1954 Cincinnati Redlegs- Nino Escalera

[herbc]

Nino Escalera played for the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1954. On 4/17/54 he became the first Black to play for them in a game against the Milwaukee Braves. Chuck Harmon followed him pinch-hitting in the same game.
I had been using a 1977, "One Year Winners (Fritsch)"card to symbolize a "Rookie" card for him. I found out that the Redlegs had team postcards printed in 1954.
I've been looking for this postcard forever. My newly acquired Nino Escalera "Rookie" Autographed Postcard.

I replaced this....



With this....!

[Marckus99]

He was not black.

He is Puerto Rican.

[sbfinley]

Nino was Puerto Rican of African descent. Not to appear insensitive to race, although he is Latin he is broadly considered the man who broke the color barrier in Cincy. I don't see an issue with referring to him as "black". By strictly African-American considerations it would be Harmon, but Nino was truly the first non-white or American Indian. To be more technical you could refer to him as "colored", but although use is acceptable in providing historical context, it isn't a word you want to use in everyday conversation. The manner in which the OP presented him is just fine IMO.

[sbfinley]

By the way great pickup as well.

[DBesse27]

That's a great find for any Reds collector. Congrats!

[begsu1013]

very nice herb!

what are the dims on it?

as we've discussed, doing the color barrier set in cards and signed versions...

ol lil ocd w/ the collection and only like regular sized cards, but will strongly think about adding the postcard considering it's the only other option of the '77 fristch "rookie"...

congrats on the score!

[herbc]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

very nice herb!

what are the dims on it?

as we've discussed, doing the color barrier set in cards and signed versions...

ol lil ocd w/ the collection and only like regular sized cards, but will strongly think about adding the postcard considering it's the only other option of the '77 fristch "rookie"...

congrats on the score!

Thanks to all for your comments. It's such a good feeling to find a card that you've long looked for.

Bob,
The card is about the size of a standard postcard. There is a 1/8" difference on the long edge. Standard postcards measure 5 & 1/2" across, and 3 & 1/2" down. Nino's card measures 5 & 5/8" across, and 3 & 1/2" down.

[Marckus99]

Herb - My comment regarding his race was just a point of clarification. I apologize if it came off the wrong way.

As you mentioned this PC is a rather tough find. I believe the only other issue he is depicted on is on the 1949-51 Toleteros.

Great pick up!

Stevie - You are correct that many Puerto Ricans are of African decent due to their history but their blood line also includes the indigenous Indian (Taino & Carib) people's who inhabited the island long before Africans amd Columbus came along. I highly doubt you would find a single person in Puerto Rico that would say they were/are "black". My parents are from Puerto Rico and I would NEVER consider myself "black" - under any circumstances.

Furthermore, there are numerous Latin ball players who dealt with issues of race/color long, long before J. Robinson (BTW, who was highly overrated) came along in 1947. The list includes Marsans, Almeida, Cueto, Herrera, Luque,
Viola, Palmero, Gonzalez, Almada...). As a matter of fact, prior to Escalera, Tomas de la Cruz pitched for Cincy - for an entire year in 1944.

Native American Indians and Asians played this game years before 1942 and dealt with many injustices, but that too largely goes undocumented. While it seems only one "race" gets pandered to.

- Mark Rios

[Volod]

Apparently, "race" is only tangentially about "color." Back in the late '60's, Henry Aaron and Rico Carty got into a brief fist-fight aboard an airliner after Carty used the N-word. Hank later quipped that Rico was sort of dark-skinned himself. We're all shades of a single palette named Homo Sapiens.