Juan Violat

Juan Violat was one of the first Cubans to play in US professional leagues. In 1904 he debuted with Jacksonville, Florida, in the Class C South Atlantic League (the “Sally” League). Over eight seasons in that circuit, he batted .256—a solid average for the Deadball Era—and in 1910 he peaked at .305 and won the batting title. He was a defensive whiz in left field with exceptional range and a throwing arm second to none. “There never has been a better fielder” in the Sally League, said the Florida Times-Union in 1905.1

Though Violat did not reach the majors, his success in the minors opened the door for other Cubans to play on US teams.2 Among them were Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans on the 1911 Cincinnati Reds, the first Cubans to play on a major-league team in the 20th century.3 Major-league debuts followed for Cubans Mike González (1912 Boston Braves), Jack Calvo and Merito Acosta (1913 Washington Senators), Dolf Luque (1914 Boston Braves), Manuel Cueto (1914 St. Louis Terriers), and Ángel Aragón (1914 New York Yankees).

Violat’s career was a tapestry of Cuban and American baseball. He played year-round: the Cuban League from January to March; a US league from April to September; and exhibition games in Havana, October to December, often against American teams. He played with and against the greatest Cuban players of the era (e.g., José Méndez and Cristóbal Torriente), saw rising stars in the Sally League (e.g., Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson), and competed against top Black Americans (e.g., Pete Hill and John Henry Lloyd).

In newspaper articles, Violat was called “Viola” in the US and “Violá” in Cuba. In his declaration of intention for US naturalization,4 he gave his full name as Juan Violat Piedra and stated that he was born in Havana on April 20, 1883. Searches at Ancestry.com identified his parents, Luis Violat and Cristina Piedra.

A right-handed batter and thrower, Violat stood 5-feet-11½ and weighed 165 pounds.5 He was not yet 20 years old when he played professionally in Havana in early 1903 in La Liga Cubana de Base Ball (The Cuban Baseball League). He appeared in 16 games for the Almendares Blues and batted .231, exceeding the league average (.191) and his team’s average (.166).

With a group of Almendares players, Violat went on a barnstorming tour of the US from May to October 1903. This team, called the All-Cubans, was quite a sight in flaming yellow uniforms.6 At Wilmington, Delaware, on May 29, 1903, he pitched a complete game, and teammate Luis Padrón belted a game-winning home run.7

In Cuba in December 1903, Violat played for several local teams against a visiting squad of Black Americans who, though not Cuban, called themselves the Cuban X-Giants. Among them were future Hall of Famers Rube Foster and Pete Hill. Pitching for the Clío team on December 14, 1903, Violat delivered a three-hitter and struck out nine in a 2-1 victory over the X-Giants.8

In February 1904, Violat returned to Almendares for the 20-game season in La Liga Habanera de Base Ball (The Havana Baseball League). As a pitcher, his record was 4-8 with a 3.82 ERA, and he was second in the circuit with 92 innings pitched. His batting average (.254) again exceeded the league average (.224). His teammate Esteban Prats ranked third in the league with a .291 mark.

Violat and Prats were signed by the Jacksonville Jays of the Sally League, and they debuted on June 5, 1904, in a 3-1 victory over Augusta, Georgia. This was the first time, it is believed, that Cuban Leaguers played in a US minor-league game.9 Violat wowed the Jacksonville crowd that day by making two sensational catches in left field.10

Violat seldom pitched for Jacksonville, but on August 19, 1904, he hurled a five-hitter with nine strikeouts in a 6-1 victory over Charleston, South Carolina. The Florida Times-Union reported that he had “good control, speed to burn, an inshoot that was a puzzler, and an upshoot that almost gave the batters palpitation of the heart.”11 On September 6, he had a big day at the plate, contributing a single, triple, and home run in Jacksonville’s 10-2 romp at Macon, Georgia.12 The season ended on September 10, and the Jays finished fourth in the six-team league. Violat’s .281 average led the team and ranked fifth in the league.13 Prats batted .235.

The Sally League season had ended, but Violat and Prats remained active. Diario de la Marina, a Cuban newspaper, noted their return to Havana. On September 21, 1904, they played “a lo maestro” (like a master) on opposing teams, Carmelita and Azul, and were applauded as national heroes.14 The pair returned to Florida in early October to play for the Tampa Perfectos in a series against the All-Cubans.15 On October 24, Violat was back in Cuba and playing for the Habana Reds against the Cuban X-Giants.16 In early 1905, he played for Habana, and Prats for Almendares, in the Havana Baseball League.

Violat rejected an offer from the Birmingham (Alabama) Barons of the Class A Southern Association,17 and without Prats he returned to Jacksonville for the 1905 season. At Augusta on May 15, 1905, the opposing left fielders were 18-year-old Ty Cobb for Augusta and 22-year-old Violat for Jacksonville. Violat’s splendid catch in the first inning robbed Cobb of a hit.18 On August 10, Violat played in left field while his Habana teammate, Valentín González, made his Jacksonville debut in right field. They combined for seven putouts in a 3-1 victory over Macon.19

The Jays finished third in 1905. Violat batted .242 (the league average was .225), González hit .292, and Cobb led the circuit with a .326 average. Their fielding percentages were: Violat .967, González .955, and Cobb .927.20

With Padrón, Prats, and González as teammates, Violat played for the Habana Reds in fall exhibitions against the Cuban X-Giants21 and in the winter Liga General de Base Ball de la República de Cuba (General Baseball League of the Republic of Cuba). In the spring of 1906, Violat and Padrón joined the Jays. Padrón had already played a season in a US minor league: In 1905 he batted .308 for Poughkeepsie, New York, in the Class C Hudson River League.22

Violat was popular throughout the Sally League.23 He was described as “a quiet, gentlemanly sort of a fellow” with a big smile.24 But in Macon on April 28, 1906, he became enraged by racial epithets directed at Padrón and fought with Macon’s right fielder, Robert Chandler. Police had to intervene. Violat and Chandler were suspended by the league for three days.25 The Memphis Commercial Appeal explained that while Violat was “very light-skinned,” the “swarthy” Padrón “never had the fans with him.”26 In late May, rather than go with the Jays to the next series in Macon, Violat and Padrón sailed home to Cuba.27

Violat returned to the Jays in July 1906 with González and without Padrón.28 The team finished in last place with a miserable 36-77 record. Violat appeared in 80 games and hit .241, the 10th-highest average in the league among batters with at least 200 at-bats.29

In Cuba that fall, Violat played for Habana against the Cuban X-Giants30 and the All-Americans, a touring squad of White pros.31 In the winter Cuban League, Violat batted only .178 (the league average was .218) and led Habana with 67 innings pitched. He hit .226 for a second-place Jacksonville team in 1907 (league average .212).32 And in early 1908, he played for Matanzas in the Cuban League.

Year-round binational ballplaying must have been exhausting. Sol White, a leading impresario of Black baseball in America, said Cubans played too much and recommended that they “take a season’s rest.”33 But the busy Violat kept going and enjoyed a superb season in 1908 on the pennant-winning Jacksonville Scouts. He stole a career-high 26 bases, and his .260 average ranked seventh in the Sally League among batters with at least 400 at-bats (the league average was .206).34

In the Scouts’ 6-4 victory over Augusta on June 9, 1908, Violat clouted two triples, one to left field and one to right center; these hits were reportedly “the longest ever seen” on the Jacksonville grounds.35 His preferred bat was heavier than most bats of the era. It was made from Cuban mahogany and had a greenish tint.36

The strength and accuracy of Violat’s throwing from left field were remarkable. Matty McIntyre of the Detroit Tigers watched him in Cuba and said he would often fire the ball to first base on hits to left field; baserunners, therefore, had better not dawdle.37 In a throwing contest at Jacksonville on August 23, 1908, Violat hurled a ball 397½ feet, said to be three feet short of a world record.38 In a test at Havana on December 9, 1908, he bested Mike Mitchell of the Cincinnati Reds for longest throw.39 It was Mitchell whom historian Bill James identified as having the “best outfield arm” in the decade from 1900 to 1909.40 Another great thrower at this time was Cleveland outfielder Joe Birmingham. Violat was “said to be a better thrower than Birmingham.”41

In Cuba in the fall of 1908, Violat played for Almendares against the Brooklyn Royal Giants (a Black team featuring Pete Hill) and the Cincinnati Reds. Violat’s teammate, pitcher José Méndez, was a sensation. In 25 innings pitched against the Reds, Méndez allowed eight hits and no runs, and he struck out 24 batters and walked only three.

Violat appeared in 35 games for Almendares in the winter Cuban League, and his .246 batting average was among the league leaders (the league average was .205). Almendares (28-14) narrowly lost the pennant to Habana (28-13). Méndez’s record for Almendares was 14-7. Three notable Black Americans hit well for Habana: Grant Johnson (.277), John Henry Lloyd (.260), and Pete Hill (.258). The Cuban League was integrated, though US leagues were not. Violat, a White Cuban, was allowed to play in US leagues, but Johnson, Lloyd, Hill, and Méndez, a Black Cuban, were barred by the color line.

Violat returned to Jacksonville in the spring of 1909. In August, the Augusta Tourists purchased his contract,42 and he helped the Tourists win the second-half title of the split Sally League season. His full-season average (.253) ranked 10th among batters with at least 400 at-bats. The league leader was Savannah’s Shoeless Joe Jackson (.358).43

In early 1910, Violat helped Almendares win the Cuban League pennant in a short season. He batted .295 in 15 games (the league average was .197). Records show that he was married by then. His wife was Josefina Jiménez Rodríguez. The couple had two daughters, Margarita and Delia.44

In Augusta on April 4, 1910, the Tourists played an exhibition game against the New York Highlanders of the American League. Pitchers Jack Warhop and James Vaughn combined to blank the Tourists in the Highlanders’ 5-0 victory. Violat got one of Augusta’s four hits and showed off his arm. With Earle Gardner on third base, Violat raced back to catch a line drive in deep left field. “It looked like madness” for Violat “to even think of trying to head off Gardner at the plate,” reported the New York Sun, “yet his perfect throw carried right to the catcher’s waist and though Gardner sprinted at top speed for the plate after the catch he was out by six feet.” It was “one of the prettiest throws ever seen on a ball field.”45

On July 28, 1910, in the first game of Augusta’s doubleheader against Columbus, Georgia, Violat suffered a season-ending injury when he slid into second base and fractured his right ankle.46 His .305 average led the Sally League that year.47 He appeared in only four games for Almendares that winter. He had been slated for promotion to Chattanooga in the Class A Southern Association for the 1911 season, but when a report surfaced in February 1911 that he was limping in Cuba, Chattanooga let him go on waivers to rival Nashville.48

On April 24, 1911, Violat’s 10th-inning home run lifted Nashville to victory at Chattanooga.49 But he was not at full strength and was described as “miserably slow on the bases and in the outfield,” and in June he was sold to Jacksonville.50 When he refused to accept a pay cut in July, he was released by Jacksonville.51 As his countrymen Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans made their major-league debuts, Violat’s career was suddenly at a standstill.

Playing less often and only in Cuba from October 1911 to March 1913, Violat regained his strength. During this period, major-league teams visited the island: the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants in 1911 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912. Black American stars came, too, including Grant Johnson, John Henry Lloyd, Pete Hill, Cyclone Joe Williams, Frank Wickware, Louis Santop, and Dick “Cannonball” Redding. And a Cuban phenom, Cristóbal Torriente, debuted.

In the spring of 1913, Violat returned to the US to play for the Long Branch (New Jersey) Cubans of the Class D New York-New Jersey League. This team, which consisted almost entirely of Cuban players, won the pennant with a dominant 65-29 record. Violat played in left field and led the circuit with 131 hits. His .349 average ranked third in the league among batters with at least 300 at-bats (the league average was .288).52 One of his teammates was Luis Padrón. In an exhibition game against the New York Giants on May 11, 1913, the Cubans prevailed 5-1 as Padrón pitched a four-hitter. Jim Thorpe got two of the Giants’ four hits. Facing pitchers Ferdie Schupp and Hooks Wiltse of the Giants, Violat and Padrón combined for five hits and scored three runs.53

In Cuba in the fall of 1913, Violat played for Habana against the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association and the Brooklyn Superbas of the National League. On November 28, Habana “smote” the Superbas, 17-4, reported Thomas S. Rice of the Brooklyn Eagle.54 Casey Stengel, though, hit a double and triple for Brooklyn.

After a winter with Habana in the Cuban League, Violat returned to the US to play for the 1914 Newark/Long Branch Cubans of the Class D Atlantic League. Incomplete statistics indicate that Violat batted a lofty .420, and the league average was .278.55

Violat continued his career for one more year. He played for Almendares in the fall and winter, before joining the 1915 Long Branch Cubans. On July 11, 1915, he got two hits, including a double with the bases loaded, in a 5-2 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds.56 Three days later, he got two hits off Cannonball Redding of the New York Lincoln Stars, and the Cubans’ 3-0 victory snapped Redding’s 19-game winning streak.57

After his baseball career, Violat was a policeman in Havana. In that city on March 10, 1919, he was off-duty and “riding in a carriage when a bullet fired by some person in the mob engaged in strike demonstrations, struck him. Death was almost instantaneous. The funeral was held the following day and a large crowd of friends and admirers of the policeman-ball player gathered to do him honor.”58 He was 35 at the time of his death. He was interred at the Cristóbal Colón Cemetery in Havana. In 1953 he was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Sources

Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, and Seamheads.com were accessed in the summer of 2025. Cuban baseball statistics from Seamheads.com were given preference over Baseball-Reference.com numbers.

Bjarkman, Peter C. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland), 2007.

González Echevarría, Roberto. The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press), 1999.

Nieto, Severo. Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland), 2008.

Image: 1909-11 T206 baseball card of Juan Violat, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 “Ins and Outs,” Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), August 12, 1905: 2.

2 Harold Johnson, “Organized Ball Now Mecca for Cubans,” Augusta (Georgia) Herald, July 16, 1916: 6.

3 Peter C. Bjarkman, A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007), 446. Esteban Bellán, who was Irish and Cuban and born in Havana, played in the National Association in the 1870s.

4 Violat’s declaration of intention, which he completed in May 1909, is available at Ancestry.com. It was the first step in the naturalization process. No evidence has been found that he completed the process and became a US citizen.

5 Violat’s height and weight are indicated on his 1909 declaration of intention for US naturalization.

6 “Home Run Wins Game,” Wilmington (Delaware) Journal, May 30, 1903: 2.

7 “An Exciting Baseball Game,” Wilmington (Delaware) Every Evening, May 30, 1903: 7.

8 Severo Nieto, Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008), 20.

9 Gary Ashwill, “The First Cuban Leaguers in the Minors, 1904,” online at Agate Type, December 14, 2012.

10 “Persons Had Best of Pitchers’ Game,” Florida Times-Union, June 6, 1904: 2.

11 “Viola Pitches Jays to Victory,” Florida Times-Union, August 20, 1904: 2.

12 “Jays Walloped Leaders’ Recruit,” Florida Times-Union, September 7, 1904: 2.

13 Francis C. Richter, ed., Reach’s Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1905 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1905), 175.

14 “Base-Ball,” Diario de la Marina (Havana, Cuba), September 22, 1904: 3.

15 “Great Game Promised for Today,” Tampa Tribune, October 2, 1904: 1; “Ball Teams Play a Tie Game,” Tampa Weekly Tribune, October 6, 1904: 5; “Fans in Frenzy,” Tampa Tribune, October 11, 1904: 1.

16 Nieto, Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba, 30.

17 “The Case of Viola,” Florida Times-Union, April 12, 1905: 2.

18 “Pender’s Jays Trim Tourists,” Atlanta Journal, May 16, 1905: 16.

19 “Opening Game with Macon Champs Was Won by Pender’s Hustling Jays,” Florida Times-Union, August 11, 1905: 2.

20 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1906 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1906), 253-9. The fielding percentages differ slightly from those appearing in this source due to differences in rounding.

21 Nieto, Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba, 37-43.

22 “Hudson River League Averages,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Eagle, September 27, 1905: 3.

23 “Off for Cuba,” Florida Times-Union, September 4, 1906: 2.

24 “Mull and the Jays,” Columbia (South Carolina) State, April 24, 1907: 6; “Viola Pounded Hard by Colts,” Jacksonville (Florida) Metropolis, August 13, 1908: 7.

25 “In First Place Perch Lathamites,” Florida Times-Union, April 29, 1906: 2; “Jays Wrest One More from Macon’s Champs,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, April 29, 1906: 16; “Color of the Cubans Brought about Row,” Columbia State, April 29, 1906: 5; “Perry Again Says ‘We’ve Just Got To,’” Macon Telegraph, May 1, 1906: 7; “Breezy Pick-Ups from Hills of Carolina,” Florida Times-Union, May 4, 1906: 2. When Violat and Chandler were teammates on Jacksonville in 1907, it was reported that they had become good friends.

26 “Back to Dear Havana,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 30, 1906: 11.

27 “Cubans Jump the League,” Columbia State, May 30, 1906: 5.

28 “Viola and Gonzalez Here,” Florida Times-Union, July 13, 1906: 2.

29 Henry Chadwick, ed., Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide, 1907 (New York: American Sports Publishing, 1907), 189.

30 Nieto, Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba, 46-51.

31 “All-Americans Lose and Win,” Passaic (New Jersey) News, December 18, 1906: 9.

32 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1908 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1908), 251.

33 Sol White, Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide, 1907, reprint edition (South Orange, New Jersey: Summer Game Books, 2014), 111.

34 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1909 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1909), 319, 321.

35 “The Hitting of Viola Won for Jacksonville,” Columbia State, June 10, 1908: 5; “Viola’s Hitting Game’s Big Feature,” Florida Times-Union, June 10, 1908: 4.

36 “Juan Viola,” Nashville Banner, April 25, 1911: 16; “New Mahogany Bats Arrive; Viola Starts Slugging Again,” Nashville Banner, May 9, 1911: 10; Jack Nye, “Vol. Sidelights,” Nashville Banner, May 27, 1911: 7.

37 “Will Play Ball in Cuba This Winter,” Buffalo Enquirer, September 7, 1909: 8.

38 C. Herbert Purdy, “Field Day Sports a Grand Success,” Florida Times-Union, August 24, 1908: 6.

39 “Reds Beaten,” Cincinnati Enquirer, December 10, 1908: 4.

40 Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 77.

41 “See Our Teams Shut ’Em Out,” New York Sun, April 5, 1910: 10.

42 “Viola Joins the Augusta Team,” Macon (Georgia) News, August 23, 1909: 7.

43 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1910 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1910), 355.

44 Laws and Decrees of the Republic from January 1 to March 31, 1924, Vol. 12 [in Spanish] (Havana, 1924), 286.

45 “See Our Teams Shut ’Em Out.”

46 “Viola’s Leg Is Broken at Ankle,” Tampa Tribune, July 29, 1910: 4; “Viola’s Home Run Wins Game. Is Billy Smith Sore? Oh, No!” Nashville Banner, April 25, 1911: 16.

47 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1911 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1911), 409.

48 “Nashville Obtains Viola by Waiver,” Chattanooga News, February 11, 1911: 14; “Nashville Picks Lemon in Viola, Says Billy Smith,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, February 13, 1911: 6.

49 “Viola’s Home Run Brings Victory,” Nashville Tennessean, April 25, 1911: 7.

50 “Viola Sold to Jacksonville,” Nashville Banner, June 13, 1911: 13.

51 “Juan Viola Released by Jacksonville Club,” Atlanta Constitution, July 10, 1911: 7.

52 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1914 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1914), 493-6.

53 “Surprise for Giants,” New York Times, May 12, 1913: 7.

54 Thomas S. Rice, “Cubans Suddenly Insurge and Smother Superbas,” Brooklyn Eagle, December 2, 1913: Sports, 2.

55 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1915 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1915), 307.

56 Jack Ryder, “Giants Strike Terror to Reds,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 12, 1915: 8.

57 “Acosta Pitches Brilliant Game,” Long Branch (New Jersey) Record, July 15, 1915: 10.

58 “Strike Rioters’ Shot Takes Life of Popular Cuban,” Florida Times-Union, March 16, 1919: 15.