Dihigo, Martin
Baseball
b. May 24, 1905, Havana, Cuba
d. May 20, 1971
During his more than forty years in professional baseball, Dihigo played every position, including pitcher, and played them all well. Many former teammates and opponents have called him the greatest ever. But, because he was a dark-skinned Cuban, he never got to the major leagues.
His professional career began in 1923, in the Cuban Winter League. The following season, he began playing for the Cuban Stars in the Eastern Colored League during the summer, returning to Cuba to play winter ball.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Dihigo was primarily an outfielder in the U. S., though he also played the infield at times and occasionally pitched. In Cuba and Mexico, he was primarily a pitcher, compiling a record of 234 wins against only 117 losses.
With the Philadelphia Hillsdale Club in 1929, he batted .386 with 18 home runs and 21 stolen bases in just 65 games; he also had a 4-2 record as a pitcher. From 1931 through 1934, he played entirely in Cuba and Venezuela, then returned to the U. S. for two seasons with the New York Cubans in the Negro National League.
In the 1935 East-West All-Star game, Dihigo started in centerfield and batted third for the East, then came on as a relief pitcher in the late innings. He's credited with a .372 batting average that season.
Dihigo played in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Cuba during the late 1930s. He played one more season in the U. S. in 1945, then went back to Mexico, where he played through 1957. After Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959, Dihigo was named minister of sports in his native country.