Millito Navarro - Baseball Career

Baseball Career

In the 1920s, the United States was a racially segregated nation and Navarro's skin color presented a problem for his admittance into American baseball leagues—in baseball, blacks were not permitted to play in the same leagues as their white counterparts. As a consequence of this policy, a group of white and black businessmen joined forces and organized their own "Negro Leagues". The teams played against each other and even had their own "World Series". Two of those teams were the "Cuban Stars", owned by Alex Pompez, and the "Cuban Giants". Both of those teams consisted mainly of African-American or Afro-Latino players.

Navarro played for two years with the Cuban Stars and had a batting average of .337. The experience was bittersweet for Navarro, especially when they played in the South. Not only did he feel discriminated because of the color of his skin, but also because he did not speak English. Thus, after playing with the Negro Leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela.

By the time baseball had become integrated in the United States, Navarro had returned to the Puerto Rico. The experience and knowledge he had gained contributed to his success when he became one of the founders of the "Leones de Ponce baseball team in his hometown of Ponce. He played, coached, and contributed in various other ways in the team, dedicating 20 years of his life to the "Leones".