Lou Castro

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Luis Castro
Second baseman
Born: (1876-11-25)November 25, 1876 Medellín, Colombia
Died: September 24, 1941(1941-09-24) (aged 64) New York City
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 23, 1902, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
September 27, 1902, for the Philadelphia Athletics
MLB statistics
Batting average	.245
Hits	35
Runs scored	18
Teams
Philadelphia Athletics (1902)

Luis Miguel Castro (November 25, 1876 – September 24, 1941) was born in Medellín, Colombia. He was the second Latin American-born Major League Baseball player in the United States, and the first Latin American since Cuban player Esteban Bellán in 1873 to play professional baseball. If one does not consider the National Association a major league, then Castro was the first Latin American to play in Major League Baseball.^[1]

A second baseman and right-handed batter, Castro attended Manhattan College and played for the Jaspers baseball team. He played his one and only major league season with the 1902 American League champion Philadelphia Athletics. In his brief 42-game stint, he posted a .245 batting average, with one home run and 15 runs batted in, 35 hits, 18 runs scored, 8 doubles, 1 triple and two stolen bases in 143 at bats.

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. and 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.

On Tuesday, July 20th, 2021, Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos unveiled a new tombstone for the first Latino to play in Major League Baseball on Colombian Independence Day, at Mount St. Mary Cemetery in Flushing.

See also[]

• List of players from Colombia in Major League Baseball

Notes[]

This article possibly contains original research. Please by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

External links[]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• MLB players born in Colombia at Baseball Reference
• Famous First Foreign Players at Baseball Almanac
• Page at Latino Sports Legends