Carlos Royer

Carlos Royer
(Bebe)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9"

• Born 1874 in Cuba
• Died July 26, 1938

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Biographical Information

Carlos Royer was part of the first Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame class.

Royer debuted with Habana in the 1890-1891 Cuban Winter League, going 3 for 33 in a rocky start. He hit a league-low .137 in 1892. Still a teenager, he improved to .295 in 1892-1893, 5th in the CWL. He was 0-1 on the mound.

He fell to .238 in 1893-1894 but his 3 triples were one shy of league leader Alfredo Arcaño. The next winter, he hit .391, second to Arcaño, before the season was cut short due to Cuba's War for Independence.

When play resumed in 1898, he did not a miss a stride, batting .313, 4th in the loop. He was 2-1 in '99. He was 7-7 with a 2.25 ERA (110 ERA+ in 1900, batting .189/.310/.189 (87 OPS+). He led in saves (2), was 4th in ERA, 4th in wins, tied for the most losses and was second to Luis Padrón in K. His 1.4 Wins Above Replacement were 5th in the loop. That winter, he lost to Win Mercer and the Brooklyn Superbas when they visited Cuba.

Bebe was part of a Cuban team that toured the US. In the winter of 1901, he emerged as a top hurler for Habana. He had a 19-6, .73 record (214 ERA+) and hit .214/.286/.214. He led in wins (2 ahead of José Muñoz), was second in ERA, led in IP (143, 15 more than Muñoz) and his 79 K were second, 3 behind Muñoz. His 6.8 Wins Above Replacement easily paced the league, by 4.3.

The right-hander set a CWL record (never to be broken) when he won 17 consecutive decisions in 1902 - all of his decisions in fact! This is per Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo (pg. 42-43); oddly, Seamheads has very different stats at 6-0, 0.24 (798 ERA+), even more impressive in some ways. In 1902-1903, he hit .184/.250/.224 and went 21-12 with a 1.92 ERA (138 ERA+). He set CWL records for wins in a season (tied), complete games in a season (33!), innings in a season, runs allowed (128), consecutive wins over two seasons (20), total wins over two consecutive seasons (38) and complete games over two consecutive seasons (50). He also led in losses, shutouts and strikeouts - pretty much every pitching category except ERA and walks allowed.

Royer was 13-3 with a 1.27 ERA (240 ERA+) in 1903-1904 and batted .207/.281/.207. He pitched shutouts in five of his first seven starts as Habana won its fourth title in a row. Among his records were most consecutive seasons with double-digit wins and most seasons leading in games pitched. He was easily the league leader with 4.7 Wins Above Replacement - more than the next three combined (Padrón, Regino García and Julián Castillo). He lost the ERA title by .27 to Padrón but won 10 more games than anyone else, had five of the league's six shutouts and led in pretty much every pitching category other than losses and ERA.

The veteran lost to Frank Barberich and the All-Americans when they visited Cuba. He slumped that winter, going 3-3 with a 1.56 ERA (121 ERA+). He was still third in the league in ERA. Playing for two Cuban contingents in 1906 against top black teams in the US, he was 0-4 but with a 3.09 ERA (104 ERA+).

Back with Habana in 1906-1907, he was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA. He beat the Philadelphia Giants twice when they toured Cuba in the winter, though. He rebounded to 5-2, 1.38 (204 ERA+) for Almendares in the 1907-1908 winter, finishing 4th in ERA (between Muñoz and Eustaquio Pedroso) while tying Rube Foster for 5th in wins. He also convinced Almendares to sign a player who would go on to be one of Cuba's biggest legends ever, José Méndez.

With the Cuban Stars, he was 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA against top US black teams in the summer of 1908. He got the win over Harry Buckner and the Brooklyn Royal Giants when they visited Cuba in the winter of 1908. He was 2-0 with a .98 ERA (233 ERA+) in 1908-1909, still dazzling but taking a back seat to Méndez and Muñoz on the Almendares staff.

He dropped two decisions to Walt Slagle and the Indianapolis Indians when they visited Cuba. He had a 2-0, 1.57 record in 1909-1910 then ended his career in 1910-1911, going 0-5 with a 5.10 ERA (67 ERA+) for Club Fé.

While statistical information is missing for the early part of his career and time lost during the war, he is listed among the career CWL leaders in seasons pitched (tied for 9th with Pedroso and Agapito Mayor), complete games (118, 2nd, 3 behind Martin Dihigo), wins (90, tied Adrián Zabala for 3rd after Dihigo and Dolf Luque) and winning percentage (.677, 3rd after Méndez and Ray Brown). The year after he died, he was an obvious inclusion for the first Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame class.

Though he was light-skinned enough to play in Organized Baseball, his career ended before US teams were regularly signing Cuban players.