leland giants in cuba, 1910

The 1910 Chicago Leland Giants were really the predecessors of the American Giants (a name they would adopt the next season), Rube Foster having wrested legal control of the name from the former owner, Frank Leland.  It is commonly reported that Foster considered this team his greatest (or possibly the greatest of all time), and that the team finished with 123 wins and only six losses for the season. 

But when the Lelands visited Cuba that fall, Almendares alone beat them six times (losing twice, with one tie).  Here are the statistics for the series:

Download 1910_leland_giants_in_cuba_1.0.xls

John Holway’s Complete Book omits this series entirely.  Figueredo’s Cuban Baseball lists ten games, while I’ve been able to find 13.  Figueredo lists one game I haven’t found yet, so there’s probably a total of at least 14 games.

Here’s where what I found differs from Figueredo:

October 16: Leland Giants 7, Almendares 0.  Figueredo incorrectly lists it as a victory over Habana.

October 21 or 22 (assuming Figueredo’s scores are in correct order): Almendares 3, Leland Giants 1, with Pedroso defeating Bill Lindsay.  I haven’t found it yet.

And Figueredo misses these games:

October 30:  Leland Giants 7, Almendares 6.

November 6: A doubleheader, with the Lelands beating Habana 6-1 in the first game, then losing to Almendares 1-0 in the second.

November 7: Almendares 4, Leland Giants 3.

Comments

[Gary Ashwill]

I've written about this series before, in this post about Carlos Moran:
http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2008/02/carlos-morn-sou.html

...and, I was actually planning another post about it this week, as I've done a little more research on Cobb's appearances.

[Bill Mullins]

The 12-25-1910 Galveston Daily News reports on Detroit's (AL) visit to Cuba. They took 7 of 12 games (lost 4, tied 1) against Havana and Almendares. The tour also included a exhibition game between Detroit and the Phil. Athletics in Havana, which Detroit won 6-2 (possibly 8-2, the scan is garbled).

Why this might be interesting here is a statement that Pete Hill, Sam Lloyd, Grant Johnson, and Petway were said to have remained in Cuba after the Leland Giants went back to America, and played with the Cuban teams against Detroit. "It is very possible all four will remain in Cuba until April, playing in the Cuban League, which opens Dec. 26."

The same article mentions that Cabrera, Marsans (sp? bad scan), and Almelda (all infielders) all play for the New Britain team of the Connecticut league in the summer, and play for Almendares during the late fall Major League barnstorming season, and then in the winter Cuban league.