Burgos: Jose Santiago, pioneering Puerto Rican pitcher, dies at 90
From SABR member Adrian Burgos Jr. at La Vida Baseball on October 15, 2018:
Early in his professional career, José Santiago was summoned from the Ponce Lions bullpen to face a bases-loaded, no out jam in the ninth inning. He struck out the side without allowing a run in that Puerto Rican Winter League game against Caguas Criollos. According to baseball historian Edwin Fernández Cruz, in the following day’s newspaper sportswriter Emilio Huyke wrote (in Spanish) “Santiago had a lot of pantalones” meaning he had exhibited a lot of guts to deliver such a performance.
The “Pantalones” nickname stuck with Santiago the rest of his career. Santiago died on Oct. 9 in his native Puerto Rico, just over a month after celebrating his 90th birthday on Sept. 4.
The Puerto Rico native first came onto the baseball scene as a teenager in the late 1940s. More significantly, he was a pioneering player, one of just three Puerto Ricans who moved from the Negro Leagues into the major leagues as baseball integrated.
Read the full article here: https://www.lavidabaseball.com/jose-santiago-pioneering-pitcher-dies-in-puerto-rico/
Originally published: October 15, 2018. Last Updated: October 15, 2018.