Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-6-2013

Pittsburgh Press, February 6, 1913:

It is doubtful if it has ever happened before that a ball player coming to the major leagues has to put in his winter months studying the English language so that he can make himself understood to his manager. This, however, is what Jacinto Calvo, the Cuban outfielder signed by Manager Griffith, of Washington, is doing.

Griff received a letter from Cuba telling him that Calvo is taking lessons in English, that he is making rapid progress, and by the time he reports he espects to be able to have mastered the language well enough to make himself understood.

Calvo spent most of 1913 with the Long Branch (NJ) Cubans in the Class D New York-New Jersey League. Conveniently, the team was made up almost entirely of Cuban players, so knowing how to speak English wouldn’t have been terribly important.