--- title: See Photos from Minnie Minoso’s Early Days in Major League Baseball description: 'A Cuban who plays almost anywhere,' LIFE wrote in 1951, 'they just say, "Go on out there, son, and play any position that’s open."' canonical: https://time.com/3728350/minnie-minoso/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-02T17:07:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:18.502Z og:title: See Photos from Minnie Minoso's Early Days in Major League Baseball og:description: 'A Cuban who plays almost anywhere,' LIFE wrote in 1951, 'they just say, "Go on out there, son, and play any position that’s open."' og:url: https://time.com/3728350/minnie-minoso/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1160bc58acb357d0/698781a2cd6848691a099f1d/150302-minnie-minioso-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Minnie Minoso, 1954 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Photos from Minnie Minoso's Early Days in Major League Baseball twitter:description: 'A Cuban who plays almost anywhere,' LIFE wrote in 1951, 'they just say, "Go on out there, son, and play any position that’s open."' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1160bc58acb357d0/698781a2cd6848691a099f1d/150302-minnie-minioso-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Photos from Minnie Minoso's Early Days in Major League Baseball  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 2, 2015 5:07 PM UTC  Minnie Minoso during spring training in Florida, 1954. Minnie Minoso during spring training in Florida, 1954.J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 2, 2015 5:07 PM UTC Orestes “Minnie” Minoso, who [died Sunday](http://time.com/3727958/major-league-baseballs-first-black-latino-star-minoso-dies) at 90, held a number of titles during his long and storied baseball career. He was the first black Cuban player in Major League Baseball. The American League leader, at different moments, in hits, doubles, triples, sacrifice flies, stolen bases and total bases. Seven-time All-Star and, as he came to be known after a stellar 1951 season, “Mr. White Sox.” But there was one title Minoso never managed to add to the list: Hall of Famer. At least, not at the hall of fame that mattered to him most. Though he was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame and the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, he never made the trip to Cooperstown as an official inductee. “My last dream is to be in Cooperstown, to be with those guys,” Minoso said a few years ago, after years of candidacy had gone unanswered. But he did get to see a different dream realized in the months before he died, though it had nothing to do with at-bats or RBIs. When the news came in December 2014 that the U.S. and Cuba were resuming diplomatic relations after half a century, Minoso [wrote for TIME](http://time.com/3643881/cuba-baseball-minnie-minoso/), “I never thought this day would come in my lifetime.” Minoso left Cuba in 1945 to play for the Negro Leagues and decided, in 1961, to leave for good, bidding farewell to his family forever. Reflecting on what the news meant for a possible return to his home country, Minoso wrote, “Maybe I’ll see some of the same trees, the same sugar fields, I remembered as a boy.” _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Minnie Minoso during spring training in Florida, 1954. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Minnie Minoso signing autographs, 1951. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Minnie Minoso at bat, 1955. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Minnie Minoso in the locker room, 1955. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  White Sox player, Nellie Fox, at home plate, shaking hands with Minnie Minoso, during game with Red Sox, 1959. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Minnie Minoso posing next to brand new Cadillac convertible during spring training, 1954. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3728350/minnie-minoso/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3728350/minnie-minoso/"},"headline":"See Photos from Minnie Minoso's Early Days in Major League Baseball","datePublished":"2015-03-02T17:07:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:18.502Z","description":"'A Cuban who plays almost anywhere,' LIFE wrote in 1951, 'they just say, \"Go on out there, son, and play any position that’s open.\"'","url":"https://time.com/3728350/minnie-minoso/","keywords":["Sports topic","Baseball","photography","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1160bc58acb357d0/698781a2cd6848691a099f1d/150302-minnie-minioso-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1160bc58acb357d0/698781a2cd6848691a099f1d/150302-minnie-minioso-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Minnie Minoso, 1954","caption":"Minnie Minoso during spring training in Florida, 1954.","creditText":"J. 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