Here are statistics for the 1908 Cuban League (La Liga General de Base Ball de la República de Cuba), which held its championship from January 1 to April 13, 1908.
[NOTE: Stats for the 1907/08 Cuban League have been deleted, but will reappear in a different venue in the near future. Stay tuned!]
This season saw the debut of José Méndez, as well as the lesser-known great Eustaquio “Bombín” Pedroso. It was the second season in which black North American players participated, this time mostly for Habana—a club that, like Fe the year before, just lost the pennant to the all-Cuban Almendares. And, after five consecutive years of a three-team league located in Havana, the league expanded, adding a club in the nearby city of Matanzas.
It’s for this reason that the 1908 and 1908/09 seasons are the only years between 1902 and 1922 for which I lack a significant number of box scores. The Havana newspapers (at least the ones I have access to) simply did not run box scores for games played outside Havana during these years. Looking at the standings in Figueredo’s Cuban Baseball, it would appear that the league played 89 games (the wins he lists plus a single tie game I know of). I’ve found scores for 83 (one Almendares win over Matanzas was reported without a score), and box scores for 58 (70 percent) of those. All but a handful of the games without box scores were played in Matanzas.
The impact this had on player statistics can be readily appreciated by comparing Figueredo’s numbers to mine. A few examples:
Luis Padrón hit .195 in 123 at bats in the games I found; Figueredo has him at .279 in 159 at bats.
I have Bill Monroe at .239 in 46 at bats; Figueredo gives him a .319 in 72 at bats.
I’ve found Juan Failde with a 1-5 won-loss record; Figueredo has him at 4-10.
On the other hand, I seem to have located all but one of José Méndez’s decisions, and all of Luis Padrón’s; and most of the regulars’ batting averages in the games I’ve found are actually fairly close to the final figures. Of course, the stats presented here are also as complete as possible (with batters’ walks, stolen bases, and hit by pitch; pitching statistics beyond won/loss records, and full fielding statistics), so they partly make up in depth what they lack in breadth.
Lastly, a note on player identification: Figueredo has Julián (Fallanca) Pérez as the only Pérez pitching for Habana in 1908, while I’ve found that both Julián (a rookie) and the veteran Inocencio Pérez played for the team.
Inocencio Pérez is clearly identified as the Pérez pitching for Habana against the Philadelphia Giants in two games (October 17 and October 27) the previous fall. “I. Pérez” appears for Habana in both La Lucha and Diario de la Marina box scores for a league game on January 2. Another appearance by “Pérez” on January 7 is not given an initial in either paper.
On January 9, Julián Pérez made his debut for Habana, both newspapers commenting on it and clearly identifying him. “I. Pérez” made two more appearances on the mound for Habana, on January 13 and January 27; then disappears from the box scores. From then on, beginning with a February 8 game, it’s “J. Pérez” or just “Pérez” for Habana. So I credited the appearances on January 2 and January 7 to Inocencio, the already-established Habana pitcher; January 9 to Julián; January 13 and 27 to Inocencio; and everything after to Julián.
Interestingly, “Pérez” first appeared as an umpire on February 2, and worked 38 of the remaining 46 games played in Havana. At this point I can’t say whether or not that’s Inocencio, but it wouldn’t be surprising.
UPDATE 7/20/07 If you’ve looked over the stats, you will have noticed the extreme imbalance of the Cuban League in 1908. In part, this is because of the addition of the Matanzas club, which consisted mostly of marginal players who had never played in the Cuban League (and never would again). Only Gonzalo Sánchez, Juan Violá, and Pedro Olave could be considered anything like established players at this point. But one of the old clubs, Fe, was not much better, having lost all its black North Americans (Foster, Hill, Johnson) to Habana, plus another of its best players from 1907, Carlos Morán, to injury or some other problem that kept him off the field. The club, in desperation, shuffled a motley aggregation of veterans and youngsters in and out of the lineup with seemingly no governing logic, apparently hoping that someway, somehow they would hit on a winning combination. This resulted in some suprising feats of versatility. Ramón Govantes appeared at eight positions in just 29 games; Agustín Parpetti appeared at seven positions. Fe did come up with at least one gem, their most effective pitcher, Eustaquio Pedroso—though his true quality would not become apparent for another season or two.
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