callaghan, known as El Inglés, a nickname that could be assumed to come through the maternal line. Callaghan is a surname of Gallic origin, Irish in this case. However, according to the baseball-reference.com bull pen, the nickname is due to his fluency in English, apart from having had careful instruction, information corroborated by González Echeverría (2004).

El Inglés was born in Matanzas in 1868 and played all positions, but he stood out most receiving pitchers or playing in the outfield, he was a man of power and fast on the bases. His debut was with Almendares in 1892, where he remained until 1895. Then he played, in that order, with Habana (1986-89), Fe (1889-91), Almendares (1892), Águila de Oro (1892-93) , Almendares (1993-95), Almendarista (1897-1900), Fe (1901), Almendares-Fe (1902 and 1905). There were several leaders achieved by this great player:

Co-leader in triples (1) in the 1885-86 season
Leader in hits (26), doubles (6) and batting (.448) in the 1888 season
Leader in times at bat (65), hits (24), doubles (6), triples (4), home run (1), slugging (.538) and batting (.369 in the 1889-90 season
Slugging leader (.419) in the 1890-91 season
Batting leader (.362) in the 1892 season
Co-leader in doubles (4), co-leader in home runs (2) and leader in batting (.385) in the 1892-93 season
The famous John McGraw passed through Havana in 1889 and invited him to sign to play with the Baltimore Orioles of that time. The Englishman refused, since he did not need to go abroad to live well in Cuba. The Board of Directors of Havana paid him 500 pesos a month at that time, he dressed well and frequented the famous Acera del Louvre, to be more exact on the corner of Prado and San Rafael in Havana, where the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater of Havana is now located.

The Englishman kept playing ball as long as he could and then dedicated himself to directorial duties. Abel Linares gave him the reins of those first itinerant All Cubans and he also played occasionally with the Cuban Stars. His end in baseball was as an umpire.

The last years of his life were extremely sad, alcoholism was his "new sport", which completely destroyed him. Not much is known about the causes of this addiction. The truth is that he lived off the help of his friends, Dr. López Valle got him a job at the Ministry of Health, which he was almost unable to perform, he slept in a hut in Almendares Park. Finally, he died on July 24, 1923 in Havana as a result of pernicious anemia. He was then 55 years old. In order to place him in the coffin, both of his legs had to be cut off, since when he died both were bent. His remains rest in the Colón Cemetery in Havana and his baseball career was honored when in 1939 he was inducted into the Cuban Hall of Fame, among the first 10 to integrate this seat of honor.

Sources

Anon. Antonio María García. Baseball-reference.com. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b...%C3%ADa_Garcia

Anon. Antonio María García. Seamheads.com. https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/p...rID=garci01ant

González Echevarría R. 2004. The glory of Cuba. Ed. Colibrí, Spain, pp 195 and 456.

Romero E. Personal database.

Secades Eladio. 1954. Graphic memories of the history of baseball in Cuba. Bohemia, January 3, pp 63-75