Cristobal Torriente

He had a outstanding performance for several years in the Negro Leagues in the United States, where he was selected for the Hall of Fame. In Cuba he was part of the first group of ballplayers selected for the Hall of Fame in 1939.

He was born in Cienfuegos in a humble home on Hernan Cortés Street number 17. He stood 5'9" and weighed 195 pounds and maintained himself in good athletic condition.

When he was not yet 5 years old he was already playing in one of the neighborhood "playgrounds" with a rag ball and a stick. Within a few years he transcended the limits of the neighborhood and was the center of conversations among baseball fans.

What you might call a natural talent.

In 1910 the manager of the "Yara" Club, Catalino Hidalgo, invited him to join the ranks of the "Yara" where he began to figure as a regular player, sometimes pitching and other times patrolling the outfield, becoming the terror of opposing pitchers and the key man in the Yara's conquest of the local youth Championship that year.

In 1912 he moved to the professional Cienfuegos Club in which he played as a pitcher-outfielder and fourth batter and thanks to the agility and strength of his muscles the team conquered the World Championship of Las Villas that year.

After the Championship ended he joined the army in an artillery company that had formed a semi-professional baseball team, who on his first opportunity at bat connected a long triple and drove in 3 runs.

In 1913 he moved to Havana and was signed by the manager of the Habana Club with whom he debuted on January 5, 1913 and in which he rendered convincing work for the rest of the season. When it ended he joined the Cuban Stars, leaving the army to be able to play a game in North America. In a short but happy season he improved his fielding and batting no less than 11 home runs, moving to the American Giants Club and with whom he played several years in the United States, where fans called him the "Cuban Bambino."

He shone in the Professional Cuban League between the years 1913 and 1927, a time when wearing the Cuban Stars uniform he also made his mark in the Negro Leagues of the United States.

He excelled in both baseballs, and upon retiring early from active sport, he had secured a place in the exclusive Hall of Fame in both circuits.

In the American Negro Leagues reliable data are not preserved. In Cuba, he batted .352 for life, and won the offensive leadership in three campaigns. Although in the opinion of many specialists of that time, Torriente's bat overshadowed his defensive virtues, the Immortal Martín Dihigo, a teammate for many seasons, reiterated that, in addition to being a feared batter, the man from Cienfuegos had been the best defensive centerfielder on the island.

He is part along with Dihigo and Méndez of the trio of the highest class of Cuban Baseball during the first half of the last century. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of La Tropical Stadium in Havana, where he stood out not only for his feats as a home run hitter but also for his season averages that never fell below the consecrated figure of .300.

He left the second highest lifetime average in the entire history of the professional League and the fifth best of the Cuban winter tournaments of all time.

He obtained more than 20 batting titles that he won with the extraordinary power of his bat.

In the outfield he played most of his work as a field player.

When he was not in the ranks of Habana, he could be found in those of Almendares.

They say he liked to battle bad pitches, but almost always came away with a good hit.

He completed a trajectory of 14 seasons, of which two were independent.

To his refined work with the bat he also added an excellent leg speed with which he managed to steal more than one hundred bases.

He forms together with Martín Dihígo, José Méndez and Tony Pérez, the distinguished quartet of Cuban ballplayers exalted to the Hall of Fame of North American Professional Baseball.

Between October and November of 1920, the legendary Herman Babe Ruth visited Cuba with a view to participating in a series of nine challenges between the New York Giants and the Cuban professional clubs Habana and Almendares.

Ruth came having established a record of 54 home runs with the New York Yankees, and as was to be expected, all the advertising rush revolved around him. However, on the afternoon of November sixth the garb of hero was reserved for Cristóbal Torriente, who hit three tremendous home runs, plus a double, while the Bambino went scoreless in three official at-bats, as he received a walk from the Almendares pitcher Isidro Fabré.

Torriente hit the first two home runs off right-hander Pat Kelly, and the third off Ruth himself, who before becoming the great home run hitter he was had attended a World Series as a stellar pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.

That memorable game ended 11-6 in favor of Almendares. Just as in the others, Ruth received 2000 pesos, with expenses covered, while Torriente took 246 collected by his teammates from the public. At the end of the challenge, Cuban and American journalists surrounded Torriente to interview him. The Black Hercules stopped them with words that displayed his modesty and sportsmanship: "Why me...? Look at Ruth, he does it often, mine was just today..."

Death
He played until 1934, dies of tuberculosis, in Ibor City, New York, in 1938. Despite all the glories obtained, when he died he was very poor; his remains were transferred to Cuba and received with all the importance and solemnity that such national glory deserved.

Cristóbal Torriente died in 1938, New York. Tuberculosis took him away at only 45 years of age.