Lou Castro - Late Life and Death

Late Life and Death

Castro received economic assistance during his old age. The official data from this office showed his birthplace as New York City. After the S.S. Colon log, it is assumed that Castro probably wanted to pass for an American citizen by birth, in order to receive economic benefits from the Association and to avoid any kind of discrimination.

Recently, several baseball databases such as baseball-reference.com and baseball-almanac.com, changed his birthplace to New York, making Pedroes the first Latino in Major Leagues, but the discovery of the ship's information and passenger list provides a solid and perhaps irrefutable proof about his immigration to America. Even though he was not the first player who was brought by a team to play in the Major Leagues, Castro has to be recognized and credited as the first Major League Baseball player ever born in a Latin American country.

Castro died in New York City at the age of 64. Leonte Landino and Juan Vene confirmed that Castro is buried with no tombstone on an unidentified space at St. Mary's cemetery in Queens, New York, as reflected on Vene's book "Las mejores anécdotas del béisbol" (Ediciones B, Venezuela, 2008. 212p. - (1 ed). According to Landino's research on "La Prensa del Beisbol Latino", a SABR publication, Castro is at Division 10, row 9, number 18 in this cemetery.