Armando Marsans: A Cuban Pioneer in the Major Leagues

by Peter T. Toot

Overview

Armando Marsans, who joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1911, was the first Cuban star of the major leagues. Events in baseball have often mirrored America's social development--Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier is one example--and the story of Armando Marsans has much to teach about the United States and Latin America during the early 20th century.

In detailing the career of Marsans, this work also recapitulates baseball history in Cuba and describes the early development of professional baseball in America. Examples of how Americans reacted to Marsans as a player and a person, and the prevalence of Latino stereotypes during this era, are fully explored. Part biography, part sociological study, this book introduces the reader to a physically gifted player and to a young, powerful America struggling to find its own identity in its new ethnic makeup.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786415847
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	01/02/2004
Edition description:	ALT
Pages:	197
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter T. Toot lives in Canton, Ohio.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	vii
	Preface	1
1.	Homecoming	3
2.	Foreigners in a Foreign Land	11
3.	Opportunity	31
4.	Opportunity Seized	47
5.	1913	65
6.	Conflict	77
7.	No-Man's Land	103
8.	Resolution	113
9.	In the American League	125
10.	Frustration	139
11.	New York	145
12.	A Belated Return	151
13.	The Other Side of Segregation	159
14.	A Pioneer to the End	163
15.	Game Called	171
	Chapter Notes	175
	Bibliography	181
	Index	185

Editorial Reviews

thorough...there is no way one could finish this volume and not think of Marsans as a central figure in baseball’s story”—Nine.

From the Publisher

thorough...there is no way one could finish this volume and not think of Marsans as a central figure in baseball's story

Nine