luis padrón in poughkeepsie, 1906

Thanks to David Skinner for sending along this fantastic image of Luis Padrón in his Poughkeepsie uniform, 1906—posed as a righthanded batter, of course!

Comments

[John Thorn]

Hope this not old news here.

FROM: Sporting Life, July 22, 1905:

On the 9th, at Newburgh, Padron of the Poughkeepsie team, gave an exhibition of batting seldom seen in any game. He went to bat and the Newburgh rooters began to hurl the epithet of "nigger" at him time and again. Padron is very dark, being a full-blooded Cuban, but has no negro blood. This seemed to make
him mad, and with two men on bases, he hit the first ball pitched for a home run. Several innings later he again went to the bat with two men on bases. The crowd called: "The nigger can't do it again." At this Padron hit the first ball pitched for another home run in almost the identical spot, scoring six runs and winning the game for Poughkeepsie.

[Gary Ashwill]

Padron traveled with the rest of the Cuban Stars in spring 1907, arriving in New York on April 19 (he's listed as the manager). In the Sept 20 Trenton Evening Times I found "Padrone" of Brooklyn listed in Atlantic League stats (78 for 212 in 57 games, .316).

Also traveling separately to the U.S. that spring were Tinti Molina, Emilio Palomino, and Andres Ortega (like Padron, listing New York City as their final destination). All three names (along with Padron) appear on Jerry Kuntz's roster for Brooklyn of the Atlantic League.

Molina, btw, was co-owner of the "Cubano" B.B.C. in Cuba (which was originally the Cuba B.B.C.) back in 1900.

[Bob Mayer]

Did some digging today in Newburgh. Luis Padron appears in Poughkeepsie's 1907 HRL games as pitcher or outfielder batting lead-off until the league folded on June 18.

[Gary Ashwill]

Thanks--very interesting.

I haven't found him in 1905 passenger manifests, but a Luis Padron does appear arriving in Key West on March 29, 1906. His ultimate destination is listed as Jacksonville, interestingly (though Padron was supposed to have played with Poughkeepsie first that season), and he lists his last visit to the U.S. as Jacksonville--1904.

He's not travelling with other ballplayers, though his reported age is consistent with Luis Padron the ballplayer. His occupation is listed as "carpenter"--it wasn't unusual for Cuban players to list some other occupation than baseball. But I'm not 100% certain he's the right guy.

[Bob Mayer]

Just a fyi. Luis Padron was also on the Poughkeepsie (Hudson River Lge) team in 1905. He appears in the photo of the 1905 team in the 1906 Spalding Guide.