Here are statistics for the Lincoln Stars’ 1914 series in Cuba, with box scores for 13 of 14 known games (and play-by-play accounts for nine).
Download 1914_lincoln_stars_in_cuba.xls
This team is described, by both Holway and Figueredo, as the Lincoln Giants, and with good reason: fully ten of the team’s twelve players appear on the 1914 Lincoln Giants’ roster in Clark and Lester’s Negro Leagues Book, whereas only two appear on the Lincoln Stars’ roster. A word of explanation: in 1914, the McMahon brothers, founders of the Lincoln Giants, left the team to found a rival club, the Lincoln Stars, while Jim Keenan took over the Giants.
There’s very good evidence, however, that the team that visited Cuba was actually the Lincoln Stars. For one thing, the team is, without exception, called the Lincoln Stars in both Cuban newspapers consulted for this project, La Lucha and the Havana Daily Post (the latter an English-language daily). For another, the team’s player/manager was Spotswood Poles (this is mentioned several times); the following season, 1915, would find him running the Lincoln Stars. In fact, in 1915, four members of the team that visited Cuba can be found only on the Lincoln Stars’ roster (Poles, Harvey, Parks, and Santop), while only one (Jules Thomas) appears solely on the Lincoln Giants’ roster (Dick Redding would play for both teams). It’s not completely certain this is the Lincoln Stars (I haven’t yet run across a mention of the team’s ownership, which would be definitive), but at the moment the idea’s pretty persuasive, at least to me.
I found the same total number of games (14) and the same record for the Lincolns (4-9-1), as well as the same schedule alternating Habana and Almendares as the Lincolns’ opponent, but the actual scores I found differ considerably. Figueredo’s scores are on the left, what La Lucha and the Havana Daily Post show is on the right (Figueredo doesn’t give specific dates). The discrepancies are marked in bold.
L. Giants 2, Almendares 4 OCT 9 L. Stars 1, Almendares 5
W-Luque L-Redding W-Pedroso L-Redding
L. Giants 6, Habana 4 OCT 10 L. Stars 6, Habana 4
W-Dismukes L-Pareda W-Dismukes L-Pareda
L. Giants 4, Almendares 10 OCT 11 L. Stars 4, Almendares 10
W-Luque L-Harvey W-Luque L-Harvey
L. Giants 3, Habana 4 OCT 12 L. Stars 3, Habana 4
W-Acosta L-Redding W-Acosta L-Redding
L. Giants 7, Almendares 5 OCT 13 L. Stars 3, Almendares 1
W-Green L-Pedroso W-Dismukes L-Méndez
L. Giants 1, Habana 0 OCT 15 L. Stars 1, Habana 0
W-Redding L-Ballesteros W-Redding L-Ballesteros
L. Giants 2, Almendares 3 OCT 18 L. Stars 2, Almendares 3
W-Pedroso L-Dismukes W-Pedroso L-Dismukes
L. Giants 3, Habana 0 OCT 19 L. Stars 3, Habana 0
W-Redding L-Pareda W-Redding L-Pareda
L. Giants 2, Almendares 6 OCT 22 L. Stars 1, Almendares 3
W-Pedroso L-Dismukes W-Méndez L-Dismukes
L. Giants 1, Habana 1 OCT 25 L. Stars 1, Habana 1
Redding/Acosta Redding/Acosta
L. Giants 5, Almendares 10 OCT 26 L. Stars 5, Almendares 10
W-Luque L-Green W-Luque L-Green
L. Giants 1, Habana 2 OCT 28 L. Stars 1, Habana 2
W-Ballesteros L-Harvey W-Ballesteros L-Harvey
L. Giants 2, Almendares 4 NOV 2 L. Stars 2, Almendares 4
W-López L-Redding W-López L-Redding
L. Giants 1, Habana 2 NOV 2 L. Stars 1, Habana 2
W-Palmero L-Dismukes (no box score)
A couple of further notes: this series sees the reappearance of old heroes Julián Castillo and Regino García for one game with Almendares (both had made their final appearances in the Cuban League during the 1912/13 season). The series also represents a return to the ultra-deadball days of the previous decade, as the series averages plummeted to .198/.288/.224, teams scoring only 3.08 runs per game. Compare the averages for the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Cuban visit in 1913, for example: .273/.334/.333 and 4.57 runs per game, or for the 1912 Lincoln Giants’ series (.251/.338/.292, 4.42 runs per game).
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