Adam Darowski
@adarowski
Design at Sports Reference. Baseball historian focused on the Negro Leagues and Latin American baseball history. SABR member. Borussia Dortmund supporter. I schedule the baseball grids. Woke as fuck. He/him.
For a couple years now, I’ve been trying to piece together stats from León Kellman’s career in Panama. Someone was kind enough to send me a batch of data yesterday. It even includes some data from the pre-professional (pre-1945) era. I held on to his SABR bio for two years waiting for this data.
Rubén Gómez was born 99 years ago today. He is the all-time win leader in the Puerto Rican Winter League (174–119) and also shares the all-time win mark in the Caribbean Series (6–2). He won at least 383 professional games, including the first in the AL/NL World Series by a Latin American hurler.
Badass nickname alert: Cuba’s Orestes Kindelán is known as “El Tambor Mayor” (The Drum Major) He is the all-time home run (487) and RBI (1,511) leader in the Cuban National Series. He’s also the all-time RBI leader at the Olympics (36).
Swapping my writing break (just did Andruw Jones, Odell Jones, and Roberto Kelly) for a reading break
José “Zacatillo” Guerrero, the Mexican League’s all-time leader in managerial wins, was born 100 years ago today in Torreón, México. As a player, he hit .301 in 19 seasons in the Mexican League and .339 in three minor league seasons at Class C.
Cuban pitcher Braudilio Vinent turns 79 today. Considered the greatest pitcher in the history of the Cuban National Series, he pitched in the league from 1967–68 until 1985–86 and is the league’s all-time win leader. He recorded a 221–167 ledger with a 2.42 ERA and 2,134 strikeouts in 3,259.2 IP.
Through a new thing that we’re working on that I’m ridiculously excited to share in the not-too-distant future, I learned that… 1. On this date in 1959, Bobby Ávila had a 2-HR game for the Red Sox. 2. THAT BOBBY ÁVILA APPARENTLY PLAYED FOR THE RED SOX?!?!?!
If you follow me and the name Alonso Téllez sounds familiar, yeah—it’s this guy. 3,895 pro hits and 329 pro homers. That’s despite missing four prime years to support players’ rights. Legend.
Somebody sent me some great material on the Mexican League strike of 1980 and ANABE (the union) and the Liga Nacional (the outlaw league it started) and it is a WILD story. I am happy to report that the whole thing has just intensified my fondness for Alonso Téllez.
I haven’t been following the Diablos Rojos as closely for… reasons. But our hero Robinson Canó had three more hits last night, including his 21st double of the season. His line: 64 G, .300/.358/.522, 21 2B, 13 HR, 62 RBI Updated professional numbers: 4,107 H • 877 2B • 456 HR
In 2009, he managed Panama at the World Baseball Classic. Incredibly, he had played for the Panama national team over 60 years prior at the 1948 Amateur World Series. I know there’s more on this great legend in this book. If you see it, I NEED it.
🇵🇦 Panamanian OF/IF Héctor López, a two-time World Series winner with the Yankees, was born 97 years ago today. He lived to the age of 93, passing away in 2022 from lung cancer. An excellent player in the majors and a star in his native Panama, he was also the first Black manager at the AAA level.
Mexican RHP Alejo Ahumada turns 78 today. I want to learn more about his story. He was one of the top pitchers in the Mexican League in the 1970s, going 163–117 with a 3.08 ERA. In 1980, there was a massive player’s strike and Ahumada was one of several players who supported unionizing.
In five seasons in Puerto Rico (two for Arecibo and three for Ponce), he went 51–34 with a 2.36 ERA and 514 K in 689⅔ IP. One winter, he also pitched in the playoffs for Licey in the Dominican Republic (going 2–2). In 11 minor league seasons, he went 89–74 with a 3.36 ERA.
I love when a random white dude ends up a Hall of Famer in Latin America, and here’s one—Phillies pitcher John Boozer was born 88 years ago today. He was 14–16 in 7 years with the Phils, but in Puerto Rico he was a star. He led the league in Ks twice and was MVP in 1965–66 (15–3, 1.85, 121 K).
Let’s do the thing for Elvio Jiménez… Majors: 2* Minors: 1,868 Mexico: 509 Dominican Republic: 527 DR Playoffs: 18 Caribbean Series: 12 Total: a least 2,936 hits He started in LF and batted 3rd on the final day of the 1974 season. In a 13-inning game, he went 2-for-6 (hits off Tiant & T John).
This is Eduardo Jiménez… 351 HR in Mexican League (5th all-time) 199 HR in Mexican winter league (2nd all-time) 550 HR combined in LMB and LMP (4th all-time) 0 links to the major leagues (that I can find) Slash lines: LMB: .301/.428/.541 (hitters’ league) LMP: .254/.400/.486 (pitchers’ league)
Okay last one, this one with Teolindo Acosta in the middle. All three of these guys had 4,000+ professional hits.
There’s a whole subgenre of “César Tovar with his homie Víc Davalillo” photos