Martín Dihigo

Martín Dihigo
Pitcher/Second baseman
Born: May 25, 1906(1906-05-25)[1] Matanzas, Cuba
Died: May 20, 1971(1971-05-20) (aged 64) Cienfuegos, Cuba
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Professional debut
Cuban League: 1922, Habana
Last professional appearance
Mexican League: 1950, Aguila de Veracruz
Negro leagues statistics
Win-Loss	26–19
Batting average	.307
Slugging percentage	.511
Teams
Negro leagues Cuban Stars (East) (1923–27, 1930) Homestead Grays (1927–28) Hilldale Giants (1929, 1930–31) New York Cubans (1935–36, 1945) Cuban League Habana (1922-23, 1924–29, 1938–39, 1940–45) Almendares (1923–24, 1929–32) Santa Clara (1935–36) Marianao (1936–38) Cienfuegos (1939–40, 1945–47) Mexican League Aguila de Veracruz (1937–39, 1950) Azules de Veracruz (1940, 1947) Unión Laguna (1941–43, 1946) Nuevo Laredo (1944) San Luis Potosí (1947)
Career highlights and awards
2× Negro League All-Star selection (1935, 1945) 4× Cuban League MVP Award (1927/28, 1935/36, 1936/37, 1941/42) Elected to Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame (1951) Elected to Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame (1964) Cuban League Records 107 career wins 121 career complete games Mexican League Records .676 career winning percentage ( > 1,000 innings)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	1977

Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos (May 25, 1906^[1] - May 20, 1971) was a Cuban player in baseball's Negro leagues and Latin American leagues who excelled at several positions, primarily as a pitcher and second baseman. He was born in the sugarmill Jesús María (town of Cidra) in Matanzas Province, Cuba.

Early career

Dihigo began his professional career in the winter of 1922/23 at the age of 16 as a substitute infielder for Habana in the Cuban League. His first summer in U.S. baseball came in 1923 as a first baseman for the Negro leagues' Cuban Stars (East). He played in the Negro leagues from 1923 through 1936 and again briefly in 1945. Over the course of his career, he played all nine positions. As a hitter, he led the Negro leagues in home runs in 1926 and 1935. As a pitcher, he once defeated Satchel Paige when the latter 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 RBIs, 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.^[2]

Mexican and Cuban leagues

Although a two-time All-Star in the American Negro leagues, Dihigo's greatest season came in the Mexican League in 1938, where he went 18-2 with a 0.90 ERA as a pitcher, while winning the batting title 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 with a .298 average. Dihigo continued his playing career in Mexico into the early 1950s. He was Cuba's Minister of Sport from 1959 until his death, where he was called "The Immortal". In other Latin American countries, he was called "El Maestro", translated as "The Master".

Career stats

Combining his Dominican, American, Cuban and Mexican statistics results in a lifetime .302 career batting average with 130 home runs (eleven seasons worth of home run totals are missing) and a 252-132 pitching record.

Death and Halls of Fame inductions

He died five days before his 65th birthday in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Known as a humorous, good-natured man as well as a versatile player, Dihigo was elected to the American Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. Dihigo was also inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame.^[3]

He is the only player to be inducted to the American, Cuban and Mexican Baseball Halls of Fame, and is also in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela Halls of Fame.

External links

• Martín Dihigo at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Biography at Baseball Library
• Database on Martín Dihigo^{[dead link]}
• 500 Home Run Club
• Negro League eMuseum
• Béisbol cubano (in Spanish)

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Sources disagree on Dihigo's birthdate. Hogan, p. 386, shows his birthdate as May 25, 1906, while Riley, p. 233, and baseball-reference.com show May 25, 1905.
2. ^ Hogan, pp. 386–87, 404–05.
3. ^ "Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum". http://www.hispanicbaseballmuseum.com/fme_dihigo.html. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 

References

• Clark, Dick; Lester, Larry (1994), The Negro Leagues Book, Cleveland, Ohio: Society for American Baseball Research 
• Figueredo, Jorge S. (2003), Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, ISBN 078641250X 
• González Echevarría, Roberto (1999), The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195146050 
• Hogan, Lawrence D. (2006), Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball, Washington DC: National Geographic, ISBN 079225306X 
• Riley, James A. (1994), The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0786709596 

Persondata
Name	Dihigo, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 25, 1906
Place of birth
Date of death	May 20, 1971
Place of death