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Minnie Minoso Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
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- Great action shot of Minnie Minoso
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- Cleveland Indians Minnie Minoso swinging at the ball. (Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
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- Minnie Minoso remembered at the time of his passing in 2015
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- Minnie Minoso as a member of the New York Cubans
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- Minnie Minoso, the Cuban Comet
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- A young Minnie Minoso
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- Minnie Minoso, considered one of the best left fielders in the history of the game.
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- Minnie Minoso, 1981
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- Minnie Minoso with the White Sox
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- Action shot of Minnie Minoso
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- Orestes ‘Minnie’ Minoso, 1955
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- Minnie Minoso with Bill Veeck
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- Minnie Minoso with White Sox teammates
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- Minnie Minoso holding up uniform #9
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- Minnie Minoso writeup as a 5th decade player
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- Minnie Minoso with White Sox players
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- Minnie Minoso shaking hands with fans
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- Minnie Minoso with fellow Cuban-born White Sox star, Jose Abreu
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- CHICAGO, IL – 1951: Outfielder Minnie Minoso #9 of the Chicago White Sox poses for a batting portrait circa 1951 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by The Stanley Weston Archive/Getty Images)
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- Minnie Minoso throws out the first pitch
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- Minnie Minoso with current White Sox Cuban star, Jose Abreu
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- Chicago baseball icons; Ernie Banks and Minnie Minoso
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- Indians “Destruction Crew”: Minnie Minoso, Rocky Colavito, Larry Doby
Minnie Minoso’s “Grand” Return to the White Sox, 1960!
With February being Black History Month, I think this is a good time to shine our baseball spotlight on one of the recent inductees to the Hall of Fame, Orestes “Minnie” Minoso. I think you’ll agree with me that after you read about his career in its entirety, there’s no doubt that Minnie reserves a plaque in Cooperstown. The honor was long overdue and all of us here at Baseball History Comes Alive are glad this great ballplayer is finally getting the recognition he deserves.
Minnie Returns to the White Sox!
Opening Day at Comiskey Park, April 19, 1960 was a special day in White Sox history. The 1959 American League champions welcomed back fan-favorite Minnie Minoso after a three-year exile to Cleveland. And what a “grand” return it was, as Minnie hit a fourth-inning grand slam and followed that with a ninth-inning walk-off home run to give the Sox a 10-9 victory over the Kansas City Athletics!
Check out the featured photo above. How’s that for a hook slide! The catcher is the Red Sox’ Sammy White.
Minnie’s Career
Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso was one of the most popular players in White Sox
Minnie Minoso with the White Sox
history, helping the “Go-Go” White Sox become one of the premier teams of the 1950s and 1960s. The La Habana, Cuba native played 17 seasons in the majors (1946-1980) for the Indians, White Sox, Cardinals, and Senators. Over his career, he hit .299, with 2110 hits, 1136 runs, 365 doubles, 195 home runs, 1093 RBIs, 216 stolen bases, a .387 on-base percentage, and a .461 slugging average. His 130 OPS+ places him well above average among his major league contemporaries.
“Mr. White Sox” was a seven-time All-Star (appearing in nine games), and a three-time Gold Glove winner. He began his professional career in 1946 in the Negro Leagues with the New York Black Cubans and was later signed by the Cleveland Indians in the wake of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, appearing in nine games in 1949.
Minnie had a great rookie year in 1951, hitting .326, with 112 runs, 34 doubles, a league-leading 14 triples, 10 home runs, a league-leading 31 stolen bases, .422 on-base percentage, and .500 slugging average. That year, he also became one of the first Latin Americans to play in the major league All-Star Game.
The “Cuban Comet” batted over .300 eight times. He was the American League leader in triples and stolen bases three times each and in hits, doubles, and total bases one time each. He also led the American League in times hit by a pitch a record ten times.
The 1950s saw a resurgence of speed into the game as an offensive weapon. Minnie and Willie Mays are often cited as the two players most responsible for this influx. Miñoso was a defensive standout and led left fielders in assists six times and in putouts and double plays four times each.
The White Sox in the 1950s were known for speed and defense, but Minnie was a rare power threat, holding the White Sox record for career home runs from 1956 to 1974 with 186. After his major league playing career was over in 1964, he went on playing and managing in Mexico through 1973. He rejoined the White Sox as a coach, and made brief but highly publicized player appearances in 1976 and 1980, becoming the third player to get a hit after the age of 50 and the second player to appear in the major leagues in five decades.
Minnie was the first black Cuban in the major leagues and the first black player in White Sox history. Over the years after his playing days ended, Minnie received many honors. His White Sox uniform #9 was retired in 1983. He became a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2002, and
Minnie Minoso statue outside U.S. Cellular
the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. On September 19, 2004, Minnie Miñoso Day was celebrated at U.S. Cellular Field which included a pregame unveiling of a Minnie Miñoso statue.
And now we can add that he has also been selected for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor he richly deserves.
Gary Livacari
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Information: Excerpts edited from Minnie Minoso Wikipedia page; Stats from Baseball Reference.com
Nice article on an all time great Chicago White Sox player. As a youngster, I was a big fan of Minnie. It was very disappointing when he was traded for Al Smith, who was never popular in Chicago because he replaced Minnie. I was sure the White Sox would win a pennant again with Minnie back in 1960, but it never happened. Too bad for fans and Minnie.
Did Frank Lane trade Minnie? Lane was a complete idiot!
Thanks Jay…he was a great one, and holds a special place for all White Sox fans.
Today’s players don’t even know HOW to slide and could never do a slide shown by Minoso in the top photo.
You’re right about that!
I enjoyed reading the article, however, one of the photos evoked a tinge of sadness in me; the one entitled “Indians Destruction Crew” with Minoso, Colavito and Doby.
I remember owning that particular card as a kid. Like so many others, I had a shoe box full of cards, but one day, they were all gone and I never did find out what happened to them.
Well…I guess that’s a common theme for many of us!
Yup,
Back in 1965, I spent all my allowance and paper route money buying packs of Topps bubblegum cards at 5 cents each.
That summer, I was determined to collect entire 600 plus set. Trading with friends, I successfully followed the Topps checklists (Series 1 and Series 2) and by the time summer was over, they were stored in. Thom McCann shoe box, where they were summarily kept stored in my closed for years. When I was too “old” to have anything to do with such kids stuff as baseball cards, I gave the entire set to my younger brother. He never took care of them and ultimately they were gone.
I wistfully think of the players in that set-Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Koufax, Drysdale, Ford, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Killebrew, Oliva, Kaat, Minoso and the list goes on.
That set would have gone a long way to help pay for my kids college tuition.
In this case, my mom didn’t throw away my baseball cards. I gave them away!
Thanks for sharing your story, Paul! That’s a tough one. Sometimes we have to learn our lessons… the hard way!
Gary,
For laughs, I just searched eBay. The set is going for $6,875….😢
Oh good grief! That reminds me of my Rogers Hornsby autographed ball. You may recall I’ve written about how my grandfather (who lived with us) became friends with Rogers Hornsby. They used to go to the track together in the last couple years before Hornsby died. They started going together in 1960. I was about ten at the time. My grandfather knew I was a big baseball fan even at that age, and so he got Hornsby to sign a ball personally for me. Of course, I remember playing with it with my friends and seeing the signature gradually disappear as it went through water and mud. The ball is long since gone. Someone once told me it could be worth about 5 grand today…
here’s a link to my Hornsby story: https://wp.me/p7a04E-8yG
Yes, I remember that story.
I think Franklin P. Adams wrote a poem about us:
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“These are the saddest of possible words:
Thinking we ever had a chance.
Topps card set and and a Hornsby scribble.
Ruthlessly pricking our dollar sign bubble.
Making a giant muff, make that a double.
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble.
Thinking we ever had a chance.
I remember watching this like it was yesterday! It touches all the right positive spots!
Thanks Pat!
This was a great article about an excellent ball player whom I remember very well. When we were kids playing ball in the back yard, we loved to imitate major league players. Minnie Minoso was always easy to do. You just crowded the plate so much the pitcher could never throw a pitch over the plate. Fortunately, when we would inevitably get hit by a pitch, we were only using a wiffle ball!