José Miguel Ángel Meléndez (April 8, 1908 – December 4, 1985), nicknamed El Chino, was a Nicaraguan baseball pitcher. He played extensively with the Nicaragua national baseball team in the 1930s and 1940s, and also played professionally in Mexico and Panama. Meléndez was inducted into the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. ''

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'' described him as Nicaragua's undisputed "king of the mound for nearly 25 years."

Club career

Meléndez was raised in Las Jaguitas, on the outskirts of Managua, playing with an amateur team there as a catcher. In 1935, he signed with

Indios del Bóer The Indios del Bóer ( ''Boers, Boer Indians'') are a baseball club based in Managua, Nicaragua competing in the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League (LBPN). Their home games are played at the Dennis Martínez National Stadium, Estadio Naciona ...

, and led the team to a national championship. He later played with the General Somoza club, named in honor of dictator

Anastasio Somoza García Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was the leader of Nicaragua from 1936 until his assassination in 1956. He was officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 unt ...

, the Carazo club in 1940, and returned to Bóer from 1941 to 1945. In January 1946, he signed a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

contract with Cerveceria Nacional of the Panamanian Professional Baseball League; he worked to a 5–2 record and led the team to a championship. In 1947, he played an exhibition game against the

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, throwing six no-hit innings against a lineup that included

Pee Wee Reese Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (July 23, 1918 – August 14, 1999) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1940 to 1958. ...

, Cookie Lavagetto, Carl Furillo, Bruce Edwards, and Floyd Bevens, and even managed to drive in a run off of Dodgers starter Kirby Higbe. That year, his second season with Cerveceria Nacional, he worked to a 5–4 record. Meléndez signed with a

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

team, the Tuneros de San Luis Potosí, for the 1947 season, and went on to play in the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (, or LMP), also known as the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons, is a professional baseball Winter league baseball, winter league based in Northwestern Mexico. The league comprises 10 teams. It wa ...

with the Arroceros de Obregón. The next year, he moved to organized baseball in the form of the Arizona–Texas League, playing with the

Indios de Ciudad Juárez Club de Fútbol Indios de Ciudad Juárez, commonly referred as Indios de Ciudad Juárez or simply Indios, was a Mexican football club. Founded in 2005 when CF Pachuca moved its Pachuca Juniors to Ciudad Juárez, it was promoted to the Primera Di ...

in 1948 and the El Paso Texans in 1949 and 1950. When the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League was founded in 1956, Meléndez returned to Indios del Bóer. Despite being 48 years old, he finished the season with a 6–1 record.

International career

Meléndez was named to the Nicaragua national team at the III Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, but did not play due to a controversy over his professional status. He later appeared with the Nicaraguan team at four Amateur World Series tournaments (

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

), leading the team to two second place finishes in 1939 and 1940. In 1940, he led the tournament in wins (3) and finished with a 1.31

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. In total, he participated in 17 Amateur World Series games with a 3–3 overall record; he worked to a 2.66 cumulative ERA over 64 innings pitched, with 23 strikeouts and 28 walks.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meléndez, José 1908 births 1985 deaths Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Managua Nicaraguan expatriate baseball players in Mexico Nicaraguan expatriate baseball players in the United States Nicaraguan expatriate sportspeople in Panama Tuneros de San Luis Potosí players Indios de Ciudad Juárez (minor league) players Yaquis de Obregón players El Paso Texans players Indios del Bóer players