Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos (May 25, 1906
– May 20, 1971), called The Immortal, was a
Cuban professional baseball player. He played in
Negro league baseball
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 ...
and Latin American leagues from 1923 to 1936 as a
two-way player
In sports that require a player to play on offense and defense (such as basketball and ice hockey), a two-way player refers to a player who excels at both. In sports where a player typically specializes on offense or defense (like American footb ...
, both as a
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 ...
and a
second baseman, although he excelled at several positions.
Early career
Dihigo was born in the sugarmill town of Cidra in
Matanzas Province
Matanzas () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province.
Among Cuban provinces, ...
, Cuba. He began his professional baseball career in the winter of 1922-23 at the age of 16 as a substitute infielder for
Habana in the
Cuban League
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known ...
. The following summer, Dihigo broke into American baseball as a
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
for the
Cuban Stars. He played in the Negro leagues from 1923 through and again briefly in . Over the course of his career, he played all nine positions. As a hitter, he led the Negro leagues in
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s in and . As a pitcher, he once defeated
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction ...
while Paige was touring Cuba.
Negro leagues
Dihigo's career record in twelve seasons in the Negro leagues was a .307 average and .511 slugging percentage, with 431 hits, 64 home runs, 61 doubles, 17 triples, 227 RBI, and 292 runs scored in 1404 at bats. He drew 143 walks and stole 41 bases. As a pitcher, he went 26–19 with a 2.92 ERA, with 176 strikeouts and 80 walks in 354 innings. Dihigo served as
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
of the
New York Cubans
The New York Cubans were a Negro league baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in ...
in 1935 and 1936.
Mexican and Cuban leagues
Although a two-time
All-Star in the American Negro leagues, Dihigo's greatest season came in with
Rojos del Aguila de Veracruz 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 ...
, where he went 18-2 with a 0.90
ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
as a pitcher, while winning the
batting title
In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats (AB). In MLB, a player in each league win ...
with a .387 average. In another season in the Mexican League, he had a 0.15 ERA. In his Mexican career, he was 119-57 with a .317 batting average. In the Cuban League, he was 107-56 as a pitcher with a .298 average at the plate. Dihigo continued his playing career in Mexico into the early 1950s. He served as Cuba's Minister of Sport from 1959 until his death in 1971. In Cuba, Dihigo was known as "El Inmortal" ("The Immortal"); in other Latin American countries, he was sometimes called "El Maestro" ("The Master").
Career stats
In Dihigo's career, including statistics from Dominican, American, Cuban, and Mexican leagues, he compiled a lifetime .302 career batting average with 130 home runs, although eleven seasons of home run totals are missing. As a pitcher, he compiled a 252-132 win–loss record.
Post career
After retiring, Dihigo became a radio announcer for the Cuban Winter League. He fled Cuba in 1952 to protest the rise of Fulgencio Batista. He managed the
Leones del Caracas
The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A. or better known by its commercial name as the ''Leones del Caracas'', is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. In its creation, its headquarters are the University Stadium of C ...
in the 1953 Caribbean Series but finished last. Upon
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...
's rise to power, Dihigo returned to Cuba and was appointed the minister of sports.
Death and Hall of Fame Inductions
Dihigo died five days before his 65th birthday, on May 20, 1971, in
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 150,000. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, especia ...
, Cuba. He is buried in Cementerio Municipal Cruces in
Cruces, Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Known as a humorous, good-natured man as well as a versatile player, Dihigo was
posthumously
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ''Posthumous'' (E ...
elected to the American
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...
in . Dihigo was also inducted into the
Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum was founded in San Francisco, California on October 24, 1998, by Amaury Pi-Gonzalez.
Members of Hall of Fame
*Juan Marichal, 2003
* Tony Taylor, 2004
*Roberto Clemente
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker ( ...
Hall of Fame.
Martín Dihigo's stature as a ballplayer is reflected in this conversation between former Dodgers general manager
Al Campanis and broadcaster
Jaime Jarrín
Jaime Jarrín (; born December 10, 1935) is an Ecuadorian-born American sportscaster known as the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began broadcasting for the Dodgers in 1959 and was the 1998 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Aw ...
:
Others had heaped praise on him earlier, as well. Buck Leonard said, “He was the best ballplayer of all time, black or white.”
Hall of Famer
Johnny Mize
John Robert Mize (January 7, 1913 – June 2, 1993), nicknamed "Big Jawn" and "The Big Cat", was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He played as a first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons between 1936 an ...
said, “He was the only guy I ever saw who could play all nine positions, manage, run and switch-hit.”
Along with
Willie Wells
Willie James Wells (August 10, 1906 – January 22, 1989), nicknamed "The Devil," was an American baseball player. He was a shortstop who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the Negro leagues and in Latin America.
Wells was a fast ...
, Dihigo is just one of two players to be inducted to the
American,
Cuban,
Mexican,
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
and
Venezuelan
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in t ...
Baseball Halls of Fame.
See also
*
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
External links
an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball / Minor league statsan
Seamheads* an
SeamheadsMartín Dihigoat SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Martín Dihigoat Baseball Biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dihigo, Martin
1906 births
1971 deaths
Águilas Cibaeñas players
Cuban expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic
Algodoneros de Torreón players
Azules de Veracruz players
Baltimore Black Sox players
Caribbean Series managers
Cuban Stars (East) players
Homestead Grays players
Leopardos de Santa Clara players
Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Mexican League baseball managers
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Negro league baseball managers
New York Cubans players
People from Cienfuegos Province
People from Matanzas Province
Philadelphia Hilldale Giants players
Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players
Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo players
Tuneros de San Luis Potosí players
Cuban expatriate baseball players in Mexico
Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States