Lino Donoso

So slender he often swam in his uniform, Lino Donoso was a popular southpaw with a durability that belied his appearance. He pitched year-round for much of a two-decade career that began on the island of his birth, Cuba, included one season in the Negro National League and parts of two with the Pittsburgh Pirates. It ended in his adopted home of Mexico.

An All-Star in three countries, Donoso featured a “corkscrew delivery … with an odd little kick.”1 His self-taught repertoire was built around a blazing fastball and a knuckleball that then-Pirates general manager Branch Rickey suggested he try.2

Eight years after earning a pair of decisions in the 1947 Negro World Series, Donoso became the National League’s first Black left-hander. While a Pirate he tagged young Roberto Clemente with a nickname the iconic future Hall of Famer long carried: Arriba! Donoso won 118 games in the Mexican League, where he long held the game and single-season strikeout records. In 1988, he earned membership in Mexico’s Baseball Hall of Fame.

Donoso was a workhorse. He pitched over 290 innings in at least five (and likely eight) years in which be played both summer and winter ball.3 The estimated 418 innings he pitched between the summer of 1952 and following winter was on par with totals put up by the likes of  “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity in the early 1900s.4 Cumulatively, Donoso pitched about 3,800 innings and fanned over 2,650 batters5 as a professional – numbers comparable to the major league totals of fellow Cuban Luis C. Tiant, whose father he played with.

Lino (pronounced lee-no) Donoso was born on September 23, 1922, in Puentas Grandes, at that time a working-class neighborhood in Havana, Cuba. He was the dark-skinned son of a woman whose last name was Galata but about whom little else is known.6 She did have a nephew, Raúl Galata, who pitched in the 1950 East-West Negro Leagues All-Star Game and was a two-way ballplayer in Mexico for over a decade. The full name of Lino’s father is unknown. American Social Security archives show a Lino Donoso as having fathered a Maria Donoso in 1894, but their relationship, if any, to the subject of this biography is a mystery.

As a youngster, Donoso was a pitcher, outfielder, and first baseman. At 19 he was playing in Havana’s Federación de Trabajadores (Workers’ Federation), an industrial league.7 In 1943 he pitched in the Juvenile League for the Estrellas de León (Stars of Leon), and with Sindicato de la Galleta in the Workers Federation championship.8 In a contest held by the newspaper Habana Noticias de Hoy, Donoso was voted the federation’s most popular ballplayer, by a wide margin.9

Donoso then moved up to the Inter-Provincial Amateur League, where he spent two seasons. His stellar performance there earned him a spot on Cuba’s team for the 1944 Amateur World Series.10Habana El Crisol called Donoso the team’s best left-handed pitcher, remarkable considering that he hadn’t competed in Cuba’s highest amateur league, which prohibited Black ballplayers.11

Having reached the top of the amateur ranks, Donoso in the winters of 1944-45 and 1945-46 pitched for the semipro Cromo team of Camagüey. There he faced an up-and-coming infielder three years his junior with whom he’d cross paths again in the next few years: Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso.  Donoso entered the professional ranks in 1946, playing for Camagüey in Cuba’s Summer Professional League, where he compiled a league-best 1.74 ERA.12

Donoso took another step up in the winter of 1946-47, joining Camagüey’s entry in the upstart Liga de la Federación (National Federation), a new professional league formed to protect Cuban ballplayers affiliated with Organized Baseball from suffering harsh penalties threatened against those associated (even indirectly) with the outlawed Mexican League. Unable to draw enough fans to compete with the long-established Cuban League, the federation halted operations at year’s end. Donoso moved over to the Marianao Frailes Grises (Grey Monks) of the Cuban League, where he briefly played alongside Miñoso.13

Havana, in the opening months of 1947, was “the nexus of divergent baseball worlds.”14The Cuban League season with many of its ballplayers blacklisted by Organized Baseball, was coming to a close and the Brooklyn Dodgers were practicing there as they prepared to break the NL/AL color barrier. The Dodgers also brought along their Triple-A farm team, the Montreal Royals – with whom Jackie Robinson played. While in Havana, both clubs faced off against a Cuban All-Star team that featured Conrado Marrero as their ace, Donoso behind him, and Miñoso in the infield.15 On March 8, Donoso relieved in a game with Montreal in which Robinson went 2-for-3. Two weeks later he was one of three hurlers “combed” by the Dodgers for 18 hits.16

According to Pirates scout Howie Haak, the Dodgers during their stay in Havana held a tryout from which Donoso and Miñoso were turned away. Haak claimed that Rickey sent them packing because signing too many Black ballplayers at that time, when other AL and NL teams hadn’t yet signed any, ran counter to his goal of integrating Organized Baseball.17

As Robinson was completing his journey from the Negro Leagues to the all-white National League, Donoso began his with the New York Cubans. The team, owned by Alex Pómpez, was  filled with talented cubanos, including Miñoso, outfielder Claro Duany, shortstop Silvio Garcia, an early candidate to break the major league color barrier, catcher Ray Noble, and pitcher Luis E. Tiant.

Donoso went 7-2 in 17regular season appearances for the Cubans,18 including a one-hit shutout of the Homestead Grays at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field in which he struck out eight and held the Grays hitless until the ninth.19 The Pittsburgh Courier raved that “Donosa [sic] had the Homesteaders literally eating out of his hand … as he mixed his fast ball and change of pace with the skill of a magician.”20 In his 10th start of the season, on August 17, Donoso fell to the Grays in a “6-5 shaver” at the Polo Grounds. His solo home run and 11 strikeouts were not enough to top a pair of Buck Leonard dingers.21Years later, Bill Nunn Jr. of the Pittsburgh Courier noted that when Donoso was with the Cubans, he was a much better prospect than fellow Negro Leaguer Joe Black, a hurler who went on to become the 1952 NL Rookie of the Year.22

Winners of the NNL pennant, the Cubans faced the Negro American League champion Cleveland Buckeyes in the 1947 Negro World Series. Donoso appeared in relief during Game Two at Yankee Stadium, entering in the fourth inning with New York down, 7-3. The Cubans rallied to tie the score, but in the ninth, Donoso allowed run-scoring hits by Alphonse “Al” Smith and Johnnie Cowan that gave Cleveland the victory.23 Five days later, with New York leading the series, 2-1-1, Donoso earned a complete game victory in Game Five at Chicago’s Comiskey Park “before 2,048 half-frozen fans.”24A Cubans’ win in the next game gave New York the series.

Back in April 1947, the Cuban League had reached agreement with Organized Baseball to ban ballplayers who had jumped contracts. That move left Cubans who had signed to play in the Mexican League out in the cold. In response, a group of banned ballplayers, led by former Cincinnati Red Tomás “Tommy” de la Cruz, formed a new winter league, La Liga Nacional. Arrested in October for intimidating several ballplayers who’d jumped out of Liga Nacional contracts, de la Cruz named Donoso as another who’d done the same and pointed out the Cuban League’s hypocrisy in allowing Donoso to play, but not Mexican Leaguers.25

Donoso competed in the Cuban League that winter for his former team Marianao, since renamed the Tigres (Tigers), with an infield that boasted Miñoso at third and hard-hitting Bobby Ávila at second. But in the spring, Donoso wasn’t welcomed back to New York. Considered to have jumped his Negro League contract by playing in Cuba, he was blacklisted. Reinstated in December with dozens of others, he elected not to return to the NNL.26 Donoso continued playing winter ball, but in the prime of his athletic career spent two summers (1948 and 1949) not playing professional baseball.

In between those lost seasons, Donoso compiled a sterling 2.75 ERA as a relief specialist for Marianao, behind a rotation that included future major-leaguers Sandalio “Sandy” Consuegra, Julio González, and Don Newcombe. Donoso played sparingly in the winter of 1949, pitching only nine innings across 11 games with Marianao and Almendares.27

In the spring of 1950, Donoso left Cubato play for the Veracruz Águila (Eagle) in the Mexican League, recruited by the team’s new manager, Martín Dihigo. Under the tutelage of Dihigo, Donoso went 12-11 with a 2.26 ERA.

Over the next three years, Donoso developed into a dominating presence for Águila. On Opening Day of the 1951 season, he twirled a one-hit shutout over Nuevo Laredo in which he fanned 18, tying a record set by Dihigo in 1939, eventually broken in 2024 by major-league outcast Trevor Bauer.28 He went on to win 14 and lead the league with 197 strikeouts. With Donoso heading its rotation, Veracruz coasted to the Mexican League crown in 1952. He finished 18-11, with a league-leading 2.49 ERA and league-record 235 strikeouts.29 That mark stood until 1966, when fellow Cuban Jose Ramón López struck out 309 for Monterrey.30 Donoso won 17 and captured the league strikeout title for a third straight year in 1953 as Águila sagged, finishing below .500.For a time that season, Donoso was joined on the Águila roster by his younger cousin Raúl.

After rampaging through the Mexican League each summer in the early 1950s, Donoso spent most winters playing in Mexico’s Pacific Coast League. In 1950-51, he pitched for the Guaymas Ostioneros (Oystermen). First-half winner Guaymas was to have played Culiacán for the league championship. However, Guaymas’s foreign ballplayers, presumably including Donoso, left the team early (ostensibly to attend spring training with other teams), leaving the league without a champion.31 Donoso took off the 1951-52 season, then spent the next two winters with the Mazatlán Venados (Deer). In 1952-53, he was 12-9 with a league-leading 96 strikeouts. Mazatlán was awarded the pennant when financial woes ended the season two weeks early.32Donoso led the Deer to another crown in 1953-54 while topping the league in winning percentage (.700), ERA (1.83), complete games (14), and strikeouts (118).33 His 1-0 shutout over Ciudad Obregón and future World Series legend Don Larsen enabled Mazatlán to pull ahead of the pack in the season’s final week.34

Two days after Coast League play ended in February, Donoso walked into the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training camp in Fort Pierce, Florida, leaving a wife and child or two in Mexico.35 Pirates’ management probably was surprised to see him. A year earlier Donoso was supposed to attend spring training with Pittsburgh’s Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Hollywood Stars, but never showed.36

Not long after Donoso reported, Rickey, who’d moved over from Brooklyn to become Pirates GM in 1950, logged a scouting report with an unusual remark about the lefty: “Reputation of careless deportment – to say the least.”37 The comment may have stemmed from a claim by Pirates scout Haak that he first found Donoso “in a house of ill-repute, living with the madam.”38 Rickey looked past Donoso’s lifestyle choices and signed him for what was later reported to be $2,500.39

Communication was a daily problem for Donoso in Pirates camp. He didn’t speak English and the organization didn’t provide him with an interpreter. With no other Latino ballplayers in camp,40 Donoso turned for help to Black infielder Curt Roberts, who’d learned a little Spanish while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico.41 When spring training came to a close, Roberts and Donoso parted company. Roberts went to Pittsburgh, where on April 13 he became the first African-American ballplayer in Pirates history. Donoso was assigned to the Hollywood (California) Stars, the Pirates’ top farm team.

Hollywood was led by player-manager Bobby Bragan, who’d managed in the Cuban League the previous two winters. He had guided Hollywood to the 1953 PCL pennant, for which he was chosen The Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year. A reserve catcher with the Dodgers who famously asked to be traded rather than play with Jackie Robinson, Bragan had long since embraced playing alongside players of color.42

In Donoso’s first start for Hollywood, on the road in Emeryville, California, he was ejected after protesting a balk call that he didn’t understand. Donoso and infielder Carlos Bernier, the team’s only other Latino, were heckled by an Oakland Oaks fan at the edge of their dugout as they left the field. Bernier and the heckler exchanged blows, triggering a melee in which about 20 spectators spilled onto the field before order was restored.43

As a swingman, Donoso won five straight decisions in May, the last a three-hit shutout of the San Diego Padres in which he fanned eight. Afterwards, an Associated Press writer called Donoso “a stylish southpaw” who possessed “good control, a sharp breaking ball and considerable pitching know-how.44 That know-how was something Donoso acquired on his own. “Nobody has ever taught him anything about [pitching],” a Los Angeles Mirror reporter wrote after speaking with Donoso through an interpreter. He’d “never asked for any tips and never received any.”45

As Donoso piled up victories for the Stars, pundits piled on snappy monikers for him. He was “the Cuban firecracker,” “the slender Cubanola,” “the Cuban comet,” and the “cunning Cuban.46Adding to Donoso’s mystique was his practice of not stepping on foul lines. One scribe also claimed that he “puts a mystic Cuban ‘whammy’ on the opposition before he pitches.”47 By July 15, Donoso earned his league-leading 15th win against two losses, putting Hollywood in first by three games. Three days later, he collapsed in the dressing room, stricken by appendicitis and needing surgery.48

On the shelf for three-plus weeks, Donoso went 4-6 after his return, as the Stars fell into a tie with San Diego, lost a sudden-death match for the regular season title, then made an early playoff exit.49Donoso finished third in the PCL with a 2.37 ERA, and was voted co-Rookie of the Year with teammate Lee Walls.50He was also one of four pitchers named to The Sporting News 1954 Minor League All-Star team, along with future AL Rookie of the Year Herb Score.

Donoso returned to Cuba during the winter of 1954 to play for Bragan and the Almendares Alacranes, commonly called the Blues. An Opening Day line drive off his leg hobbled him for a while, but he rebounded to win several games for the eventual Cuban League champions.51 During the post-season Caribbean Series, he handled mop-up duty in a loss to Puerto Rico’s Santurce Cangrejeros, a team that featured Willie Mays and 20-year-old Pirates prospect Clemente, recently acquired in the Rule V draft.52

Looking ahead to the 1955 season, the Baltimore Evening Sun put Clemente at the top of a list of “highly promising rookies” that also included Donoso.53 Queried by The Sporting News, Bragan said of Donoso: “He is sneaky fast, has exceptionally fine control and owns one of the best knucklers I have ever seen a lefthander throw.” Bragan added, “What’s more, Donoso has plenty of moxie and a burning desire to win.”54Donoso expected he’d be “a better pitcher than ever” by virtue of no longer having an appendix to weigh him down.55

The American press and members of the Pirates organization recognized Donoso’s ability to work multiple innings day after day, frequently calling him “rubber-armed.” They also considered him comical, a chatterbox whose limited grasp of English made almost anything he said humorous.56 A 1954 scouting report, prepared by Rickey himself, said Donoso was “darn funny.57 Donoso was fun-loving and liked by his teammates, but characterizations of him as comical were unmistakably patronizing. Tellingly, there was no mention of Donoso being that way in contemporary Spanish language newspaper reports of his exploits.

A shaky start to his spring earned Donoso an early ticket back to Hollywood. But before he left, Donoso, together with Bernier, “encouraged” a “controversial and temperamental” Clemente to “refrain from emotional outbursts and temper tantrums.” In so doing, they helped Clemente begin his rookie season under control.58 Either then or sometime later, Donoso began calling Clemente “Arriba,” a Spanish exhortation to get moving. In the summer of 1956, Pirates announcer Bob Prince started using it as a cheer, one that Clemente fans long echoed.59

A bizarre maneuver by Bragan made one of Donoso’s early-season outings especially memorable. In the final inning of a loss on May 1, Bragan sent eight batters up to hit for Donoso in a single at-bat, an act of mischief designed to show his displeasure with an umpire’s earlier decision.60 One of the eight was 18-year-old second baseman Bill Mazeroski. Hours before the June 15 major-league trading deadline, Donoso’s contract was purchased by the Pirates in exchange for third baseman George Freese and reliever Ben Wade. Told of his promotion, Donoso “cried like a baby,” not wanting to leave Hollywood.61

Donoso, by then 32, debuted for the last-place Pirates on June 18 as a starter against the Redlegs at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. He singled in his first at-bat but was pinned with a 4-1 loss, done in by two wild pickoff throws that turned into runs and a pair of fourth inning solo home runs that landed on the roof of “The Laundry,” a two-story building just beyond the left field wall.62

The third-oldest Pirate, behind outfielder Tom Saffell and pitcher Max Surkont,63 Donoso was well versed in how to razz an opponent. His heckling of Cubs outfielder Hank Sauer cost him a pair of $18 shoes, though, when a fed-up Sauer nailed them to the clubhouse floor.64

The Pirate faithful got their first glimpse of Donoso in an Independence Day doubleheader at Forbes Field versus the New York Giants. A walk-off walk gave him his first NL win in the opener after three innings of one-hit relief. Called on again by manager Fred Haney in the nightcap, he took the loss on an 11th-inning, two-run, homer by Mays.

Donoso earned three complete-game victories for the Pirates in 1955, each of which came against the St. Louis Cardinals. The first was on July 16, a triumph over Puerto Rican native Luis Arroyo. The next day, both appeared in relief with the opposite outcome: Arroyo earned the win and Donoso took the loss.

Donoso’s dominance over the Redbirds didn’t carry over to other NL opponents. His record was 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA and four strikeouts for each walk against St. Louis. Against other teams, he was 1-5 with a 7.01 ERA and more walks than strikeouts. In total, Donoso appeared in 25 games, including nine starts, compiling a 5.31 ERA and a 0.5 WAR.

Prone to the long ball, Donoso surrendered 16in 95 innings, half to future Hall of Famers.65 Only two NL pitchers who faced at least 400 batters that year allowed more per nine innings.66 Still, one writer called Donoso’s record “not bad for a first-year man with a last place club.”67

According to one source, as Bragan was filling out the Almendares roster for the winter of 1955, he promised Donoso a contract if the southpaw could throw 10 straight strikes. Donoso supposedly did, and so became one of six major-leaguers to wear the Blue that season.68 However, elbow soreness and a suspension limited Donoso to 40 innings of work.69 With that, his Cuban League career came to an end, his record 13-15 over 107 games.

In spring training 1956, glib Pittsburgh sportswriter Charles “Chilly” Doyle noted that Donoso was 5-foot-11 and “140 pounds soaking wet.”70The veteran went north at the end of camp with a Pirates team under new leadership. Joe L. Brown had taken over for Rickey as GM and elevated Bragan to skipper of the big club.

In Donoso’s first outing, a relief appearance on April 20, he surrendered a two-run-single to the first batter he faced, Brooklyn’s Jim “Junior” Gilliam. In his next appearance, 11 days later, he was yanked after walking his first batter. The next day, Donoso gave up a game-ending single to the Cardinals’ Alex Grammas as soon as he came into that contest. Brown sent him down to Hollywood, never to return.

After 14 mostly lackluster games with the Stars, Donoso was optioned to the Tigres Capitalinos (Mexico City Tigers) of the Mexican League, welcomed into Organized Baseball a year earlier. Playing for George Genovese, the Mexican League’s first American manager in over a decade, Donoso went 6-4 with eight complete games in 12 starts and a 2.90 ERA. Always a decent-hitting pitcher, he batted .388.

It was back to Mazatlán for a second tour of duty in the Mexican Coast League in the winter of 1956. Donoso topped the circuit with a 2.26 ERA over 151 innings, despite a rare losing record.71 In December, he came within one out of a no-hitter in a 10-1 masterpiece over Los Mochis.72

Assigned to the Pirates’ Triple-A Columbus affiliate in 1957, Donoso gave up eight home runs in his first 34 innings.73 He was returned to Mexico City, where he won eight of 10 decisions pitching alongside 21-year-old southpaw Al Jackson. Former Pirates teammate Felipe Montemayor was the team’s leading home-run hitter. In the league championship series, in which the Tigers fell to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (Reds), Donoso lost the opener and drew a no-decision in a Game Three loss.74

Not long after Donoso reported to the Tigers in 1957, he tied the knot at Mexico City’s Social Security Stadium with Francesca Castillo, a woman later known as “La Diosa Alvaradeña” (the Goddess from Alvarado, another Mexican city).75 The next day the newlywed tossed a two-hit, seven-inning, 1-0 shutout.76 Donoso’s bride was said to have been so stunning she still stopped traffic years later.

Donoso began the winter of 1957-58 with the Mexico City Aztecas in the Veracruz League, a competitor to Mexico’s Coast League. After financial hardships shuttered the Aztecas, he found a new home with the Coast League’s Puebla Parrots.77Over the next two seasons, Donoso led Puebla to back-to-back pennants, twice leading the circuit in winning percentage; in 1958-59, he did so in ERA as well. One of Donoso’s teammates was a former Negro Leaguer who in August 1947 had become the NL’s first Black hurler, Dan Bankhead.78 Out of professional baseball the following winter, Donoso played in 1961-62 for Reynosa of the short-lived Northern Autumn League. His debut there was spoiled by his cousin Raúl, who outpitched him in a 7-2 loss.79

Donoso’s time in the Mexican capital proved short again the following spring. After a cameo with the Mexican League Tigers, he was off to the Juárez Indios of the Class-C Arizona-Mexico League. Used primarily as a starter (and occasionally as an outfielder) by a trio of player-managers,80 he finished 16-14, with 231 strikeouts over 234 innings and a league-leading 3.19 ERA. Donoso also set a league record with 20 punch-outs in a game against the Douglas Copper Kings.81 While with Juárez, press on both sides of the Rio Grande took to calling him “Chucumite,” a term otherwise used for a type of fish.82

From 1959 to 1962, Donoso was once again a stalwart for Águila de Veracruz. In 1959, he was 16-10 and fanned 151 batters in 212 innings. Over the next two years, Donoso’s wins and innings pitched totals declined as his ERA rose, yet he still earned annual All-Star nods.83Águila won the 1961 Mexican League crown, with Donoso earning the win in the pennant clincher. He was given the start by manager Santos Amaro, whose son Rubén was then a major-leaguer and whose grandson Rubén Jr. would become one as well.84 Limited to just 22 appearances in 1962, Donoso ended his Mexican League career with a record of 118-84, with a 2.92 ERA. His 1,122 strikeouts for Águila remains a team record through the 2023 season.85

Information is scant about Donoso’s life after his playing days. Separated from his last wife a few years after their on-field marriage, Donoso stayed on with Veracruz as a pitching and first base coach. He was activated in 1964 but didn’t get into a game.86 In later years, Donoso owned a bar in front of the Veracruz Sports Park.87

After spending five months in Veracruz’s Red Cross Hospital for an undisclosed illness, Donoso died on October 13, 1990.One later account described him as “abandoned and in poverty, forgotten by those who had idolized him”88 Yet two years before his death, Donoso earned an accolade that would ensure his accomplishments live on: enshrinement in Mexico’s Salón de la Fama del Béisbol (Baseball Hall of Fame).His online plaque identifies Donoso as “el rey del ponche” – the king of punchouts.89

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to his wife, Kelly, whose translation of many Spanish-language sources made this biography possible, and to SABR member Carlos Fragoso, who provided sources for Mexican League stories and statistics.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Andrew Sharp and fact-checked by Tony Oliver.

Photo credit: Lino Donoso, 1955, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Ada Ferrer’s Cuba: An American Story (New York: Scribner, 2021), Roberto González Echevarria’s The Pride of Havana (Mexico City: Oxford University Press, 1999), César Brioso’s Havana Hardball (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2015) and websites located at MyHeritage.com, FamilySearch.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Statscrew.com and Seamheads.com. Accounts of Donoso’s early career were obtained from Cuban newspapers archived at the Digital Library of the Caribbean at dloc.com, Cuban League statistics were obtained from Jorge S. Figueredo’s, Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003), Mexican League statistics for 1950 through 1953 from Pedro Treo Cisneros’ La Liga Mexicana (Jeffersonville, North Carolina: MacFarland, 2002), and Mexico Pacific League statistics from Guillermo Gastélum Duarte’s Enciclopedia Conmemorativa del 75 Aniversario de la Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, (2019).

Notes

1 Don C. Trenary, “Spahn’s Homer, Five Hit Mound Job Tames Rambunctious Pirates, 5 to 3,” Milwaukee Journal, July 22, 1955: 25.

2 Sid Ziff, “A Guy Who Really Puts Out,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 8, 1954: 25.

3Donoso hurled 369⅓ innings between his 1953 Mexican League and 1953-54 Mexican Coast Leagues seasons, 332 across his 1958 Juarez and 1958-59 Veracruz Winter League campaigns and 299 combined innings with Hollywood in 1954 and Almendares in 1954-55. Innings pitched totals for Donoso are unavailable for his 1946 Cuba Summer Professional, 1946-47 National Federation 1950-51 and 1952-53 Mexican Coast League seasons as well as his 1957-58 and 1959-60 Veracruz League campaigns. Adding the author’s estimated innings pitched and strikeouts for Donoso during his winter seasons in Mexico, he tops 290 innings pitched in the summer plus winter seasons of 1950, 1952, 1957 and 1959. Estimates for seasons in which actuals are unavailable are scaled from innings pitched and strikeout totals for other seasons for which data was published– specifically his1953-54 Mazatlán season was the basis for 1950-51 and 1952-53 Mexican Coast League innings pitched estimates, his1958-59 Puebla season was the basis for 1957-58 and 1959-60 Veracruz League innings pitched estimates, his 1953-54 Mazatlán season was the basis for 1950-51 Mexican Coast League strikeouts estimates and his 1956-57 Mazatlán season was the basis for 1957-50 Veracruz League strikeout estimates.

4 One of only five pitchers to throw over 400 innings during an NL or AL season since 1901, all of whom did so in the first decade of the century, McGinnity worked 434 innings in 1903 and 408 innings in 1904.

5These estimates represent a lower bound as the author elected to not generate innings pitched or strikeout estimates for Donoso’s time in the Cuban Summer Professional League (1946) or Cuban National Federation (1946-47), owing to a lack of statistical sources for those leagues. Baseball-Reference.com, which does not include any of Donoso’s statistics from 1948 through 1953, from his 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons in the Cuban League, or from any of his seasons pitching in the Mexican winter leagues, credits Donoso with 1,608 innings pitched and 1,041 strikeouts.

6César Brioso, Havana Hardball (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2015), xi.

7 “Lino Donoso Galata,” Destacados Béisbol Cubano website, https://destacadosbeisbolcubacom.wordpress.com/lino-donoso-galata/, accessed April 22, 2024.

8 “Entrada Gratis Por Dos Frascos,” Habana Noticias de Hoy, June 2, 1943: 5; “A Cromo Sport Club Venicio a Juveniles,” Habana Noticias de Hoy, September 1, 1943: 5; “Ruta 29 y Amistad se Juegan sus Invictos,” HabanaNoticias de Hoy, November 14, 1943: 6.

9 “Continua Lino Donoso a la Cabeza Del Concurso Pro-Player Popular,” Habana Noticias de Hoy, January 9, 1944: 5.Of the 8,170 votes cast, Donoso earned 1,865, with the second-place finisher trailing by over 700 votes.

10Roman, Jr., “Lino Donoso Demustra su Clase Como Pitcher,” Havana El Crisol, June 22, 1944: 6; “De los juveniles a la professional: Osmaro Blanco sí, Lino Donoso no,” Deportes Cineyotros website, March 12, 2023, https://deportescineyotros.com/2023/03/12/de-los-juveniles-a-la-profesional-osmaro-blanco-si-lino-donoso-no/; “Columa de los Fanaticos,” Havana El Crisol, July 4, 1944: 6.Accounts of the World Series, in which Cuba earned a bronze medal but withdrew over a controversial umpiring call, do not mention Donoso as appearing in the tournament.

11 “Lino Donoso Demustra su Clase Como Pitcher.”A 2023 look-back at Donoso’s early career identified famed sports commentator Pedro Galiana of Havana’s El Crisol as promoting Donoso at that time. He held the opinion that Donoso had talent equal to renowned Cuban southpaws Agapito Mayor and Adrian Zabala.

12 “Lino Donoso,” EcuRed website.

13 “La Sorpresa Del Ano En El Beisbol Cubano La Dio El Habana Blanqueando Al Mariano,” San Antonio La Prensa, January 21, 1947: 5.

14Havana Hardball, xi.

15 Harold C. Burr, “Dodgers Conquer All-Stars, 5-2, as Laraine Cheers,” Brooklyn Eagle, March 23, 1947: 29.

16“Royals Win, 7-4,” Montreal Gazette, March 8, 1947: 19; Havana Hardball, 144; San Francisco Examiner, March 24, 1947: 22.Among the sparse crowd that witnessed the Dodgers triumph was actress Laraine Day, recently wed to Dodger manager Leo Durocher. Dick Young, “Rout All-Stars,” New York Daily News, March 24, 1947 (Final Brooklyn edition): 41.

17 Bob Hertzel, “Pirates scout Haak recognized as top bush-beater,” Pittsburgh Press, December 9, 1984: D13.

18 “Diamond Dust,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 20, 1947: 14. As of May 2024, Baseball-Reference.com lists Donoso as 5-2 in 13 games. However, the Cubans’ statistics posted at that site are clearly incomplete.  The cumulative number of decisions reported for the Cubans’ pitching staff in less than two-thirds of the 68 games shown in their season record. Seamheads.com has Donoso with a 5-4 record in 14 games, but similarly captures less than two-thirds of the team’s pitching decisions.

19 “Benjamin’s Single Only Gray Bingle,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 10, 1947: 15. Three-time Negro League All-Star Jerry Benjamin broke up Donoso’s no-hitter with a ninth-inning single.

20 “Benjamin’s Single Only Gray Bingle.”

21 “Grays Snap N.Y. Cubans Win Streak,” New York Amsterdam News, August 23, 1947: 11.

22 Bill Nunn Jr., “Ez May Have Answer,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 6, 1954: 25.

23New York People’s Voice, September 27, 1947: 24. Baseball-Reference.com does not include Donoso’s Game Five effort in its compilation of statistics for the 1947 World Series, which is the only contest from the Series for which Retrosheet has posted a game file.

24 “New York Cubans Cop Negro World Series,” Chicago Defender, October 4, 1947: 19.

25 Rene Canizares, “Player Battle May Force Cuban Loops into Courts,” The Sporting News, November 5, 1947: 19.

26“Old Monarchs to Return,” Kansas City Times, December 2, 1948: 26; Other re-instated players who elected to never return to the Negro League included future Hall of Famers Ray Dandridge and Leon Day.

27Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961

28 Jorge Alarcón, “Aguila Pitcher Unfurls One-Hit Gem in Opener,” The Sporting News, April 4, 1951: 18.A United Press report published in the Boston Globe claimed that Donoso struck out 17, but 18 is the figure cited in multiple subsequent accounts, as well as present-day compilations of Mexican League records. Donoso’s feat was matched by Yucatán’s Ricardo Sandate in 1974, and surpassed by Bauer, pitching for the Mexico City Diablos Rojos on June 21, 2024, when he fanned 19 Oaxaca Guerreros in 8⅔ innings. “Mexican League Zany as Ever, Packing ‘Em in,” Boston Globe, March 23, 1951: 10; Jesús Alberto Rubio, “Algo mas de Lino Donoso,” Beisbol De Los Barrios website, https://beisboldelosbarrios.com/index.php/novena-ideal-historica/, accessed May 8, 2024; Quien es Quien 2023: Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Liga Mexicana: 2023), 495; “Poncha Bauer a 19 e Impone Record en la LMB,” Puro Beisbol website, June 21, 2024, https://purobeisbol.mx/poncha-bauer-a-18-e-impone-record-en-la-lmb/.

29“Lino Donoso,” EcuRed website; The Sporting News credited Donoso with 244 punchouts immediately after the 1952 season, but subsequent reports have consistently shown Donoso fanning 235. Martin A. Patron, “Nippy Jones Signs to Play for Mazatlan,” The Sporting News, October 15, 1952: 34.During the 1952 season, Donoso also tied a record for the most home runs allowed in a nine-inning game, when he surrendered six on August 7 to the Torreón Algodoneros. Who hit those home runs is a mystery, but the Algodoneros roster did include a 44-year-old former Negro Leaguer who’d homered against Donoso years earlier – future Hall of Famer, Buck Leonard. Quien es Quien 2023: Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, 496.

30 Archivo Histórico del Beisbol, “Lino Donoso, de los Rojos del Águila de Veracruz, ponchó 235 bateadores en 1952, …,” Twitter, March 12, 2020, https://twitter.com/ahbeisbol/status/1238241159522201605, accessed April 20, 2024.

31“La Liga de la Costa del Pacifico: VI Temporada 1950-1951.” There was one other notable instance of Donoso unexpectedly being unavailable to play. At some point during this season, a superstitious Donoso refused to pitch a game in Culiacan after seeing a black cat run onto the field.Dr. Enrique García Villarreal, “Perdí mi Oho de Venado,”Primer Bat website, April 7, 2022, https://primerbat.com/2022/07/04/perdi-mi-ojo-de-venado/

32Enciclopedia Conmemorativa del 75 Aniversario de la Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, 109, https://viewer.lmp.mx/files/Enciclopedia75aniversarioLMP.pdf

33A.O. Camou, “Mayer Top Hitter in Mexican Coast Circuit with .355,” The Sporting News, March 3, 1954: 26.

34 A.O. Camou, “Red Sox’ Sullivan Hurls Four-Hitter in Mexican Coast,” The Sporting News, February 17, 1954: 27.

35 “A Guy Who Really Puts Out.” A July 1954 feature article on Donoso stated that he had a wife and daughter in Mexico, while another published a month later claimed he had two children, ages six and three. Bob Panella, “Bits Between Bites at the Baseball Luncheon,” Los Angeles Citizen News, August 25, 1954: 10.

36 The press speculated that Donoso was “held up on the Mexican border” awaiting approval by “Federal authorities,” but apparently, he never told the Stars that he’d simply changed his mind. Al Wolf, “Manager, 20 Players Miss Opening of Star Training,” Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1953: 65; Al Wolf, “Hollywood Clips Tokyo Nine, 4-3,” Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1953: 77.

37 Branch Rickey Papers.

38 “Pirates scout Haak recognized as top bush-beater.,”Jack Hernon, “Cuban Donoso May Be Bucs’ Hill Surprise,” The Sporting News, December 1, 1954: 26. Multiple articles identify Haak as having discovered Donoso for the Pirates, but one published in July 1954 identifies Stars scout Rosey Gilhousen as having signed him.  John B. Old, “Surgery Halts Victory Dash of Stars’ Donoso,” The Sporting News, July 28, 1954: 27. 

39 Chuck Sexauer, “Innocent Bystander,” North Hollywood (California) Valley Times, July 6, 1954: 11.

40 Mexican Felipe Montemayor appeared in a mid-February list of players expected in Pirate camp but his name does not appear in any subsequent exhibition game accounts. Presumably, early in camp he was reassigned to Double-A New Orleans, where he played throughout the 1954 season. “Bucs Sign Pellagrini As ‘13’ Pops Up Again,” Pittsburgh Press, February 13, 1954: 6.

41 Sec Taylor, “Sittin’ in With the Athletes,” Des Moines Register, March 1, 1954: 13.

42 Maurice Bouchard and David Fleitz, “Bobby Bragan,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bobby-bragan/. During the Dodgers 1947 spring training campaign in Havana, Bragan openly objected to Jackie Robinson joining the team, going so far as to requesting he be traded rather than having to play with Robinson. Convinced that Bragan’s stance wouldn’t affect his play, Branch Rickey rejected Bragan’s request and during the 1947 season Bragan grew to admire and befriend Robinson.

43 Walter Judge, “Near Riot as Oaks Drop 2,” San Francisco Examiner, April 19, 1954: 45; “Near Riot as Hollywood Players, Spectators Boil,” Oakland Tribune, April 19, 1953: 39; “Bragan, Hurler Banished After Rhubarb Over Balk,” The Sporting News, April 28, 1954: 24.

44“Stars Wallop Padres, 10-0,” Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1954: 50. The writer was a little confused about which arm Donoso threw with, referring to his “limber right arm.”

45 “A Guy Who Really Puts Out.”

46 Lupi Saldana, “Stars win – blister chases Mel Queen,” Los Angeles Daily News, June 5, 1954: 32; Harry Borba, “S.F. Kiddie Kar Derailed, 6-4,” San Francisco Examiner, June 19, 1954: 19; “Hollywood Forced All Out to Salvage Twin Bill Split,” San Diego Evening Tribune, July 6, 1954: 26.Less imaginative writers simply added a descriptor capturing Donoso’s physique, calling him slender, thin, lean or willowy.

47 Charlie Park, “Donoso Goes After PCL Pitching Lead,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 10, 1954: II-2.

48 “Lino Undergoes Appendix Surgery,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, July 19, 1954: 8.

49 Donoso’s injury may have denied him the chance at 20 wins, but the real culprit was a suddenly punchless Hollywood offense; Donoso’s ERA after his return was 1.17, versus 2.50 before his surgery, based on game logs prepared by the author.

50 “Sports in Brief,” Los Angeles Times, September 23, 1954: 71.

51 Pedro Galiana, “Almendares Gets Fast Start in Defense of Championship,” The Sporting News, October 20, 1954: 23; The Pride of Havana, 321.

52Dick Young, “Puerto Rico Rocks Cubs, 6-2,” New York Daily News, February 11, 1955: 69.

53 Joe Reichler, “Pirates Feel ‘Kids’ Will Elevate Club,” Baltimore Evening Sun, January 21, 1955: 28.

54Jack Hernon, “Cuban Donoso May Be Bucs’ Hill Surprise,” The Sporting News, December 1, 1954: 26.

55 Chuck Sexauer, “No Speak English,” North Hollywood Valley Times, March 23, 1955: 12; Lester J. Biederman, “Bucs to Take 32 ‘Phenoms’ to Camp,” Pittsburgh Press, February 6, 1955: 43.

56 See for example Charles J. Doyle, “Reds Ruin Donoso’s Debut, 4-1,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 19, 1955: 3-1, in which the writer calls Donoso “the comical little lefthanded Negro, from Cuba,” or Charlie Park, “The Inside Track,” Los Angeles Mirror, June 2, 1956: 17, where Donoso is described as “Hollywood’s chatterbox pitcher.”

57 Branch Rickey Papers: Baseball File, 1906-1971: Scouting reports; 1954: A-J, Library of Congress website, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss37820.05214/?sp=37&q=don+drysdale&r=-0.126,-0.096,1.376,0.821,0, accessed April 23, 2024.

58 Thomas Van Hyning, “Carlos Bernier and Roberto Clemente: Historical Links in Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico,” The National Pastime: Steel City Stories, 2018, https://sabr.org/journal/article/carlos-bernier-and-roberto-clemente-historical-links-in-pittsburgh-and-puerto-rico/

59 “Speaking of Sports,” Warren (Pennsylvania) Times Mirror, December 12, 1956: 16. The first mention of fans urging Clemente on with shouts of Arriba appeared in a United Press International wire story that appeared on July 27, 1956. A box score heading from a game on July 25 in which Clemente hit an inside-the-park, walk-off grand slam was the first instance the author found of the term being specifically applied to Clemente. John Carroll, “’Arriba, Arriba’ Shouts of Bu Fans Mean ‘Come On, Roberto, Knock it Out of Park’ – He Is,” Monongahela (Pennsylvania) Republican, July 27, 1955: 2; Jack Hernon, “Clemente’s Inside-Park Slam Nips Cubs, 9-8,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 1956: 14.

60 Al Wolf, “Angels Slap Double Loss on Cellar-Dwelling Stars,” Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1955: IV-1. Most of the pinch-hitters never saw a pitch from the opposing pitcher, Dwight Stoddard of the Los Angeles Angels.

61 Les Biederman, “Evening at Forbes Field,” Pittsburgh Press, May 8, 1957: 48.

62Charles J. Doyle, “Reds Ruin Donoso’s Debut, 4-1,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 19, 1955: 3-1. The home runs were hit by Redlegs rookie Stan Palys and cleanup batter Wally Post.

63Throughout his time in Hollywood, Donoso kept his age close to the vest. Following a practice many an actor surely appreciated, LA newspapers often under-estimated his age, by up to six years. Pittsburgh tabloids on the other hand tended to guess wrong the other way; one claimed he was 38 when in fact he was 32. That bias to the high side also applied to Sukont. As Donoso was enroute to join the Pirates, Sukont laughed and said, “I may be the oldest (33) right now, but I won’t be when Donoso gets here.” Les Biederman, “Wade, Freese Bitter Over Cut,” Pittsburgh Press, June 16, 1955: 41. Even after seeing Donoso’s visa in June, a local sportswriter reported his age as 33, a number he wouldn’t reach for another three months. Les Biederman, “The Scoreboard,” Pittsburgh Press, June 21, 1955: 27. For examples of the extreme guesses as to Donoso’s age, see Al Wolf, “Donoso Operation Trims Stars’ Hopes,” Los Angeles Times, July 20, 1954: IV-1 and Jack Hernon, “Littlefield Discovers He Tipped His Pitches,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 24, 1955: 68.

64 Les Biederman, “The Scoreboard,” Pittsburgh Press, September 3, 1955: 6; Oscar Ruhl, “From the Ruhl Book,” The Sporting News, September 28, 1955: 14.

65 Future Hall of Famers to connect off Donoso included Ernie Banks, who hit one in the first three-homer game of his career, Warren Spahn, who hit a three-run, sixth-inning go-ahead homer on July 21, and a trio who each connected twice; Henry Aaron, who hit his one in the same game that Spahn did, Willie Maysand Stan Musial, who hit a pairin Donoso’s third complete game victory over the Cardinals, on September 12.

66 The two pitchers with higher HR/9 rates were Gerry Staley (1.7), who did so with the Cincinnati Reds before they shipped him off to the New York Yankees  and Warren Hacker (1.6) of the Chicago Cubs.

67 “Meager Crowd Cheers Musial, But Not Score,” (Springfield) Illinois State Register, September 13, 1955: 24.

68“Lino Donoso Galata,” Destacados Beisbol Cuba website; “Cuban League Has 22 Stars from Majors,” Hackensack (New Jersey) Record, October 13, 1955: 43. The others were Pirate teammate Ramon Meijas, Lou Kretlow, Lou Berberet, Willy Miranda and Carlos Paula.

69 Ruben Rodriguez, “Cuban Loop in Fast Start, with 70,000 in Four Days,” The Sporting News, October 19, 1955: 24; Ruben Rodriguez, “Mizell and Jones Battling Nat Pair for Lead in Cuba,” The Sporting News, November 30, 1955: 29.

70 Chilly Doyle, “Donoso Star,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, March 25, 1956: 33.Donoso’s standing in spring training was uncertain enough that he didn’t have a baseball card in the 1956 Topps set, but he did appear on the Pirates team card, #121.

71 “Mexican Pacific Coast,” The Sporting News, March 13, 1957: 31.

72 A.O. Camou, “Donoso, Ex-Buc Lefty, Tosses Near No-Hitter,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1957: 23.

73 “Jets Bombarded by Cubans, 8-4,” Columbus (Ohio) Sunday Dispatch, Mary 19, 1957: 33B.

74 “Mexican League,” The Sporting News, September 18, 1957: 48; “Mexican Playoffs,” The Sporting News, September 25, 1957: 38.

75“Perdí mi Oho de Venado.”

76 Lou Hernandez, The Rise of the Latin American Baseball Leagues, 1947-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland & Co., 2011), 29. How and when Donoso’s previous marriage ended is unknown.

77 Miguel A. Calzadilla, “Avila’s Reds, Aztecas Drop Out of League,” The Sporting News, January 8, 1958: 24; Miguel A. Calzadilla, “Puebla Prexy Turns Team Over to Loop,” The Sporting News, January 22, 1958: 24.

78In both championship seasons, Donoso was involved in season-ending, pennant-clinching doubleheaders played in front of packed houses patrolled by armed soldiers. Troops were on hand to maintain order during Puebla’s sweep over the Cordoba Coffeemakers on the last day of the 1958-59 season after a riot the day before that began with a Puebla player attacking an umpire and ended with a forfeit awarded – to Puebla. That strange sequence of events began when Donoso, in the game as a pinch-runner, was mistakenly thought to have crossed the plate too late to have scored a game-tying run in the ninth inning, when in fact the home plate umpire had ruled that Donoso had touched the plate soon enough. Similar safeguards were put in place for Puebla’s 1959-60 season-ending doubleheader with Jalapa, in which Donoso won the opener. Roberto Hernandez, “Leading Puebla, Cordoba Rivals Clash for Title,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1959: 26; Roberto Hernandez, “21,233 See Puebla Cop Flag in Finale of Riot-Torn Series,” The Sporting News, February 25, 1959: 23; Roberto Hernandez, “Squawks Aired as Parrots Soar to Payoff Perch,” The Sporting News, February 17, 1960: 29.

79 Rodolfo Heriberto, “Cousin Wrecks Donoso’s Debut as Oiler Hurler,” The Sporting News, November 1, 1961: 25.

80Mexican League veteran Epitacio Torres started the year as the Juarez player-manager, followed by American Bonnie Serrell, a former Negro Leaguer, and Pedro Ramirez. “Indios Have New Skipper,” El Paso Herald-Post, July 8, 1958: 16.

81“Hurling vs. Power Squabble Tonight,” Tucson Citizen, July 7, 1958: 21.

82 See, for example, “Lino Donoso Vencio a los Dorados [Defeats the Dorados],” El Paso El Continental, June 6, 1958: 5.

83 “Mexican All-Stars Wallop Texans,” Abilene Reporter-News, July 13, 1959: 4. In the 1960 Pan-Am All-Star bash, Donoso allowed a run in one-third of an inning to a Texas League squad loaded with future San Francisco Giants, including Chuck Hiller and Manny  Mota. The following season, Donoso started but failed to make it out of the first inning for “Estrellas Extranjeros,” a selection of foreign stars, against “Estrellas Mexicanos,” a team of native-Mexican standouts. Johnny Janes, “Texas All-Stars Take Pan-Am Game,” San Antonio Express, July 11, 1960: 11; Roberto Hernandez, “Native Stars Defeat Foreign Performers,” The Sporting News, June 28, 1961: 25.

84 “Eagles Await Texas Playoffs,” The Sporting News, August 30, 1961: 27.

85Prensa, “Jose Pina Entra a la Historia de el Águila,” El ÁguilaBeisbol website, July 7, 2023, https://elaguilabeisbol.com/jose-pina-entra-a-la-historia-de-el-aguila/

86“Mexican League,” The Sporting News, July 18, 1964: 39.

87“Lino Donoso,” EcuRed Website.

88“Lino Donoso,” EcuRed Website.

89“Fue Considerado El Rey del Ponche,” Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Mexicano website, https://en.salondelafamadelbeisbolmexicano.com/inmortales-87-88, accessed May 11, 2024.