09/14/2026
Here’s a little Miami sports history to get your week started. ⚾️
In 1956, 19-year-old Orlando Cepeda (image 1) was a minor league baseball player training in Florida when he heard that one of his heroes was coming to Miami.
That hero was Cuban-born baseball star Minnie Miñoso (image 2).
Miñoso had gotten his start in the Negro Leagues with the New York Cubans before making his way to the majors, becoming the first Black player for the Chicago White Sox and one of baseball’s first Black Latino superstars.
When Cepeda heard that Miñoso and the White Sox were coming to Miami for an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he went looking for him.
But remember, this is Miami in 1956. Segregation didn’t end when the game did.
Cepeda later recalled having to go to the hotel where Black and Latino players were staying to meet the man he had admired from afar.
And when he got there, Miñoso gave him a fielder’s glove. 🥹
Two years later, Cepeda made his Major League debut with the San Francisco Giants and was unanimously named National League Rookie of the Year.
He went on to become an 11-time All-Star, World Series champion, unanimous National League MVP and eventually a Baseball Hall of Famer.
And he never forgot Miñoso.
Years later, Cepeda said of the man he met that day in Miami:
“Minnie is the one who made it possible for all us Latins.”
Two future Hall of Famers.
One was already breaking barriers + the other was a 19-year-old kid who came to Miami just hoping to meet his hero.
And one kismet day in segregated Miami, one handed the other a baseball glove.
Now THAT is a story. ⚾️
📚 Story source: MLB.com, Chris Haft, “Cepeda: Minoso a pacesetter for Latin American ballplayers”
📸 Orlando Cepeda, Baseball Digest, April 1962. Photographer unknown. Public domain.
📸 Minnie Miñoso at Comiskey Park, 1951. Photograph by Bob Lerner for LOOK Magazine. LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. Public-domain-designated image.
