Pollock's Cuban Stars

Syd Pollock began booking opponents for the Havana Red Sox in 1927,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94190593/havana-baseball-team/|title=Havana baseball team|page=13|work=The Standard Union|via=Newspapers.com|date=June 28, 1927|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} and bought the club from Ramiro Ramirez in 1928.{{cite web |title=History of the Indianapolis Clowns |url=https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/History%20of%20the%20Indianapolis%20Clowns.pdf |website=Center for Negro League Baseball Research |access-date=16 February 2021}} Ramirez stayed on as the manager and the team began barnstorming around Miami.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94192361/havana-cubans-are-paying-second-visit/|title=Havana Cubans Are Paying Second Visit to City Lot|page=25|work=Altoona Mirror|via=Newspapers.com|date=July 30, 1929|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} By 1929, Pollock introduced comic routines into the games and developed what was to become known as "shadow ball."{{cite web |last1=Carroll |first1=Brian |title=Black Baseball's "Funmakers": Taking the Miami Ethiopian Clowns Seriously |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/black-baseballs-funmakers-taking-the-miami-ethiopian-clowns-seriously/ |website=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=16 February 2021}} Shadow ball was when the infielders would mime throwing a ball around for between-inning warm-ups.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94192970/1929-havana-red-sox-baseball-club-of/|title=1929 Havana 'Red Sox' Baseball Club of Havana, Cuba|page=4|work=The Clarion Democrat|via=Newspapers.com|date=June 13, 1929|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} These routines would later be made famous in the 1940s by Pollock's Indianapolis Clowns and Abe Saperstein's Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

In 1931, the club changed its name to the Cuban House of David,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94192970/1929-havana-red-sox-baseball-club-of/|title=Cuban House of David Team Invades U.S.|page=7|work=The Birmingham Reporter |via=Newspapers.com|date=January 17, 1931|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} which Pollock appropriated from the original House of David, a white commune known for their bearded baseball players. They were the only Cuban team permitted to enter the country in March by the United States Immigration Department.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94196223/house-of-david-team-of-cuba-at-the-fair/|title=House of David Team of Cuba At The Fair|page=1|work=Bloomfield Monitor|via=Newspapers.com|date=August 20, 1931|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} That season, they were an associate team in the Negro National League{{cite web |title=Negro National League Standings (1920-1948) |url=https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/Negro%20National%20League%20(1920-1948)-2020.pdf |website=Center for Negro League Baseball Research |access-date=16 February 2021}}

The team joined the East–West League in March 1932 as Pollock's Cuban Stars.{{Cite book |last=Riley |first=James A. |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00rile |url-access=registration |place=New York |publisher=Carroll & Graf |year=1994 |isbn=0-7867-0959-6 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94197606/newark-joins-east-west-league/|title=Newark Joins East-West League|page=15|work=Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com|date=March 5, 1932|accessdate=February 4, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94197393/cuban-players-in-local-game/|title=Cuban Players In Local Game|page=6|work=Sandusky Register|via=Newspapers.com|date=May 10, 1932|accessdate=February 4, 2022}} They returned as an independent team still under the "Pollock's Cuban Stars" moniker from 1933 until 1936.

From 1927 until at least 1933, Ramiro Ramírez served as manager.{{cite web|url=http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/manager.php?playerID=ramir01ram |title=Ramiro Ramírez manager profile at Seamheads.com|publisher=seamheads.com |access-date=February 14, 2021}}

• House of David (commune), the original barnstorming white baseball team from which Pollock "borrowed" the name

{{reflist|9}}

{{East–West League}}

{{Negro League teams|Independent}}

{{Cuban League teams}}

Category:Negro league baseball teams in Florida

Category:Baseball teams disestablished in 1936

Category:Baseball teams established in 1928

Category:Cuban-American history

Category:1928 establishments in Florida

Category:1936 disestablishments in Florida