Armando Cabañas

Armando Cabañas (Chino)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 5"
• Born 1878 in Guanabacoa, Cuba
• Died November 21, 1959 in Cuba

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Armando Cabañas played in the Cuban Winter League and spent one summer in the Negro Leagues.

He debuted in 1900 with the San Francisco club, helping them to a Cuban Winter League title. He moved to Almendares in 1901 and remained with them in '02. In 1903, he joined Habana and hit .177/.248/.188 as a regular outfielder (fielding .870 in CF), stealing 15 bases. In 1904, he fell to .159/.237/.159 for San Francisco. Returning to Almendares for '05, he hit .225/.265/.279 and fielded .860 at 2B, forming an infield with two future major leaguers, Rafael Almeida and Al Cabrera; Almendares won the title.

The Guanabacoa native fell to .138/.176/.161 in 1906 and fielded .892 at 2B. He helped Almendares to a pennant in 1907, batting .198/.302/.248; he had a 102 OPS+ in a pitcher-dominated league (as Cuba was throughout the Deadball Era). In 1908, he produced at a .226/.299/.242 clip and Almendares won it all again. He tried to come to the US with a Cuban team in the fall of 1908 but was refused entry because an immigration officer thought he was Chinese.

With Almendares in 1908-1909, Armando hit .189/.255/.233, continuing to form an infield with Cabrera at SS and Almeida at 3B; the 1B now was Regino García. He had a key role in one of the most famous games in Cuban history, on November 18, 1909. Against the Detroit Tigers, he manned second in Bombin Pedroso's 11-inning no-hitter against the Tigers. He was the game's offensive star, going 2 for 3 against Bill Lelivelt, and driving in the winner with a squeeze bunt. Defensively, his 7th-inning error on a Matty McIntyre grounder led to Detroit's only run. Overall, he hit just .133 in the exhibition series against the Tigers.

In 1910, Armando batted .176/.243/.235 as the starting second baseman for the Almendares championship team. He led the league with 68 AB. He hit .367 for the Stars of Cuba against top black US teams in the summer of 1910, placing him 4th among midwestern clubs, behind Pete Hill, Bruce Petway and teammate Luis Bustamante. Almendares won another title in 1910-1911, with Julián Castillo now joining Cabañas, Cabrera and Almeida won the infield. Armando hit .238/.322/.288, 3rd on the club in average behind major leaguer Armando Marsans and Heliodoro Hidalgo and ahead of players like Cabrera, Almeida and Castillo.

For 1912, the veteran moved to Club Fé and hit .264/.326/.276. He bounced back to Habana for 1913 and batted .253/.304/.274. He ended his career with one game for Almendares in 1915-1916, going 3 for 4 with a double and two runs.

In 1959, he and Ramón Bragaña were inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, the next-to-last class.

Sources

• Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo
• The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James Riley
• The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway
• Seamheads database