Juan Padrón and Luis Padrón
On this blog and elsewhere I’ve put a lot of effort into establishing that Luis Padrón (Cuban right-handed pitcher/infielder/outfielder who played in the minor leagues) and Juan Padrón (Cuban-American lefthanded pitcher who only played in the Negro leagues and Cuba) were different people. I was even able to find one game (in the 1915/16 Cuban League) in which Juan and Luis faced each other, Juan pitching, Luis playing center field.
I’ve been working on the 1915 Negro leagues for the Seamheads Database. This was Juan’s rookie season in big-time professional ball. He started with a Cuban club touring the U.S. called Almendares (not really the Almendares club, just a team using the name). After he beat the New York Lincoln Stars (featuring John Henry Lloyd, Spot Poles, and Bill Pettus) on July 3, the Lincolns picked him up briefly, before he caught on with Tinti Molina’s western Cuban Stars in August.
During Juan’s time with the Lincoln Stars, he faced another Cuban team, the Long Branch Cubans—who put their veteran outfielder/pitcher Luis Padrón on the mound to face him. It’s the only instance I’ve found so far of the two Padróns actually pitching against each other. Luis came out on top, 6 to 2, knocking a triple off Juan for good measure.
Here’s the box score (faded but legible) from the July 14, 1915, Long Branch Record, courtesy of David Skinner:
Recent Comments