Cuba
Luque made his professional debut in Cuba for the Habana baseball club against a major league league opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies, in an exhibition series if the fall of 1911. He left the game after 8 innings with his team ahead 6 to 5, but his reliever failed to hold the lead and left Luque with a no decision. He then pitched against the New York Giants, going 1–2, getting the only win for Habana in six games. He debuted in the Cuban League in the winter of 1912, but went 0–4, 0–2, and 2–4 his first three seasons. In 1914/15 he moved to Almendares and had his first winning season, going 7–4. The following season he led the league in wins with a 12–5 record. The next winter, 1917, he tied for the league lead in wins and also led in hitting with a .355 average.
In 1919/20 Luque became a playing manager for Almendares and led the team to a championship in his first season at the helm, the first of seven championships as a manager. He contributed on the pitching mound with a 10–4 record, leading the league in wins. In 1922/23 he moved to Habana (where Miguel Angel González was manager) and again led the league in wins with an 11–9 record. The next season, he took over the helm as Habana's manager and went 7–2 as a pitcher. Later in the decade, Luque's major league team, the Cincinnati Reds, did not allow him to play winter baseball in Cuba. Luque sometimes evaded the ban by playing under assumed names.
By the 1930s, Luque had returned to Almendares as manager. He generally pitched only occasionally, though in 1934/35 he contributed as a pitcher to his second championship as a manger; he tied for the league lead in wins with a 6–2 record and led the league with a 1.27 ERA. As manager, he again led Almendares to championships in 1939/40, 1941/42, and 1942/43, led Cienfuegos to a championship in 1945/46, and returned to Almendares for his final championship in 1946/47. He continued to manage for various teams until 1955/56.
Luque's career Cuban League pitching record was 106–71. Luque is the all-time Cuban League leader in years pitching with 22, ranks second (behind Martín Dihigo) in wins with 106, and ranks seventh in winning percentage with .599.
Luque died in 1957 and is buried at Colon Cemetery, Havana.
Read more about this topic: Dolf Luque
Famous quotes containing the word cuba:
“Bernstein: “Girls delightful in Cuba stop. Could send you prose poems about scenery but don’t feel right spending your money stop. There is no war in Cuba. Signed Wheeler.” Any answer?
Charles Foster Kane: Yes—Dear Wheeler, You provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)
“Warmest climes but nurse the cruelest fangs: the tiger of Bengal crouches in spiced groves of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent but basket the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept tame northern lands.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Education is a necessity, it helps to understand life. Like that compagnero in Cuba who talked about politics, back when they were on strike. He knew many things, that hijo de puta, and he unraveled the most confusing situations in a marvelous way. You could see each point in front of you on the line of his reasoning like rinsed laundry set up to dry; he explained things to you so clearly that you could grasp it like a good hunk of bread with your hand.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)