Rafael Almeida (baseball)

{{Short description|Cuban baseball player (1887–1968)}}

{{for|the Brazilian actor|Rafael Almeida (actor)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Rafael Almeida

|position=Third baseman

|image=Rafael Almeida.jpg

|caption=Rafael Almeida, 1912.

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1887|7|30|mf=y}}

|birth_place=Havana, Cuba

|death_date={{death date and age|1968|3|19|1887|7|30}}

|death_place=Havana, Cuba

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 4

|debutyear=1911

|debutteam=Cincinnati Reds

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=July 18

|finalyear=1913

|finalteam=Cincinnati Reds

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.270

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=3

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=46

|teams=

• Cincinnati Reds ({{mlby|1911}}–{{mlby|1913}})

| hofcolor= blue

| hoflink= Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame

| hoftype= Cuban

| hofdate= 1939

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport|Manager for {{CUB}}}}

{{MedalCompetition|Central American and Caribbean Games}}

{{MedalGold|1930 Havana|Team}}

}}

Rafael D. Almeida (July 30, 1887 – March 19, 1968) was a Cuban professional baseball third baseman from 1911 to 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). Along with Armando Marsans, he was one of the first Cuban nationals to play in the National League when the two debuted with the Reds on July 4, 1911.[https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/Cuba_born.shtml Players Born in Cuba - Baseball-Reference.com]{{efn|Almeida and Marsansa were not the first National League players born in Cuba, as Havana-born Chick Pedroes played in the National League in 1902, though historian Peter C. Bjarkman noted that Pedroes immigrated to the United States at a young age and likely did not learn the game in Cuba.{{cite web |last1=Bjarkman |first1=Peter C. |author1-link=Peter C. Bjarkman |title=The Mysterious Case of "Cuban" Chick Pedroes |url=https://mlblogsbjarkmanlatinobaseball.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/the-mysterious-case-of-cuban-chick-pedroes/ |website=Bjarkman's Latino and Cuban League Baseball History Page |access-date=12 March 2025 |date=26 August 2007}} In addition, Cuban-born Steve Bellán played from 1871 to 1873 in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), a league whose status as a major league is disputed.}}

Six years before debuting with Cincinnati, Almeida and Marsans both played Negro league baseball in the United States as members of the integrated All Cubans in 1905.Riley, 33 He also played winter league baseball in the Cuban League from 1904 to 1925.Figueredo 2003, pp. 484, 508.

After his professional career, Almeida managed the Vedado Tennis Club to several pennant victories in Cuba's amateur league. He also acted as manager of the champion Cuba national baseball team at the 1930 Central American Games in Havana.{{cite web |title=Rafael Almeida |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rafael-almeida/ |website=SABR |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research}} Almeida was one of ten players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in its 1939 inaugural class.Figueredo 2003, pp. 484, 508.