Cristobal Torriente was most known for his deceptive power and strong throwing arm from centerfield. Indianapolis ABCs manager C.I. Taylor stated, "If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub."
Torriente achieved a .427 on-base percentage for his carrer and did so in only 2,235 plate appearances.
Torriente wasn't able to produce a record of the power numbers he was capable of due spotty career in the American Negro Leagues and Latin A...
Cristóbal Torriente is often referred to by many Negro Leagues and Latin American baseball historians as the "Babe Ruth of Cuba". Torriente was a native Cuban and professional outfielder playing part time in the Negro Leagues and Latin American Circuit.
Playing for multiuple teams, his career started in 1912, as he began to acquire a reputation as prime pull hitter, though he eventually showed he had power to all fields.
With a stocky and slightly bowlegged build he was mostly know around in the league as a deceptively strong power hitter with a strong accurate arm from centerfield.
The Indianapolis ABC's manager C.I. Taylor stated, "If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub.'"
Torriente was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Torriente was born on November 16, 1893, in Cienfuegos, Cuba. He began his playing his professional baseball career as a starting pitcher, seeing some action in the outfield, and by the age of 17 his talents helped him elevate his hometown's local amateur club, called The Yara Club, to a juvenile amateur district championship in 1910.
Still at the age of 17, he joined the Cuban Army and “was assigned to the artillery because he was husky enough to hoist the heavy artillery pieces onto the mules.” Around this time, little else was known of Torriente's family and childhood. [5]
What is known about Torriente's playing career is that in his homeland of Cuba he played professionally from 1913–1927 and holds the record for the highest career batting average in Cuban winter league history at .352.
Playing in his homeland, he earned two batting titles and hit as high as .402, though records of Torriente’s playing career is not well documented.
In 1920, his team, Almendares, played a nine-game series against the New York Giants. The Giants had added Babe Ruth for their tour of Cuba and was sure to be a spectacle.
Torriente flat out matched the Babe in most categories in the series and Almendares beat the Giants, winning the series 5-4.
Along with Martin Dihigo and Jose Mendez, Torriente is considered one of the greatest baseball players to come from Cuba. He was the first amoung the first class of inductees into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Torriente played much of the summer of 1915 and 1916 for the Western Cuban Stars team until an argument arose with the manager in 1916.
This promopted Torriente to look for other situations to play baseball, soon being tracked down former teammate and friend José Méndez. He was hired by J. L. Wilkinson to play for his All Nations Team just before a big series against C.I. Taylor's Indianapolis ABC’s, and then Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants.
Seeing the talented young cuban for the asset he was, Rube Foster signed Torriente to play for his Chicago Giants in the newly formed the Negro National League I.
During his time in the state, Torriente played for the Chicago American Giants teams of 1918–1925, and he was a member of the club when they were founding members of the Negro National League I (NNL) in 1920.
Torriente led the Rube Foster’s Giants to consecutive pennants from 1920 to 1923 while batting .411, .352, and .289 from the leadoff spot for those three seasons.
Cristobal won the inaugural Negro National League I batting title in 1920 with his .411 average.
He also led the league in on-base percentage that year, along with posting an OPS of .465+ for the 1923 and 1924 seasons. He also had an OPS of over 1.000 in four of his nine full seasons.
In 1921, he took part in the second ever postseason series held between black baseball teams, as the Chicago American Giants faced the Eastern independent Hilldale Club. While the Giants lost the series 3-2-1 (with one tie), Torriente hit a home run in Game 1 of the series contributing to the victory. [6]
Torriente was then traded to the Kansas City Monarchs in 1926 and led the team with a .381 batting average.
In the championship playoff series against his old American Giants teammates, Torriente logged a .407 batting average. Torriente then briefly appeared for the Detroit Stars franchise in 1927.
Torriente, now primarily a pitcher again, played for the independent Gilkerson's Union Giants from 1929-1930.
In 1932, he appeared in games for the Atlanta Black Crackers and Cleveland Cubs, both independent teams at the time. Cristobal finished his professional baseball career with the Louisville Black Caps of the Negro Southern League, pitching a single game in relief.
In 1938, Atlanta Black Crackers manager Don Pelham unsuccessfully attempted to lobby Torriente to return to play, but no records exist of him taking the field again. [9]
Torriente was notorious for his love of the night life and this caused him issues with teammates and management that lasted throughout his career. Torriente was sent to the bench in front of 8,000 spectators in 1915 after he "kicked in the direction of an umpire."
He put on his street clothes and sat on the bench for the remainer of the game. Then umpire Goekle sent him to the bleachers, also sending an officer of the law to keep an eye on him.
Again on August 23, 1915, Torriente kicked an umpire, after the lead umpire Kelly called him out on an attempted to steal third base. [10]
In another incident in a fight with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which spilled out of the stadium and onto the streets after the game, escalated into two men attacked each other with paving stones left out when street workers who were repairing a water main.
Rube Foster was eventually able to intervene and broke up the fight. [11]
There was more trouble for Cristobal in 1923, when he was sent out of the game in the third inning after objecting to umpire Bert Gholston's call at second base.
He reportedly used "awful" language, then threw dirt on the umpire's "newly creased trousers."
His temper caused him to walk off the Monarchs in 1926 after a dispute involving a stolen diamond ring. [2]
In 1918, 24 year-old Torriente registered for the World War I draft. He listed his current occupation as "not working" in Chicago, Illinois. He listed himself as a Cuban citizen and his closest living relative as his mother, Mrs. Felipa Torriente of Havana.
After baseball, Torriente lived for a short time in Ybor City, Florida and faded into obscurity.
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