We already had a pretty good idea about this, but now we’ve got more definitive evidence identifying Francisco “Paco” Muñoz as the “Muñoz” of the 1914 and 1916 Long Branch Cubans, as well as some interesting information on Luis Padrón. Here is a portion of the passenger list from the S.S. Saratoga, arriving in New York from Havana on April 29, 1914:
And here’s part of the second page, with their height, complexion, hair and eye color, “marks of identification,” and country and city of birth:
It’s a little more difficult in 1916. Here are the Long Branch Cubans, or most of them anyway, arriving in New York, again aboard the Saratoga, on April 4, 1916:
No Muñoz. Instead, he shows up traveling by himself to Key West aboard the S.S. Governor Cobb, arriving on April 5:
Now, here’s the interesting part. This is part of the following page, listing Muñoz’s final destination (state and city), and then, in the final three columns, whether he had previously been in the U.S., and where (state and city):
So he was headed, not for Long Branch, New Jersey, as the other members of the Cubans traveling to New York are listed, but rather to Raleigh, North Carolina. And, although he had played for the Cubans in 1914, he’s listed here as last having been in the United States at Raleigh that year.
I asked David Skinner if he knew anything about Muñoz playing for Raleigh in 1914 or 1916, when the city fielded a club in the North Carolina State League (managed, incidentally, by Connie Mack’s son Earle from 1913 to 1915). Here’s his response:
I've gone back over my Long Branch material and extracted some nuggets….From the Long Branch Daily Record, 4/27/14:
The Cuban baseball team will arrive here tomorrow. They sailed Saturday on the steamer “Saratoga.”
Sounds like they docked a day later than expected. The Henriquez in New York [listed on the manifest by the Cuban players as their U.S. contact] was probably Carlos. Dick [the club’s player-manager] had a large house, still standing, at 140 Franklin Ave. in Long Branch, a couple of blocks from Baseball Park (now the Hilton parking lot). Most of the players stayed there when they first arrived.
From the season preview in the 4/30 Record:
The calibre of the pitching staff is unknown to a certain degree. Munos [sic] seems to be the coming star of the team. He twirled against invading clubs in Cuba this winter and got away with victories over Brooklyn and Birmingham.* All we know about the others are their names and we can't even spell them.
His first 1914 appearance was in the Cubans’ first game, a complete game 5-2 loss to the New York Giants on May 3. His last league appearance was a 7-0 defeat in Asbury Park on September 2, also a complete game. In the last game of the year on September 7, he started vs. independent Trenton and was shelled, knocked out in the fourth inning of a 16-11 Long Branch win. He had 19 appearances for 137 innings in league games, plus others in exhibitions like the above. He may have been dealt after September 2, or maybe he became a free agent when the season ended on Labor Day, September 7. So if Raleigh was still playing, he could have had a cup of coffee there in 1914 and then been signed by them for the 1915 season. We do know the North Carolina State League was still playing on September 9, because there is a citation (of a Winston-Salem player) for that day in “This Date in Minor League History” for 1914 in The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. The 1916-17 Spalding Guide (Cuban Edition) lists yearly batting (but not pitching) records for Cubans in Organized Baseball in the U.S. Muñoz is not shown for 1914 for either Long Branch or Raleigh (too few games for the latter, apparently an oversight for the former), but he did hit .126 for Raleigh in 1915 (13 for 103 in 35 games), the lowest average for any Cuban in OB. I think we can thus safely assume that all his games were pitching appearances.
I have the Reach and Spalding (U.S.) Guides for 1915, although unfortunately not 1916, which would have Muñoz’s pitching record for 1915. Spalding U.S. guides don't have player stats, which were in the Spalding Record Book, which I don’t have. Reach has no Muñoz or Munos (the spelling they used for his Long Branch records) with Raleigh, probably again because he was in fewer than 10 games. But one surprise entry indicates a likely Cuban connection for mgr. Mack. Although Earle’s dad’s A’s didn’t play Long Branch, it wasn’t too far from Philly and it’s not unreasonable to think he knew or at least knew of the Henriquezes and their operation. Hitting .275 for Raleigh in 1914, in 11 games, just over the limit for inclusion in Reach, was one “Pedrone.” He was 11 for 40, all singles. He played outfield in all 11 games, had 2 errors in 25 chances (all PO) for a .926 FA, better than his manager’s .893 in 73 OF games (but Earle was .945 in 13 G as catcher). Pretty interesting that an obvious (I think we all now agree) man of color could play ball in Dixie in 1914, just because he spoke Spanish.
Padrón had played in Long Branch’s Labor Day win over Trenton (subbing for two scheduled league opponents, neither of which showed up) on Sept. 7. He had a “bad leg” and “limped only to the third station” on an apparent inside-the-park home run. This was probably less an injury than the effects of playing year-round baseball for many years. Juan Violá, winning pitcher in relief in this same final game “ran like a broken down race horse” on a successful four bagger. Padrón had played in 69 of 75 Atlantic League games after 27 (of 32) games for Habana in the 1913-14 Cuban League, and Violá 68 after 28 for the Leones. Not a lot of games by OB standards, but all year with only a short fall break, and many exhibition games on “off” days.
It might be useful to look in 1916 Reach not just for Paco in 1915, but Luis as well. I somehow doubt his skin color made it to another season in Carolina, and he was of course a regular for the independent Long Branch/Newton Cubans in 1915, so it would only be another late season short stint, but it's worth checking. Cuban sources show 1914 Long Branch as his last OB team, and don’t mention 1914 Raleigh. I blame that on poor Spanish name spelling by Americans. His 1914 Long Branch listings in Reach are as the more conventional “Padrone.”
--David Skinner
I promised David I would check Raleigh newspapers for information on Muñoz and “Pedrone,” but haven’t gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, if anybody reading happens to have either a Reach Guide or Spalding Record Book for 1916 (or for that matter a Spalding Record Book for 1915), check and see if you can find these guys playing for the Raleigh Capitals of the North Carolina League.
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