Next up in my recent custom set to be profiled here on the blog, all-time great Cristobal Torriente, who is grossly overlooked even when talking about legends of the Negro leagues:
Torriente holds the Cuban Winter League career high-water mark for
batting average at .352, and also went on to retire with a .340 Negro
League BA, winning titles in 1920 and 1923.
One of my favorite quotes in ANY baseball lore is one attributed to Indianapolis ABC’s manager C.I. Taylor, who stated, “If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, ‘There walks a ballclub.’”
One of my favorite quotes in ANY baseball lore is one attributed to Indianapolis ABC’s manager C.I. Taylor, who stated, “If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, ‘There walks a ballclub.’”
From
the pitching side of things, Torriente posted a career 13-7 record over
32 appearances, 23 of them starts, completing 13 games and tossing two
shutouts with 60 strikeouts in 179.2 innings, with an ERA of 4.46.
In 2001 Bill James rated Torriente as the 67th greatest baseball player
ever for his book “The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.”
In 1939 he was one of the first to be elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, and though it took a long while, he was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
In 1939 he was one of the first to be elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, and though it took a long while, he was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.