Cuba Béisbol

Happy birthday Conrado “Connie” Marrero … probably.

According to Cuban baseball historian Peter Bjarkman’s article for Havana Times, Marrero, who lives in Havana, is still going strong at age 99. Bjarkman lists Marrero’s birthday as April 25, 1911, which the same as what’s listed on MLB.com and in the Baseball Encyclopedia.

Pretty straightforward, right? Maybe not.

Baseball-reference.com and Baseball-almanac.com — a couple of usually reliable sources — lists his birthday as Aug. 11, 1911.

But the 8th edition of Total Baseball, which for years was “the official encyclopedia of Major Leauge Baseball,” lists Marrero’s birthday as May 1, 1911, which matches what Jorge Figueredo lists in his book, Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961.

At least all those sources agree he was born in 1911 in Sagua La Grande, Las Villas, Cuba.

But Marrero’s 1952 Topps baseball card lists his birthday as May 1 … 1915.

So why the discrepancies?

While we try to find an answer, we review Marrero’s career:

Elected into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, Marrero went 69-46 with a 2.48 ERA for Almendares and ranks ninth all-time in games won in the Cuban League.

His best season was 1947-47 when he led the league with a 12-2 record and 1.12 ERA as Almendares won the pennant and he earned MVP honors. He went 11-7 with a 2.37 ERA as the Scorpions won the pennant again in the 1950-51 season.

As a member of the Havana Cuban from 1947-49, Marrero went 25-6 (1.66 ERA) in ‘47, 20-11 (1.67) in ‘48 and 25-8 (1.53) in ‘49.

In five seasons with the Washington Senators, Marrero was 39-40 with a 3.67 ERA.

Bjarkman wrote Marrero’s biography for the Society for American Baseball Research’s Bio Project. Jeffrey Nagel’s documentary, The Bases Are Loaded, follows Hall of Famer Monte Irvin as he returns to Cuba for the first time since playing there in the late 1940s and visits Marrero, his former Almendares teammate. And a June 11, 1951 Life magazine profile of Marrero is available on Google Books, along with photos.