| Connie Marrero | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marrero in the 1950s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pitcher | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: April 25, 1911 Sagua la Grande, Cuba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: April 23, 2014 (aged 102) Havana, Cuba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 21, 1950, for the Washington Senators | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| September 7, 1954, for the Washington Senators | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Win–loss record | 39–40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Earned run average | 3.67 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 297 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Cuban | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Induction | 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Conrado Eugenio Marrero Ramos (April 25, 1911 – April 23, 2014), nicknamed "Connie", was a Cuban professional baseball pitcher.[1] The right-handed Marrero pitched in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1954 for the Washington Senators.
Marrero was a popular star in his native Cuba, where he had a long and successful career in amateur baseball. He pitched for Cuba in several Amateur World Series competitions, including the legendary championship game of the 1941 Amateur World Series, and played several excellent seasons with the professional Cuban League and the minor league Havana Cubans. Marrero made his major league debut when he was 38 years old, and was one of the oldest players in the league throughout the duration of his time in the major leagues.
Marrero's pitches were primarily "slow stuff—curves, sliders and knucklers."[2] Roberto González Echevarría provides the following description: "A bit plump, of less than average height [he was listed as 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and 158 pounds (72 kg)], with short arms and small hands, Marrero looked, in uniform, like someone in a baseball costume, not a player. He looked more like a Spanish grocer or peasant than an athlete."[3] His nicknames in Cuba were "El Guajiro de Laberinto" (The Peasant from Laberinto), reflecting his rural origins, "El Premier", and "El Curvo."[4]
At age 102, Marrero was the oldest living former Major League Baseball player at the time of his death.[5]
- ^ Like many baseball players of his era, Marrero reported several birth dates. When asked his birthdate in an interview with Roberto González Echevarría, he first hesitated, then reported it as April 25, 1911—see González Echevarría pp. 234, 417.
- ^ Al Silverman, quoted by Neyer and James, p. 293. According to Cuban baseball expert Peter C. Bjarkman, Marrero "insists that his main pitch was the slider and that he threw it exclusively at times. See Rob Neyer. "All the Pitchers Who Wouldn't Fit". Archived from the original on January 4, 2007. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
- ^ González Echevarría, pp. 220, 234.
- ^ González Echevarría, pp. 220, 234; Neyer and James, p. 294.
- ^ David Carson. "Oldest Living Major-League Baseball Players". Who's Alive and Who's Dead. Retrieved February 10, 2011.