Rafael Almeida

Rafael D. Almeida (July 30, 1887 in Havana, Cuba – March 19, 1968 in Havana, Cuba) was a Major League Baseball third baseman from 1911 to 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds.

Rafael Almeida
Rafael Almeida, 1912.
Third baseman
Born: July 30, 1887 Havana, Cuba
Died: March 19, 1968 (aged 80) Havana, Cuba
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 4, 1911, for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
July 18, 1913, for the Cincinnati Reds
MLB statistics
Batting average	.270
Home runs	3
Runs batted in	46
Teams
Cincinnati Reds (1911–13)

Almeida and Armando Marsans debuted together with the Reds on July 4, 1911.[1] They are sometimes named the first major league players born in Cuba, which is incorrect because Havana-born Chick Pedroes played in the National League in 1902; in addition, Cuban-born Steve Bellán played from 1871 to 1873 in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), a league whose status as a major league is disputed.

Six years before Cincinnati, Almeida and Marsans both played "Negro baseball" in the United States as 1905 members of the integrated All Cubans.[2]

Almeida played winter baseball in the Cuban League from 1904 to 1925 and was one of ten players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in its 1939 inaugural class.[3]

Notes

1. Players Born in Cuba - Baseball-Reference.com
2. Riley, 33
3. Figueredo 2003, pp. 484, 508.

References

• Figueredo, Jorge S. (2003), Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1250-X.
• Riley, James A. (2002). The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. 2nd edition. New York: Carroll & Graf Publ. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference

• Cuban League statistics and player information from Seamheads.com, or Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)