BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Saturnino Orestes Armas "Minnie" Miñoso Arrieta (/mɨˈnoʊsoʊ/; Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɲoso]; born November 29, 1925 in Havana, Cuba[1]) is aCuban retired professional baseball player. He was a Major League Baseball (MLB) left fielder and third baseman who played for 17 seasons beginning in 1949 and ending in 1980. An All-Star player, he received one of the original nine Rawlings Gold Glove Awards in 1957.[2]
Baseball career
Minoso had been an outstanding third baseman in the Negro Leagues, and would later play several seasons in Mexico. He was nicknamed 'The Cuban Comet" and while playing in Mexico was "El Charro Negro" - "The Black Cowboy". He is second of two players (the first, Nick Altrock; 1890s–1930s) in Major League Baseball history to play in five decades (1940s–1980s). With brief appearances with the independent Northern League's St. Paul Saints in 1993 and 2003, Minoso is the only player to have played professionally in seven different decades. He was the last major leaguer to have played in the 1940s, to play a major league game.
MLB
Miñoso was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent in 1948. He played for the Indians (1949, 1951, 1958–59), Chicago White Sox(1951–1957, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1976, 1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1962), and Washington Senators (1963).
"Mr. White Sox"
Miñoso had 16 at-bats with the 1949 Indians. On May 1, 1951, as a rookie playing his first game for the Chicago White Sox against the New York Yankees at Comiskey Park, Miñoso hit a 415-foot home run on the first pitch of his first at-bat. He finished the season hitting .324 in 138 games played with 31 stolen bases and became known as "Mr. White Sox". He was selected to the American League All-Star team for the first of seven times, playing right field[3]
Comebacks
In 1976, after several years playing in Mexico, Miñoso returned to MLB to play three games with the White Sox. He picked up one single in eight at bats, becoming, at age 50, the fourth-oldest player ever to get a base hit in the Major Leagues (Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke was the oldest when he hit safely at age 54 on September 22, 1904, Nick Altrock singled on October 6, 1929 at 53, and Charlie O'Leary singled on September 30, 1934, at 51). Miñoso then returned to appear in two more games with the Sox in 1980. His five stints with Chicago cemented his image as a local baseball icon for at least three generations of White Sox fans. When the last game was played at the old Comiskey Park on September 30, 1990, Miñoso was invited to present the White Sox lineup card to the umpires in the pregame ceremonies at home plate. He did so while wearing the new uniform debuted by the White Sox that day, his familiar number 9 on the back.
In his 1980 appearance at age 54, Miñoso became the third-oldest player ever to play in the majors, behind Nick Altrock, who pinch-hit in 1933 at the age of 57, and Satchel Paige, who, at 59, pitched three shutout innings in his one game in 1965. Minoso is one of only two players to have made an appearance in a major league game in five decades, the other being Altrock.
In 1990, he was scheduled to make an appearance with the minor league Miami Miracle and hence become the only professional to play in six decades; however, MLB overruled the Miracle on the idea. Nonetheless, in 1993 at the age of 67, he made an appearance with the independent St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Then, in 2003 he returned to the Saints and drew a walk, thus becoming the only ball player to appear professionally in seven different decades. The earlier extensions to his career with the Sox were publicity stunts orchestrated respectively by one-time Sox owner Bill Veeck and his son Mike, who at the time owned partial or controlling interest in the teams.
MLB stats
| Years | Games | PA | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | OBP | SLG | BA | Fld% |
| 17 | 1835 | 7712 | 6579 | 1136 | 1963 | 336 | 83 | 186 | 1023 | 205 | 814 | 584 | .389 | .459 | .298 | .971 |
MLB awards
- American League All-Star (1951–1955, 1957, 1959, 1960; 9/9 games)[4]
- Major League Gold Glove Award (1957)
- American League Gold Glove Award (1959, 1960)
MLB achievements
- American League leader in hits (1960)
- American League leader in doubles (1957)
- American League leader in triples (1951, 1954, 1956)
- American League leader in sacrifice flies (1960, 1961)
- American League leader in stolen bases (1951–1953)
- American League leader in times on base and total bases (1954)
- Chicago White Sox All-Century Team (2000)
Other awards and recognition
| BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY |
August 11, 2002: Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame (ceremony at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, IL).
September 19, 2004: Minnie Minoso Day: Pregame unveiling of Minnie Minoso statue at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.
October 28, 2005: Minoso participated in the Chicago White Sox World Series Championship Parade in downtown Chicago.
November 3, 2005: Miñoso's name was placed on a special ballot of Negro League players and executives (39) by a 5-member screening committee to be voted upon on February 27, 2006 by a special 12-member committee of Negro Leagues historians and scholars, for selection into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Minoso not selected).
April 7, 2011: Minoso threw out the ceremonial first pitch to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén before the White Sox home opener.
November 3, 2011: Minoso was named one of the 10 Golden Era Candidates (1947–1972 era) on the Golden Era ballot for possible election by the Golden Era Committee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2012. In the December 5th voting by the 16-member Golden Era Committee, Minoso fell short by 3 votes.[5]
January 29, 2012: Minoso receives the 2011 Jerome Holtzman Award from the Chicago Baseball Museum.
Golden Era candidate (2011)[edit]
(Golden Era, 1947 to 1972)
Beginning in 2011, an election for Golden Era Ballot candidates from the Golden Era to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (2012) shall be held every 3 years. The Baseball Writers' Association of America's appointed-Historical Overview Committee (10-12 BBWAA members) serves as the screening committee and identifies 10 eligible Golden Era candidates (Minoso, 2011) for consideration by a 16-member Golden Era Committee (appointed by the Hall of Fame Board of Directors). In order to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, any of the 10 Golden Era ballot candidates must receive 12 or more votes or 75% or more of the votes cast by the 16-member Golden Era Committee (appointed by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors) at their winter meeting.[6]
The Golden Era Committee (Eight Hall of Fame members, five executives, and three media members) vote results on December 5, 2011:[7]
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