Pelayo Chacon data

(Cuban Data and U.S. separated throughout for ease of reading)

From Riley

In Negro-League play
1918 .345 (vs. all competition??)
1923-27 .302, .257, .260, .267, .302

In Cuba
.246 lifetime avg.
1914 .302
1920 .344 (led league)
1922 .316
1926 .336
(those are all of his seasons above .300)

1919 .291
1927 .290
1929 .294

Hit .350 vs. NY Giants in 1911, .364 against them in 1920 when they toured Cuba

From Holway

In Negro League Play
1910 .242 for Stars of Cuba
1911 .115 for Cuban Stars (East)
1912 .175 for Cuban Stars (West)
1913 .226 for Cuban Stars (West), led league with 6 doubles
1914 .237 for Cuban Stars (West)
1915 .222 for Cuban Stars (West); Holway all-star
1916 .299 for Cuban Stars (West)
1917 .457 for Cuban Stars (East); Holway all-star
1918 .542 for Cuban Stars (East); Holway all-star
1919 .357 for Cuban Stars (East)
1920 .071 for Cuban Stars (East)
1921 No data
1922 No data, listed as playing for Cuban Stars (East)
1923 .258 for Cuban Stars
1924 .282 for Cuban Stars
1925 .290 for Cuban Stars
1926 .261 for Cuban Stars
1927 no data (probably not a starter during these seasons)
1928 no data
1929 no data
1930 .310 for Cuban Stars
1931 .186 for Cuban Stars

Career Negro League totals
.266 mean avg. in 17 seasons (distorted upwards by very small seasons with high avg.s 1917-19)
With 1917-20 subtracted, his mean ba drops to .239

In Cuban Play
1910 16-82, .195
1911 No data (Holway does not include Chacon in stats vs. NY Giants)
1912 22-100, .220
1913 no data
1914 29-96, .308
1915 8-21, .381 vs. ABCs in Cuba
1915 34-149, .228
1916 no data
1919 6-24 vs. Pgh Pirates in Cuba
1919 25-86, .291
1920 3-13 vs. NY Giants in Cuba
32-93, .344 (Oscar Charleston led league with .410 avg., but Chacon had highest avg. among players who played the full season)
1921 5-20, .250
1922 44-139, .316
1926 44-131, .336
1927 40-138, .290
1929 53-180, .294
1930 0-4 vs. major-league “All Stars” in Cuba

Career Cuban totals
344-1214, ,283 in 11 seasons, but Holway doesn’t list all seasons.

As Chris's post suggests, he was legendary in Cuba, ordinary in the U.S. There's probably no explanation necessary for this beyond the obvious one: some Cuban players used the Negro Leagues as their spring training for the "real" season in Cuba. Alejandro Pompez's teams had (for all practical purposes) no home stadium and no home fan base; they were touring teams. It must have been difficult to feel a keen sense of competitiveness under those circumstances.

The 2006 HOF vote didn't take any players seriously who did not excel in this country--it didn't matter what they did elsewhere. An even better example of this policy than Chacon would be someone like Silvio Garcia. Jose Mendez seemed to me like a borderline case in this regard. But he evidently spent enough of his career here to convince the voters that he was HOF-worthy.