Emilio "Millo" Navarro
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Emilio "Millo" Navarro (born September 26, 1905 in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico) was the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues.
Ever since Navarro was a young man in his hometown of Ponce, all he ever wanted to do was play baseball. When he was 23 years old, Navarro felt that he was more than ready to play in the Major Leagues in the U.S.. There was only one problem, the color of his skin. He was black.
In the 1920s, the United States was a racially segregated nation. This was also reflected in sports. In baseball, blacks were not permitted to play together with their white counterparts. As a consequence of this policy, a group of white and black businessmen joined forces and organized the "Negro Leagues". The teams would play 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 black or dark-skinned latino players. Mr. Pompez signed Navarro to play in his team.
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 didn't speak english. 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 U.S., Navarro had returned to the island. The experience and knowledge that he gained served him well when he became one of the founders of the Puerto Rican baseball team, "Leones de Ponce" (Ponce Lions). He played, coached and did a little bit of everything for the team. He dedicated 20 years to the team.
After Navarro retired from active baseball, he was named administrator of the "Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium" in Ponce. He held this position for 20 years.
Emilio "Millo" Navarro will be 100 years old on September 26, 2005 and his life and experiences in baseball will be part of an American documentary called "Beisbol" which will be about the contributions and influence of hispanics in American's national pastime. Navarro was inducted into the "Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame" in 2004.
