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Pollock's Cuban Stars were a traveling Negro league baseball team that played from about 1927 to 1936 featuring players primarily from Cuba.

History

Syd Pollock began booking opponents for the Havana Red Sox in 1927, and bought the club from Ramiro Ramirez in 1928. Ramirez stayed on as the manager and the team began barnstorming around Miami. By 1929, Pollock introduced comic routines into the games and developed what was to become known as "shadow ball." Shadow ball was when the infielders would mime throwing a ball around for between-inning warm-ups. These routines would later be made famous in the 1940s by Pollock's Indianapolis Clowns and Abe Saperstein's Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

In 1931, the club changed its name to the Cuban House of David, which Pollock appropriated from the original House of David, a white commune known for their bearded baseball players. They were the only Cuban team permitted to enter the country in March by the United States Immigration Department. That season, they were an associate team in the Negro National League

The team joined the East–West League in March 1932 as Pollock's Cuban Stars. They returned as an independent team still under the "Pollock's Cuban Stars" moniker from 1933 until 1936.

From 1927 until at least 1933, Ramiro Ramírez served as manager.

See also

• House of David (commune), the original barnstorming white baseball team from which Pollock "borrowed" the name

References

1. "Pollock's Cuban Stars franchise history at Seamheads.com". seamheads.com. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
2. "Havana baseball team". The Standard Union. June 28, 1927. p. 13. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "History of the Indianapolis Clowns" (PDF). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
4. "Havana Cubans Are Paying Second Visit to City Lot". Altoona Mirror. July 30, 1929. p. 25. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Carroll, Brian. "Black Baseball's "Funmakers": Taking the Miami Ethiopian Clowns Seriously". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
6. "1929 Havana 'Red Sox' Baseball Club of Havana, Cuba". The Clarion Democrat. June 13, 1929. p. 4. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "Cuban House of David Team Invades U.S." The Birmingham Reporter. January 17, 1931. p. 7. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "House of David Team of Cuba At The Fair". Bloomfield Monitor. August 20, 1931. p. 1. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Negro National League Standings (1920-1948)" (PDF). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
10. Riley, James A. (1994). The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.
11. "Newark Joins East-West League". Pittsburgh Courier. March 5, 1932. p. 15. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Cuban Players In Local Game". Sandusky Register. May 10, 1932. p. 6. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Ramiro Ramírez manager profile at Seamheads.com". seamheads.com. Retrieved February 14, 2021.

• Negro league baseball teams
• Baseball teams disestablished in 1936
• Baseball teams established in 1928