Edmundo (Sandy) Amorós’s Stellar Professional Baseball Career (Part II)

Part I ended with an overview of the 1954 Montreal Royals, where Amorós played half a season before his promotion to Brooklyn. Part II focuses on Amorós’s baseball career from 1955-1957, in Brooklyn, the Cuban Winter League with Havana (1954-56) and Almendares (1956-58), and the big-league bonus rule, 1953-57. Part III will conclude with 1958-59 Montreal; 1960 Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers; 1958-1961 seasons with Almendares; minor league seasons with Denver (1961), and 1962 Mexico City Reds; plus part of his retirement life in Cuba, the Bronx, and Florida.

Major League Bonus Rule: 1953-57

Al Campanis, in Cuba, signed Amorós to a $1,000 bonus the year (1952) before the «bonus rule» of 1953-57 went into effect. The “new” rule required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were bonus babies—young men of about 18 or 19, who might have a lot of “potential.” Three eventually reached Cooperstown—Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax—and are listed in Table I, with Amorós, and Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, among others. Clemente’s case is intriguing since Brooklyn did not put him on their 1954 roster, and thereby did not protect him. Hank Aaron, signed in 1952, was not affected by the new rule. Ditto for 1950 signee Bill Skowron. In a separate matter, 17-year-old Amorós got to see Jackie Robinson—who received a $3,500 signing bonus in 1945—practice and play 1947 spring training games in Havana, when Branch Rickey arranged for the Dodgers to do so. Amorós idolized Robinson and was his Brooklyn teammate in 1952 and 1954-56.

Table I: Signing Bonus Between 1940-1965 for  Selected Major Leaguers

Player	Team	Year	Bonus	Player	Team	Year	Bonus
Hank Aaron	BSN	1952	$10,000	Tim McCarver	SLC	1959	$75,000
Sandy Amorós	BLK	1952	1,000	Willie McCovey	NYG	1955	500
Dan Bankhead	BLK	1947	15,000	Gil McDougald	NYY	1948	1,000
Johnny Bench	CIN	1965	6,000	Sam McDowell	CLE	1959	75,000
Yogi Berra	NYY	1943	500	Mickey Mantle	NYY	1949	1,500
Jim Bunning	DET	1950	4,000	Roger Maris	CLE	1953	5,000
Bert Campaneris	KCA	1961	500	Willie Mays	NYG	1950	4,000
Orlando Cepeda	NYG	1955	500	Julio Navarro	NYG	1955	500
Gino Cimoli	BLK	1949	15,000	Phil Niekro	MLW	1958	250
Roberto Clemente	BLK	1954	10,000	José A. Pagán	NYG	1955	500
Tommy Davis	BLK	1956	4,000	Jim Palmer	BAL	1963	75,000
Don Drysdale	BLK	1954	4,000	Robin Roberts	PHI	1948	25,000
Carl Erskine	BLK	1946	5,000	Frank Robinson	CIN	1953	3,500
Rollie Fingers	KCA	1964	13,000	Jackie Robinson	BLK	1945	3,500
Whitey Ford	NYY	1947	7,500	Nolan Ryan	NYM	1965	12,000
Joe Gibbon	PIT	1957	1,000	Pantalones Santiago	CLE	1948	1,000
Bob Gibson	SLC	1957	1,000	Ron Santo	CHC	1959	20,000
Rubén Gómez	NYG	1953	5,000	Tom Seaver	NYM	1965	40,000
Billy Hunter	BLK	1948	2,000	George Shuba	BLK	1944	150
Dick Hall	PIT	1951	25,000	Bill Skowron	NYY	1950	22,000
Ferguson Jenkins	PHI	1962	6,500	Warren Spahn	BSN	1940	140
Al Kaline	DET	1953	35,000	Willie Stargell	PIT	1958	1,500
Harmon Killebrew	WAS	1954	30,000	Dick Williams	BLK	1947	1,200
Ralph Kiner	PIT	1941	3,000	Maury Wills	BLK	1951	500
Sandy Koufax	BLK	1954	14,000	Carl Yastrzemski	BOS	1958	100,000
Don Larsen	SLB	1947	850	Don Zimmer	BLK	1949	2,000

Source: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/baseball_signing_bonus.shtml

What IF Amorós and Clemente were Brooklyn 1955-57 Teammates?

In spring training 1955, Amorós was coming off his fourth straight Cuban Winter League season hitting over .300. Clemente—not protected by Brooklyn—was selected by Pittsburgh, first overall pick, on November 22, 1954 Rule 5 Draft. Herman Franks was Clemente’s skipper with the 1954-55 and 1955-56 Santurce Crabbers in Puerto Rico’s Winter League (PRWL). Santurce (47-25) in 1954-55 featured center-fielder Willie Mays (.395 BA, 12 HR, 33 RBIs, and 10 SB); left-fielder Clemente (.347, 6, 37); and, right-fielder Bob Thurman (.322, 14, 60). Franks wrote the Foreword for the author’s 1999 book on the Santurce Crabbers (1939-1999) and mentioned:

“Clemente belonged to the Brooklyn Dodgers and was with Montreal that (1954) season and at the end of the season he was eligible for the major league draft. The New York Giants, whom I coached for in 1954, didn’t have a chance to draft him as we had won the pennant and World Series (WS). Branch Rickey of Pittsburgh came to Puerto Rico looking for ballplayers. [Santurce owner] Pedrín [Zorrilla] and I told him to draft Clemente and you know his story at Pittsburgh. If I had to pick a ballplayer outside of Willie Mays, it would be Roberto.”

Jackie Robinson came into play, per research done by Stew Thornley, who corresponded via e-mail with former Dodgers executive Buzzie Bavasi on June 3, 2005. Brooklyn’s Board brought in Jackie Robinson to get his opinion on whether to add Clemente to [1954] Brooklyn and who to drop. Robinson stated: “If I were the GM [general manager], I would not bring Clemente to the club and send Shuba or any other white player down. If I did this, I would be setting our program back five years.” https://remezcla.com/sports/the-racist-history-behind-roberto-clementes-transition-from-the-dodgers-to-the-pirates/

Amorós never was Clemente’s Brooklyn teammate. They may have platooned, in left field, 1955 and 1956, had the Dodgers protected Clemente. In 1955, Walter Alston used Junior Gilliam for 40 games in left and 99 games at second base, and Jackie Robinson for 10 games in left (84 games at third base). Don Zimmer, MVP, February 1955 Caribbean Series with Santurce, played 62 Brooklyn games at second, eight at third, and 21 at short. Shuba played 44 games in 1955, with 36 pinch-hitting appearances. He went 14-for-51, a .275 BA. In 1954, the Youngstown, Ohio native had a dismal .154/.240/.323 slash line, and .563 OPS in 65 at-bats, but Jackie Robinson vouched for Shuba—the first player to publicly shake Robinson’s hand after the latter’s first (April 18, 1946) homer with Class-AAA Montreal—as the “most popular player in the clubhouse.” A commemorative statue of Shuba shaking Robinson’s hand was unveiled in Youngstown, Ohio, in 2021, 75 years after this moment.

Statue of Jackie Robinson (L) being greeted by George Shuba (R) at home plate.

Photo credit: https://www.cleveland.com/

Money Matters

Shuba’s 1954 salary was $13,000, and $11,500 in his final (1955) Brooklyn season. Amorós made $8,000 in 1955. Clemente’s 1954 Montreal salary was $5,000, the same amount he would have made in Brooklyn. He earned $6,000 as a 1955 Pittsburgh rookie. Roy Campanella was the highest-paid Dodger in 1955, at $42,000, followed by Robinson and Duke Snider, who made $35,000 each.

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers

Brooklyn (98-55-1) led the NL in virtually every offensive category: 857 runs, 230 doubles, 201 homers, 800 RBIs, 674 walks, .271/.356/.448 slash line, and .804 OPS. Campanella won his third NL MVP Award. He was one of seven Dodgers with double-digit homers (32), trailing Duke Snider’s 42. The five most frequent pinch-hitters were: Shuba (36x), pitcher Don Newcombe (23x), Frank Kellert (18x), Jackie Robinson (13x), and Amorós (10x), the shortest Dodger (5-7). Amorós played 102 games in left, 10 in center, five in right, and was in three contests as a pinch-runner. Table II has the team’s hitting stats.

Table II: Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 Hitting Stats

Player	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Roy Campanella	33	123	446	81	142	20	1	32	107	.318	.395	.583	.978
Gil Hodges	31	150	546	75	158	24	5	27	102	.289	.377	.500	.877
Junior Gilliam	26	147	538	110	134	20	8	7	40	.249	.341	.355	.696
Jackie Robinson	36	105	317	51	81	6	2	8	46	.256	.378	.363	.740
Pee Wee Reese	36	145	553	99	156	29	4	10	61	.282	.371	.403	.774
Sandy Amorós	25	119	388	59	96	16	7	10	51	.247	.347	.402	.749
Duke Snider	28	148	538	126	166	34	6	42	136	.309	.418	.628	1.046
Carl Furillo	33	140	523	83	164	24	3	26	95	.314	.371	.520	.891
Don Zimmer	24	88	280	39	67	10	1	15	50	.239	.289	.443	.731
Don Hoak	27	94	279	50	67	13	3	5	19	.240	.350	.362	.712
Don Newcombe	29	57	117	18	42	9	1	7	23	.359	.395	.632	1.028
Rube Walker	29	48	103	6	26	5	0	2	13	.252	.342	.359	.701
Frank Kellert	30	39	80	12	26	4	2	4	19	.325	.385	.575	.960
George Shuba	30	44	51	8	14	2	0	1	8	.275	.422	.373	.794
Dixie Howell	35	16	42	2	11	4	0	0	5	.262	.273	.357	.630
Others (17)#			392	38	56	10	1	5	25	.143		.212
Total (AVG age)	30	154	5193	857	1406	230	44	201	800	.271	.356	.448	.804

#Three position players and 14 pitchers. Source: Baseball-Reference.

Table III: Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 Pitching Stats

Pitcher	Age	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	K	BB	ERA	WHIP
Don Newcombe	29	20-5	34	31	17	1	0	233.2	222	143	38	3.20	1.113
Carl Erskine	28	11-8	31	29	7	2	1	194.2	185	84	64	3.79	1.279
Johnny Podres	22	9-10	27	24	5	2	0	159.1	160	114	57	3.95	1.362
Billy Loes	25	10-4	22	19	6	0	0	128	116	85	46	3.59	1.266
Clem Labine	28	13-5	60	8	1	0	11	144.1	121	67	55	3.24	1.219
Karl Spooner	24	8-6	29	14	2	1	2	98.2	79	78	41	3.65	1.216
Ed Roebuck	23	5-6	47	0	0	0	12	84	96	33	24	4.71	1.429
Roger Craig	25	5-3	21	10	3	0	2	90.2	81	48	43	2.78	1.368
Russ Meyer	31	6-2	18	11	2	1	0	73	86	26	31	5.42	1.603
Don Bessent	24	8-1	24	2	1	0	3	63.1	51	29	21	2.70	1.137
Sandy Koufax	19	2-2	12	5	2	2	0	41.2	33	30	28	3.02	1.464
Jim Hughes	32	0-2	24	0	0	0	6	42.2	41	20	19	4.22	1.406
Joe Black	31	1-0	6	0	0	0	0	15.1	15	9	5	2.93	1.304
Chuck Templeton	23	0-1	4	0	0	0	0	4.2	5	3	5	11.57	2.143
Tommy Lasorda	27	0-0	4	1	0	0	0	4	5	4	6	13.50	2.750
Total (AVG age)	26.2	98-55	154	154	46	9	37	1378	1296	773	483	3.68	1.291

Source: Baseball-Reference. 

Amorós’s 1955 WS Game Seven Catch

October 4, 1955, in the Yankees’ home sixth, Game Seven of the WS, Yogi Berra lined a shot down the left-field line with two on and no outs. Amorós raced over from left-center to catch the liner; and promptly threw a bullet to Reese, who relayed it to Hodges, doubling Gil McDougald off first. It catapulted Brooklyn to their first WS crown.

Amorós Slugs 16 Homers in 1956 and Faces Don Larsen in the Fall Classic

In 1956, Amorós drilled 16 homers in 292 at-bats, one every 18.25 at-bats, with a .260/.385/.517 slash line and .902 OPS. He pinch-hit a team-highest 27x, followed by Randy Jackson (22x), Dale Mitchell (17x), Don Newcombe (14x), and Jackie Robinson (13x). Amorós’s .385 OBP surpassed Robinson’s .382. Carl Furillo (RF) and Duke Snider (CF) were everyday regulars. Alston plus eight 1956 Dodgers players made it to Cooperstown, including Campanella, rookie Don Drysdale, Hodges, Koufax, Reese, Robinson, Snider, and Dick Williams.

On October 8, 1956, Amorós batted sixth in Game Five of the Fall Classic, facing Don Larsen at Yankee Stadium. In the second, he popped a short fly over Billy Martin’s head but the second baseman back-pedaled and made a nice catch. Three innings later, Hodges hit a liner to deep left-center caught by Mickey Mantle. Amorós then drilled a 1-1 pitch into the lower deck down the right-field line but umpire Ed Runge called it foul. This was the closest call that Larsen faced in his 97-pitch perfect game. Amorós’s third at-bat, in the eighth, resulted in a fairly long fly to right-center, caught by Mantle. Furillo and Campanella were retired in the ninth before pinch-hitter Mitchell, batting for Sal Maglie, struck out.

Amorós’s playing time decreased in 1957 but he posted a fine .399 OBP. His 39 pinch-hit appearances were second to teammate Elmer Valo. Gino Cimoli emerged as the regular left fielder but also played in center and right. Don Drysdale (17-9, 2.69 ERA) was the staff ace for third-place (84-70) Brooklyn. Spot starter Koufax (5-4, 3.88 ERA) had pitched 64.2 innings for 1956-57 PRWL Caguas-Rio Piedras with 76 strikeouts and 54 walks. Table IV includes Amorós’s 1955-57 regular season and WS hitting stats.

Table IV: Sandy Amorós Brooklyn Hitting Statistics, 1955-57

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1955	119	388	59	96	16	7	10	51	10	.247	.347	.402	.749
1956	114	292	53	76	11	8	16	58	3	.260	.385	.517	.902
1957	106	238	40	66	7	1	7	26	3	.277	.399	.403	.803
1955WS	5	12	3	4	0	0	1	3	0	.333	.529	.583	1.113
1956WS	6	19	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.053	.143	.053	.195

Source: Baseball-Reference.

Four Winters in Cuba, 1954-55 Through 1957-58

Cuba’s fans enjoyed and appreciated Amorós. All four teams played at Havana’s Gran Stadium. Ken Boyer and Bill Virdon were Amorós’s 1954-55 teammates due to Havana’s working agreement with St. Louis. In 1955-56, Jackie Brandt patrolled center next to Amorós in left. “Sandy was a great teammate and fan favorite,” said Brandt. “I remember the betting that went on during games.” Havana’s best pitcher, 25-year-old Vinegar Bend Mizell, was born in Leakesville, Mississippi, and called “Vinagre” by fans. Mizell (12-9, 2.16 ERA) fanned 206 in 179 innings, second-highest total in Caribbean Winter League history. Satchel Paige (19-3, 1.93 ERA) fanned 208 in 205 innings for the PRWL 1939-40 Guayama Witches. Amorós slumped in 1956-57 with Almendares, whose pitchers included rookie Miguel Cuéllar and Orlando Peña. Bobby Bragan managed 1957-58 Almendares (39-36) to a second-place finish. Peña and Cuéllar were part of a four-man rotation with Dick Brodowski and Billy O’Dell. Almendares third baseman Tony Taylor had a .311 BA. Table V has Amorós’s Havana and Almendares’ regular season hitting stats, 1954-55 through 1957-58.

Table V: Sandy Amorós Hitting Statistics, Cuban Winter League, 1954-58

Team	Season	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	SLG
HAV	1954-55	241	53	74	8	3	5	37	9	.307	.427
HAV	1955-56	248	44	65	9	4	8	34	3	,262	.427
ALM	1956-57	201	22	39	7	0	4	24	NA	.194	.289
ALM	1957-58	243	44	60	11	4	7	29	5	.247	.412

ALM: Almendares. HAV: Havana. Source: Jorge S. Figueredo, Cuban Baseball:

A Statistical History, 1878-1961, McFarland, 2003.

Thanks to Al Campanis, Jackie Brandt, Rory Costello, Herman Franks, and Stew Thornley. Jorge Colón Delgado did the editing and photo placements.