Cristóbal Torriente

Cristobal Torriente

Outfielder

Born: November 16, 1893
Cienfuegos, Cuba

Died: April 11, 1938 (aged 44)
New York City,
United States

Batted: Left

Threw: Left

Negro leagues debut

1912, for the Habana Baseball Club

Last appearance

1932, for the Cleveland Cubs

Teams

Career highlights and awards

Negro league baseball

Lifetime batting average: .331
Batting titles in 1920 and 1923

Cuban Winter League Baseball

All time career batting average record: .352

Member of the National

Baseball Hall of Fame

Inducted

2006

Cristóbal Torriente (November 16, 1893 – April 11, 1938) was a Cuban outfielder in Negro league baseball with the Cuban Stars, All Nations, Chicago American Giants, Kansas City Monarchs and Detroit Stars. He played from 1912 to 1932. Torriente was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Cuban League career

A native of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Torriente played in his homeland from 1913–1927 and holds the record for the highest career batting average in Cuban winter league history (.352). He earned two batting titles and hit as high as .402. In 1920, his team, Almendares, played a nine-game series against the New York Giants. The Giants added Babe Ruth for this tour of Cuba. Torriente outhit Ruth in most categories and Almendares beat the Giants, five games to four. Along with Martín Dihigo and José Méndez, Torriente is considered one of the greatest baseball players from Cuba. He was one of the first class of inductees of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

Negro league career

Torriente played much of the summer of 1915 and 1916 for the "Western" Cuban Stars team until an argument arose with the St. Louis manager in 1916. He tracked down former teammate and friend José Méndez and was hired by J. L. Wilkinson to play for his All Nations just before a big series with C. I. Taylor's Indianapolis ABCs and Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants.^[1] Torriente would play several years for both teams.

1919 Chicago American Giants

Torriente played on the great Chicago American Giants teams of 1918–1925. Torriente led the American Giants to Negro National League pennants from 1920 to 1922 while batting .411, .338, and .342 for these seasons. He won the batting title in 1920 and in 1923 with a .412 average. Torriente was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs in 1926 and led the team with a .381 batting average. He retired from the Negro leagues with a career .331 average.

Torriente was primarily a pull hitter, though he could hit with power to all fields. He had a stocky and slightly bowlegged build, but was known for deceptive power and a strong, accurate arm from center field. Indianapolis ABC's manager C.I. Taylor stated, "If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub.'" In the 2001 book The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James ranked Torriente as the 67th greatest baseball player ever. Torriente was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Personal life

Torriente was notorious for his love of the nightlife and this caused him disputes with team management throughout his career. Torriente was sent to the bench in front of 8,000 spectators in 1915 after he "kicked to an Umpire." He put on his street clothes and sat on the bench, then Umpire Goekle sent him to the bleachers, and sent an officer of the law after him.^[4] In 1923, he was sent out of the game in the third inning after objecting to Umpire Gholson's call at second base. He reportedly used "awful" language, then threw dirt on the Umpire's "newly creased trousers."^[2] His temper caused him to walk off the Monarchs in 1926 after a dispute involving a stolen diamond ring.

After baseball, Torriente lived for a short time in Ybor City, Florida and faded into obscurity. He died in New York City at age 44, after a long battle with alcoholism and tuberculosis.

References

External links

Negro league and Cuban League statistics and player information from Seamheads.com, or Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
Cristóbal Torriente at the Baseball Hall of Fame
Cristóbal Torriente at Find a Grave

Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2006

BBWAA Vote	Bruce Sutter (76.9%)

Veterans Committee	none

Committee on African-American Baseball	Ray Brown Willard Brown Andy Cooper Frank Grant Pete Hill Biz Mackey Effa Manley José Méndez Alex Pompez Cumberland Posey Louis Santop Mule Suttles Ben Taylor Cristóbal Torriente Sol White J. L. Wilkinson Jud Wilson

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Tracy Ringolsby

Ford C. Frick Award	Gene Elston

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Cummings Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young

Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Piazza Santop Schalk D. White

First basemen	Anson Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas

Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Grant Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst

Third basemen	Baker Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Santo Schmidt Traynor J. Wilson

Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Outfielders	Aaron Ashburn Averill Bell Brock W. Brown Burkett Carey Charleston Clarke Clemente Cobb Combs Crawford Cuyler Dawson Delahanty DiMaggio Doby Duffy Flick Goslin Griffey Gwynn Hafey Hamilton Heilmann Henderson Hill Hooper Irvin R. Jackson Kaline Keeler Kelley K. Kelly Kiner Klein Mantle Manush Mays McCarthy Medwick Musial O'Rourke Ott Puckett J. Rice S. Rice F. Robinson Roush Ruth Simmons Slaughter Snider Speaker Stargell Stearnes Thompson Torriente L. Waner P. Waner Wheat B. Williams T. Williams H. Wilson Winfield Yastrzemski Youngs

Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda López Mack McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams

Executives / pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Dreyfuss R. Foster Frick Giles Gillick Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley O'Malley Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey

Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

Members of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame

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