Negro Leagues DB Update: 1927-28 Cuban League

Imagine a last-place team with no fewer than three future Hall of Famers on its roster, all in their prime.  That’s the story of the Cuba Baseball Club of the 1927/28 Cuban Winter League , which we’ve added to the DB.  Despite the efforts of Oscar Charleston (.350/.481/.567, a league-leading 32 walks in 34 games), Willie Foster (6-8, 3.17), and Judy Johnson (.333/.375/.439), the Cuba team finished deep in the cellar with a 12-21-1 record.

Almendares (17-15-1) put up more of a fight. Player-manager Adolfo Luque (6-4, a league-best 2.64 ERA) led an otherwise ordinary staff, but los Azules were able to send some decent hitters to the plate, including Dick Lundy (.346/.365/.496), Oliver Marcell (.339/.398/.424), and Chaney White (.367/.398/.422), all from the two-time Eastern Colored League champion Bacharach Giants.

Still, they couldn’t quite match the champion Habana Leones (20-13), led by MVP Martín Dihigo , who pitched (4-2, 3.10) and played outfield and first base while hitting .389/.453/.588 with a league-leading 14 doubles.   Left fielder Jud Wilson (.431/.535/.724) was far and away the league’s best hitter.  And Dihigo, along with Oscar Levis (7-2, 3.14) and Cliff Bell (6-2, 3.14), gave los Rojos a solid trio of pitchers.

In the works for the DB: the 1935 & 1936 Negro leagues,  the 1926 Eastern Colored League, the 1923/24 Cuban League, the Mexican League, the East-West All-Star Games, and more.

An unlucky trio: Willie Foster, Oscar Charleston, and Judy Johnson, the first two in their Cuba Baseball Club uniforms.