June 14-17, 1907: Luis Bustamante and the Cuban Stars visit northern Ohio

Elyria, Ohio, 23 miles southwest of Cleveland, was a growing town of about 13,000 in 1907. Factories there produced steel, pipe, and automobiles, including the luxurious Studebaker-Garford touring cars.

Elyria was proud of its semipro baseball team. Competing against local opponents, the team won three consecutive pennants in the Cleveland and Southwestern Trolley League from 1904 to 1906.1 Though not in a league in 1907, the team nonetheless played a full schedule of games. A three-game series was played at Elyria’s Athletic Park, June 14 through 17 against the Cuban Stars of Havana.

The Cuban Stars were a touring group of all-stars from the island of Cuba. In 1907 Manuel Camps was the team’s owner, president, and manager,2 and Rafael Almeida was both a player and assistant manager.3 Luis Bustamante was the team’s “cannon-armed, slick-fielding shortstop.”4

The 1906 Cuban Stars reportedly won 85 games, lost 36, and tied one, playing against semipro, minor-league, and college teams in the United States.5 Before arriving in Elyria, the 1907 Cuban Stars had played against teams in six Northeastern states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) and two Midwestern states (Illinois and Indiana).

Attendance was reported to be 200 at the first game of the series, on Friday, June 14. The visitors looked sharp in their dark blue uniforms with white lettering that read “Cuba’s Champions.”6 Inocencio Pérez, a 37-year-old right-hander, was their pitcher. His batterymate was Rafael Figarola. The home team, which wore gray and brown with “Elyria” across the chest,7 chose Joe Agler, a 20-year-old southpaw, to pitch. His catcher was Jim Hopkins.

In the first three innings, six Cuban Stars reached base, via two singles and four bases on balls, but superb defense kept them from scoring. Castle made a fine catch in right field, and Hobart, the second baseman, twice snagged a liner and doubled up a baserunner. O’Neill’s solo home run in the bottom of the third inning gave Elyria a 1-0 lead.

The Cuban Stars tallied in the top of the fourth. José Magriñat reached on an error by first baseman McSweeney and moved up two bases on a sacrifice and a balk. He came home on Pérez’s single to left field. The next inning, Bustamante drew a walk, stole second base, and moved to third on a sacrifice. Esteban Prats brought him home with a single to center field.

In the sixth inning, Fred Lawrence, Elyria’s captain, tripled to right-center field and came home with the tying run on an infield out. After that, it was a pitchers’ duel that went to extra innings. O’Neill led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a single and stolen base. Pérez fanned the next two batters, but Rudy Wiggins followed with a game-winning double to left field. The final score was Elyria 3, Cuban Stars 2.

Agler surrendered only six hits but walked six. Bustamante received three of the six walks and handled nine chances at shortstop without error. Pérez allowed eight hits and struck out nine.

The fans enjoyed the contest and were fascinated by the Cubans’ Spanish banter. “There was no need for a secure set of signals,” reported the Elyria Telegram. “The players talked their intentions out loud, even the pitcher and catcher exchanging tips in the most audible if unintelligible way.”8

The second game of the series, on Saturday, June 15, drew a much larger crowd, reported to be 600. Bustamante led off the game with a home run off Elyria pitcher Zeke Robinson and then dazzled the crowd with his brilliant play at shortstop, handling 10 chances without error. In the eighth inning, the 27-year-old Bustamante made “the most remarkable stop ever seen on the local grounds,” spearing a ball about 20 feet back of second base.9

Magriñat, who played in left field in the first game of the series, started the second game at third base and clumsily committed several errors. This led to midgame defensive adjustments. He swapped places with Pérez, who was in left field. But after Pérez also erred at third base, Almeida, the pitcher, went to third, and Bernardo Carrillo went in to pitch. Magriñat “atoned for his four errors” by hitting two home runs and a single.10

The visitors had no trouble hitting Robinson’s pitching. The final score was Cuban Stars 11, Elyria 6. “The high, strident coaching” of Pérez, who jabbered in Spanish “a thousand words to the minute … was alone worth the price of admission,” said the Telegram.11

The Elyria team lost 4-1 at Sandusky, Ohio, the next day12 and returned home to play the Cuban Stars in the series finale on Monday, June 17. Pedro Medina, a 24-year-old right-hander, pitched for the visitors, and Agler pitched once again for the home team. Only 150 fans attended.

Bustamante led off the game with a double to left field. José Muñoz singled to right, scoring Bustamante. Magriñat’s bunt single brought in a second run. In the bottom of the first, Elyria took advantage of two errors (including the first error by Bustamante in the series) and tallied twice. The visitors did likewise, with two unearned runs in the second inning, but Elyria evened the score with two runs in the fourth.

The Cuban Stars broke the game open with four runs in the sixth inning. Figarola drew a walk and scored on Medina’s double. Carrillo walked, and he and Medina came home on a hit by Bustamante, who himself scored on a squeeze play. The visitors added an insurance run in the seventh. The final score was Cuban Stars 9, Elyria 4.

The Cuban Stars hit .263 in the series, compared with .184 for Elyria. Bustamante and Magriñat led all batters with five hits apiece.

Epilogue

Rafael Almeida played for the Cincinnati Reds, 1911-13. He and Luis Bustamante were among the first players inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1939. José Muñoz and Rafael Figarola were inducted in 1940 and 1950 respectively.

Joe Agler reached the major leagues as a first baseman and outfielder. He appeared in two games with the 1912 Washington Nationals and in 232 Federal League games, 1914-15.

Sources

The author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information.

Game coverage in the June 14-18, 1907, issues of the Elyria Telegram.

Seamheads.com, accessed December 2023.

Photo credit: Baseball card of Luis Bustamante from the 1909 Cabañas set.

Acknowledgments

This game was fact-checked by Jim Sweetman and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Notes

1 “Eagles Won,” Elyria (Ohio) Reporter, September 29, 1904: 8; “Elyria Team Receives Championship Trophy,” Elyria Reporter, October 3, 1905: 1; “Trolley League Season Closes Today at Medina,” Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle, September 6, 1906: 4.

2 “Cuban Stars Are Coming,” Topeka (Kansas) State Journal, January 23, 1907: 2.

3 “First Ball Game Now Called Off until Tomorrow,” Binghamton (New York) Press and Leader, April 26, 1907: 16.

4 Gary Ashwill, Notes section in Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide (South Orange, New Jersey: Summer Game Books, 2014), 153. This is a reprint edition of Sol White’s 1907 book.

5 “Cuban Stars to Open Season May 1,” Trenton (New Jersey) Times, January 7, 1907: 11.

6 “Cubans Score in But One Inning,” Lynn (Massachusetts) Item, April 23, 1907: 6; “Baseball Notes,” Fall River (Massachusetts) News, April 25, 1907: 3.

7 “Players Report,” Elyria Chronicle, April 3, 1907: 4.

8 “Wig’s Double Won Very Pretty Game,” Elyria (Ohio) Telegram, June 15, 1907: 4.

9 “Robinson Suffers Brunette Nightmare,” Elyria Telegram, June 17, 1907: 4.

10 “Robinson Suffers Brunette Nightmare.”

11 “Robinson Suffers Brunette Nightmare.”

12 “Sandusky Defeated Elyria Team,” Elyria Telegram, June 17, 1907: 4.