I still have the strong suspicion that I’m laboriously reinventing the Padrón wheel, but anyway: here’s some new information on Juan Padrón, who is discussed several times in La Lucha during the runup to the Spring 1917 Cuban League season. There’s this, for example, from the January 25, 1917, issue:
Entre los jugadores que forman el club que dirigirá Tinti figuran los populares serpentineros Juan Padrón y “Cheché” Suárez. El primero obtuvo la pasada temporada en los Estados Unidos muchos y muy resonantes éxitos estableciendo también un gran record mundial y el segundo está considerado como el mejor lanzador cienfueguero.
Among the players on Tinti Molina’s club [which would eventually be called the “White Sox”] are the popular pitchers Juan Padrón and “Cheché” Suárez. The first enjoyed many successes last season in the United States, including a great world record [see below], and the second is considered the best pitcher from Cienfuegos.
On January 27, 1917, La Lucha again mentioned Juan Padrón as one of Molina’s pitchers, and described him as “el gran pitcher zurdo Juan Padrón, lanzador éste de ‘brazo de hierro’ y que goza tanto en Cuba como en los Estados Unidos de gran fama y popularidad” (“The great lefthanded pitcher Juan Padrón with the ‘arm of iron’, who enjoys as much fame and popularity in Cuba as in the United States”). The article also mentions that he played for the Cuban Stars the past season. (A couple of paragraphs later “Padrón” —Luis—is mentioned among the players on Miguel Angel González’s Red Sox team.)
But Juan does not appear on a White Sox roster list elsewhere in the same issue. And in fact, he did not play in the Cuban League that season, though I could not find an explanation anywhere. (Luis Padrón played in the outfield for the Red Sox.)
The next fall, we find more mentions of Juan Padrón as a pitcher for Molina’s team, the Cuban Stars, which represented Cienfuegos in several series against Habana and Almendares during the 1917/18 season. Once again, though, he doesn’t appear in any Cuban box scores that season, at least that I’ve found so far. In La Lucha (November 4, 1917) he is referred to as the “serpentinero éste que posee el record mundial de struck outs en nueve innings, 21,” that is, the pitcher who owns the world record for strikeouts in nine innings with 21. I don’t know precisely when or where this was supposed to have happened, just that it was during the 1916 season in the United States. Several ProQuest searches haven’t turned anything up yet.
So, in summary: more separation between Juan and Luis, a mention of Juan as a lefthanded pitcher, and an identification of Juan as the Cuban Stars’ pitcher in 1916.
Tomorrow: Luis Padrón and his tryout with the Chicago White Sox.
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