Per Part II, Canena helped the Washington Homestead Grays win the 1948 Negro League World Series versus the Birmingham Black Barons. He drew interest from the New York Yankees—a few months away from signing Mickey Mantle—in becoming the first Puerto Rico (PR) born player to sign with the Bronx Bombers, five months and one week before Mantle’s signing. He never played for the parent club, having been assigned to the 1949 Newark Bears. Canena was born in Aguadilla, PR, on October 28, 1925. He passed away at 62, in his hometown, from gunshot wounds, on March 1, 1988. His SABR bio by Amy Essington is at https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/luis-marquez/.
Mickey Mantle’s July 11, 1949, signing bonus: $1,150. Credit: Heritage Auctions. https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-collectibles/others/1949-mickey-mantle-signed-endorsed-new-york-yankees-signing-bonus-check/a/7070-80069.s
First Black and Latino Player Signed by the New York Yankees
The Yankees purchased Canena’s contract on February 3, 1949, according to published reports. Yankees GM George Weiss coordinated the signing of Canena—the first Black and Afro-Caribbean player ever signed by the Bronx Bombers. However, St. Louis-born Elston Howard became the Yankees’ first African American player in 1955, after a successful season with the 1954-55 San Juan (SJ) Senators—a .369 BA, second to Santurce’s Willie Mays’s .395 BA. (Vic Power was a highly touted Yankees’ Triple-A player, 1951-1953, but was traded to the Philadelphia A’s before the 1954 AL season.) Canena reported to the Newark Bears, the Yankees’ affiliate in the Triple-A International League, at their spring-training camp in Haines City, Florida.
There was some controversy: the Homestead Grays asserted that Canena was under contract to them—their owner, See Posey, had contacted Bill Veeck of the World Champion (1948) Cleveland Indians, and gave Veeck a 120-day option to purchase Canena’s contract. Major League Baseball Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler eventually settled a dispute between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians. Artie Wilson—who played for the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons and 1948-49 Mayagüez Indios in the Puerto Rico Winter League (PRWL)—was assigned to the Yankees, while Canena’s contract was transferred from the 1949 Newark Bears to the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) on May 13, 1949.
In 18 games with Newark, Canena had a .246 BA, one HR, and three SB. Canena would have preferred to remain in the Yankees’ organization, per his SABR bio.
U.S. Minors
Canena’s extensive minor-league career included stints with: 1949 Newark Bears and Portland Beavers, 1950 Beavers, 1952 Milwaukee Brewers, 1953-1955 Toledo Sox, 1955-1958 Portland Beavers, 1959 Dallas Rangers, 1960-1961 Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers, and the 1961 Williamsport Grays. The 1950 Oakland Oaks (118-82) won the PCL crown, paced by Artie Wilson’s 168 runs and 264 hits. Canena developed a special friendship with his Portland skipper, Bill Sweeney, who led the 101-99 Beavers and also managed Canena with the 1949 Beavers. In 1950, Canena played in 194 of Portland’s 200 games (97.0 percent), with a .311 BA, 241 hits in 775 AB, plus 38 SB. This helped him get a shot with the 1951 Boston Braves.
In 1952, his .345 BA for the Milwaukee Brewers (101-53) trailed Indianapolis’s Dave Pope’s American Association leading .352 mark. The Brewers swept the St. Paul Saints in the semis but fell to the Kansas City (KC) Blues four games to three in the finals. Canena went 13-for-29, a .448 BA, with one HR and eight RBI in the semis and 6-for-18 in the finals. Kansas City’s Vic Power made the All-Star Team as a “Utility”—he could play IF and OF positions. Most of the League All-Stars, e.g., pitchers Don Liddle and Stu Miller, IF Don Bollweg, Jack Cassini, and Daryl Spencer, plus OF Bill Skowron and Bill Renna, already had, or would play against Canena in the PRWL.
The 1953 Toledo Sox (90-64) finished first (American Association); edged Louisville, four games to three (semis) while once again losing to the KC Blues, in a seven-game finals. Vic Power starred for KC, with Canena doing likewise for Toledo, a Milwaukee Braves farm club. Canena’s 14-for-25 showing in the finals was a .560 BA! He hit .332 for Toledo in 1954 and saw limited action with the 1954 National League Cubs and Pirates. After 21 games with 1955 Toledo, he played 112 contests with Portland, sporting a .312 BA for manager Clay Hopper, from Greenwood, Mississippi. Hopper’s primary claim to fame was successfully managing the 1946 Montreal Royals, showcasing 27-year-old Jackie Robinson.
From 1956-1958, Canena continued with Portland, most notably in 1956: 25 HR, 110 RBI, and a .344 BA. The PCL headlines belonged to first-place Los Angeles Angels’ Steve Bilko’s Triple Crown–.360 BA, 55 HR, 164 RBI, the All-Star 1B. Bilko, from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, and Canena were teammates on the 1956-57 Ponce Lions in PR. Canena was voted to the 1956 PCL All-Star Team. In April 1957, he was a pallbearer at Bill Sweeney’s funeral. Sweeney was Canena’s favorite minor-league skipper.
A 1959 Batting Crown With Dallas and Winding Down in the U.S. Minors
Canena posted an American Association league-leading .345 BA for the 1959 Dallas Rangers (75-87). Sportswriters left him off the All-Star team, voting for Lou Clinton, Lee Maye, Chuck Tanner, and Bob Will. Canena played for the 1960 and 1961 Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers before joining the 1961 Class A Williamsport Grays, a Phillies farm team managed by Andy Seminick. Table I includes his regular season and postseason U.S. Minor League hitting stats.
Table I: Canena’s U.S. Minor Leagues Regular and Postseason Hitting Stats
Source: https://darowski.com/outsider/marqulu01.html
Disappointing 1951 and 1954 with the Braves, Cubs, and Pirates
In 68 games with the 1951 Boston Braves, Canena went 24-for-122, with 11 RBI and four SB. He was a combined 2-for-21 with the 1954 Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. Canena became the second Pittsburgh Pirate from PR, following Carlos Bernier in 1953, and preceding Roberto Clemente in 1955.
Dominican Republic and Mexico
Canena reinforced the 1959-60 Águilas Cibaeñas (AC) of the LIDOM (Dominican Winter League) after the 1959-60 PRWL season ended. He went 6-for-19, a .316 BA, with one RBI and one BB. Cal Ermer, AC skipper, would also manage Canena with Mayagüez, 1962-64. Rudy Hernández, the first Dominican-born pitcher in the AL with the 1960 Washington Senators, enjoyed having Canena as his AC teammate.
His last two summer seasons were with the Poza Rica Petroleros (Oilers) in the Class-AA Mexican League. In 1962, he batted .357 with 21 HR and 91 RBI, followed by 1963: .314, 20 HR and 72 RBI. Mike Cuéllar led the 1962 loop with 124 strikeouts. Monterrey Sultanas (77-53) won it in 1962 with Alonzo Perry (1B), Vinicio García (2B), and Héctor Espino (OF) providing firepower; Clemente “Sungo” Carreras managed Monterrey. The author met Sungo in between games of a 1971 high school twin bill when Sungo’s American Military Academy team swept both games from the author’s team. In 1963, the 80-52 Puebla Pericos managed by Tony Castaño won the title. (Castaño played for outstanding Cuban and Dominican teams, including the 1937-38 Santa Clara Leopards (Cuba) and 1937 Ciudad Trujillo Dragons (DR), one with Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell. He managed the CS-winning 1959-60 Cienfuegos Elephants-Cuba, and the 1963-64 Arecibo Wolves in the PRWL. Ronnie Camacho slugged 39 HR and drove in 108 for 1963 Puebla. Monterrey’s Vinicio García’s .368 BA led the loop. Many PRWL players, including Canena, finished their summer campaigns in the Mexican League.
Canena’s Mexican League, LIDOM, PRWL, Majors stats—including 1946-1948 Negro Leagues, and minors are in Table II. His PRWL semi-finals and finals hitting stats between 1945-46 and 1963-64 are not included. He played at 5-10, 175 pounds.
Table II: Canena’s Professional Baseball Career Batting Statistics
Majors: Baltimore Elite Giants, Washington Homestead Grays, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates, East-West All-Star Games, and Grays Postseason games. CS: Caribbean Series. DR: Dominican Republic. IAS: Inter-American Series; MEX: Mexico. Sources: https://beisbol101.com/jugador/luis-canena-marquez/ and https://darowski.com/outsider/marqulu01.html.
Post Script
Post-baseball, Canena worked at Aguadilla’s Sports and Recreation Department and administered projects at Parque Colón, where he starred for his beloved Aguadilla Sharks, 1946-47 to 1950-51 in the PRWL. One of the last persons to see him alive was Héctor Díaz Salichs, from Ponce, who interviewed him on February 29, 1988.
Photo Canena Márquez with Toledo: Bob Lemke archives
