Manuel García Carranza (December 28, 1905 – April 13, 1995), nicknamed "Cocaína", was a Cuban professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the American

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. A native of Manacas, Cuba, García made his Negro leagues debut in 1927 for the

Cuban Stars (West) The Cuban Stars were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that competed in the United States Negro leagues from 1907 to 1930. The team was also sometimes known as the Cuban Stars of Havana, Stars of Cuba, Cuban All-Stars, Havana Reds, Alm ...

. He earned his unusual nickname as a result of batters who "seemed drugged by his pitches and unable to concentrate or focus on the baseball." Following his Negro leagues career, he went on to play for many more years in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

. García died in Caraballeda, Venezuela in 1995 at age 89.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
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Seamheads
* Manuel 'Cocaína' García a
Negro League Baseball Players Association
1905 births 1995 deaths Cuban Stars (East) players Cuban Stars (West) players New York Cubans players Baseball pitchers People from Villa Clara Province Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub