Later Years and Death
Bithorn tried to make a comeback a few years later in the Mexican winter league. However, on December 28, 1951, at age 35, he was shot by police officer Ambrosio Castillo Cano, in El Mante, Mexico. He was transferred to Ciudad Victoria's hospital, where he died the next day. Initially, officer Castillo Cano claimed that Bithorn was violent and also claimed that Bithorn had said he was part of a "Communist cell," but eventually this argument was debunked and he was sent to prison for Bithorn's murder. Castillo Cano was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Bithorn's achievement of making it to the majors remained a source of pride in Puerto Rico, and he was honored in 1962 when the biggest ballpark on the island was built and named after him. Hiram Bithorn Stadium is located next to Roberto Clemente Coliseum and across the street from Plaza Las Américas, and it also has hosted world championship boxing fights, the 1979 Pan American Games, and important musical spectacles. The Montreal Expos played 22 home games there in both 2003 and 2004. Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics were played there, including teams from Group C and Group D.
Read more about this topic: Hiram Bithorn, Professional Career
Famous quotes containing the words years and/or death:
“I see the callus on his sole,
The disappearing last of him
And of his race starvation slim,
Oh, years ago—ten thousand years.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“for it is not so much to know the self
as to know it as it is known
by galaxy and cedar cone,
as if birth had never found it
and death could never end it:”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)