Game Changers: 11 Afro-Latino Athletes Who've Ruled The Playing Field

There’s no denying the impact Roberto Clemente has had on Latinos in baseball. The native of Carolina, Puerto Rico became the first-ever Boricua to play in the National League as a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente earned the title of “All-Star” for twelve seasons and was the NL Most Valuable Player in 1966. He was also the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove winner for twelve consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for thirteen seasons and garnered 3,000 major league hits throughout his career. He also played in two World Series championships.

During his flight to a charity mission to Managua, Nicaragua in 1972, Clemente’s plane crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico. There were no survivors, and his body was never recovered. In 1973, Clemente was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which made him the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be immortalized.

 Saturnino Orestes Armas "Mnnie" Miñoso aka "The Cuban Comet" and "Mr. White Sox", was the first Afro-Cuban in the major leagues and the first black player in White Sox history. “Minnie” began his baseball career in 1946 after he played as an All-Star third baseman with the New York Cubans. Miñoso was signed by the Cleveland Indians after the 1948 season at the time period when baseball's color line slowly fell. Miñoso went on to become an All-Star left fielder with the Indians and Chicago White Sox. In 1951, he was the one of the first Latin Americans to play in an MLB All-Star Game. In time, Miñoso became one of the most popular players in White Sox franchise history. He held the White Sox record for career home runs from 1956 to 1974. Nearly two decades after the White Sox retired his uniform and his induction to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, the team debuted a statue of Miñoso at U.S. Cellular Field. Miñoso passed away at the age of 92 last March.

Luis Clemente Tiant Vegas is a former right-handed starting pitcher. Tiant pitched for 19 years primarily for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. Over the span of his long-standing career, Tiant amassed a 229–172 record with 2416 strikeouts, a 3.30 ERA, 187 complete games, and 49 shutouts in 3,486.1 innings. The player of Cuban descent was an All-Star for three seasons and 20-game winner for four seasons.

Tiant was the American League (AL) pitching champion in 1968 and 1972. As the AL leader in strikeouts for 9-innings in 1967 and the AL leader in shutouts in 1966, 68, and 74, Tiant was finally inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame In 1997.