Minnie Miñoso

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Miñoso and the second or maternal family name is Arrieta.

Minnie Miñoso
Left fielder
Born: (1925-11-29) November 29, 1925 Havana, Cuba
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 19, 1949 for the Cleveland Indians
Last MLB appearance
October 5, 1980 for the Chicago White Sox
Career statistics
Batting average	.298
Home runs	186
Runs batted in	1,023
Teams
Cleveland Indians (1949, 1951) Chicago White Sox (1951–1957) Cleveland Indians (1958–1959) Chicago White Sox (1960–1961) St. Louis Cardinals (1962) Washington Senators (1963) Chicago White Sox (1964, 1976, 1980)
Career highlights and awards
9× All-Star (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1959². 1960, 1960²) 3× Gold Glove Award (1957, 1959, 1960) Chicago White Sox #9 retired

Saturnino Orestes Armas "Minnie" Miñoso Arrieta (/mɨˈnoʊsoʊ/; Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɲoso]; born November 29, 1925 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban retired Major League Baseball (MLB) player. A left fielder and third baseman, he played for 17 seasons beginning in 1949 and ending in 1980. He received The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award (American League) for 1951. He also received one of the original Rawlings Gold Glove Awards in 1957.

Miñoso was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent in 1948. Between 1949 and 1964 he played for the Indians (1949, 1951, 1958–59), Chicago White Sox (1951–1957, 1960–61, 1964, 1976, 1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1962) and Washington Senators (1963).

On May 1, 1951, Miñoso was playing third base and batting third for the White Sox against the New York Yankees at Comiskey Park during his first game on the White Sox. He hit a 415 foot home run at his first time at-bat off the first pitch to him. He finished the season hitting .324 in 138 games played for the White Sox and became known as "Minnie" Minoso and "Mr. White Sox".

Minoso had been an outstanding third baseman in the Negro Leagues, and would later play several seasons in Mexico. He was nicknamed "The Cuban Comet" and while playing in Mexico was "El Charro Negro" — "The Black Cowboy". He is one of two players in Major League history to play in five-decades (1940s-1980s), the first being Nick Altrock (1890s—1930s). With brief appearances with the independent Northern League's St. Paul Saints in 1993 and 2003, Miñoso is the only player to have played professionally in seven different decades. He was the last Major Leaguer to have played in the 1940s, to play a Major League game.

Major league comebacks

In 1976, after several years playing in Mexico, Miñoso returned to MLB to play three games with the White Sox. He picked up one single in eight at bats, becoming, at age 50, the fourth-oldest player ever to get a base hit in the Major Leagues (Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke was the oldest when he hit safely at age 54 on September 22, 1904, Nick Altrock singled on October 6, 1929 at 53, and Charlie O'Leary singled on September 30, 1934, at 51). Miñoso then returned to appear in two more games with the Sox in 1980. His five stints with Chicago cemented his image as a local baseball icon for at least three generations of White Sox fans. When the last game was played at the old Comiskey Park on September 30, 1990, Miñoso was invited to present the White Sox lineup card to the umpires in the pregame ceremonies at home plate. He did so while wearing the new uniform debuted by the White Sox that day, his familiar number 9 on the back.

In his 1980 appearance at age 54, Miñoso became the third-oldest player ever to play in the majors, behind Nick Altrock, who pinch-hit in 1933 at the age of 57, and Satchel Paige, who, at 59, pitched three shutout innings in his one game in 1965. Minoso is one of only two players to have made an appearance in a major league game in five decades, the other being Altrock.

In 1990, he was scheduled to make an appearance with the minor league Miami Miracle and hence become the only professional to play in six decades; however, MLB overruled the Miracle on the idea. Nonetheless, in 1993 at the age of 67, he made an appearance with the independent St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Then, in 2003 he returned to the Saints and drew a walk, thus becoming the only ball player to appear professionally in seven different decades. The earlier extensions to his career with the Sox were publicity stunts orchestrated respectively by one-time Sox owner Bill Veeck and his son Mike, who at the time owned partial or controlling interest in the teams.

Major League stats

Years	Games	PA	AB	Runs	Hits	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	BA	Fld%
17	1835	7712	6579	1136	1963	336	83	186	1023	205	814	584	.389	.459	.298	.971

• Amer. League All-Star (1951–55, 1957, 1959-1960; 9/9 games)
• Amer. League Leader in hits (1960)
• Amer. League Leader in doubles (1957)
• Amer. League Leader in triples (1951, 54, 56)
• Amer. League Leader in sacrifice flies (1960–61)
• Amer. League Leader in stolen bases (1951–53)
• Amer. League Leader in times on base and total bases (1954)

Major League Gold Glove (1957)
American League Gold Glove (1959–60)

Awards and recognition

Minnie Miñoso's number 9 was retired by the Chicago White Sox in 1983.

Miñoso in 2010.

1994: Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.

2000: Chicago White Sox All-Century Team.

August 11, 2002: Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame (ceremony at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, IL).

September 19, 2004: Minnie Minoso Day: Pregame unveiling of Minnie Minoso statue at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.

October 28, 2005: Minoso participated in the Chicago White Sox World Series Championship Parade in downtown Chicago.

November 3, 2005: Miñoso's name was placed on a special ballot of Negro League players and executives (39) by a 5-member screening committee to be voted upon on February 27, 2006 by a special 12-member committee of Negro Leagues historians and scholars, for selection into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Minoso not selected).

April 7, 2011: Minoso threw out the ceremonial first pitch to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén before the White Sox home opener.

November 3, 2011: Minoso was named one of the 10 candidates on the Golden Era Ballot (1947–1972 era) for possible election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2012. In the December 5 voting by the Golden Era Committee, Minoso fell short by 3 votes.[1]

January 29, 2012: Minoso receives the 2011 Jerome Holtzman Award from the Chicago Baseball Museum.

Golden Era Committee vote totals for National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2012

Beginning in 2011, an election for Golden Era Ballot candidates from the 1947 to 1972 era for election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame shall be held every 3 years. The 10 candidates are nominated ("identified") by the Baseball Writers' Association of America's appointed-Historical Overview Committee. In order to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, any of the 10 Golden Era Ballot candidates must receive 12 or more votes or 75% or more of the votes cast by the 16-member Golden Era Committee appointed by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors.[2]

The 10-12 members (11 in 2011) of the Historical Overview Committee are veteran Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWWA) members. Eight Hall of Fame members, five executives, and three veteran media members were the electors of the Golden Era Committee for 2011. 2011 vote results:

Ron Santo - 15 (Inducted July 22, 2012)
Jim Kaat - 10
Gil Hodges - 9
Minnie Minoso - 9
Tony Oliva - 8
Buzzie Bavasi (Executive) - 3
Ken Boyer - 3
Charles Finley (Executive) - 3
Allie Reynolds - 3
Luis Tiant - 3

See also

• List of Cuban-Americans
• List of Cubans
• List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date
• List of Major League Baseball players who played in four decades
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Negro league baseball statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
• Baseball Hall of Fame candidate profiles: Negro League Committee and Veterans Committee – at the Internet Archive
• Baseball Library
• The Top 100 Greatest Indians Roster