Rafael Trujillo

Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina

• Born October 26, 1891 in San Cristobal, San Cristobal D.R.
• Died May 30, 1961 in Ciudad Trujillo D.R.

Biographical Information

Dictator of the Dominican Republic for three decades, Rafael Trujillo played a role in baseball when he dished out money to sign many Negro League stars in 1937 to strengthen baseball in his country. He had sponsored the Trujillo Cup throughout the 1930s and stars such as Josh Gibson, Johnny Mize and Martin Dihigo appeared in the years before the Cup peaked in 1937.

He was known for being megalomaniac and had the country's capital, Santo Domingo, renamed in his honor as Ciudad Trujillo. That was quickly reversed after he was assassinated in 1961. The city's ballpark, which opened in 1955, was called Estadio Trujillo in his honor (it has also been renamed).

For more information, see the following articles:

• Wikipedia article on Trujillo
• Diamond Angle article on Trujillo