End of the Road for Cuban Baseball Player Marsans

Of the earliest Cuban players in the Major Leagues, Marsans had greatest success, with a career covering eight years, with four different teams.  For most of the 1910s he played outfield as a regular, mostly in the National League. Taskmaster John McGraw of the New York Giants obviously liked Marsans work, his speed as well as his base running skills, because at his advanced age the Cuban was invited to Giants spring training camp in Gainesville, Florida, in March 1919.   But now he looks chagrined.  He is quite the object of discussion, as Claude Davenport, Joe Oesger, Frankie Frisch, and Ross Youngs look on.  It appears to be a hook slide he is demonstrating, though he looks deeply imbedded in the sand of the sliding pit.This photograph shows more than a moment, it shows a situation.  Marsans is not just stuck in a pit, his career in the Major Leagues is ending.  The Giants did not sign Marsans for 1919, and he has no stats with any team for that season.  He will soon return a hero to his native Cuba, where he played and managed for decades hence.The Rucker Archive has more than 200,000 historical baseball images yet to be posted on the website; we invite you to check out our first offering in the Baseball Category.