El Profe: Celebrating ‘Millito’ at Yankee Stadium
By Adrian Burgos
My proudest day as a baseball historian. That’s what September 18, 2008, was for me. What started with my cell phone ringing ended with New York Yankees singing “Happy Birthday” to Emilio “Millito” Navarro at Yankee Stadium.
A week shy of celebrating his 103rd birthday, no less.
There was Millito, the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues back in 1928, wearing a Yankees jersey on the field at Yankee Stadium, preparing to throw a ceremonial first pitch before 53,000 fans.
Papi’s wish
The path to the Bronx and the Yankee Stadium ceremony all started with Millito’s 70-year-old son Eric Navarro calling me.
“You’re friends with Dave Winfield, right?” he asked. “Papi wants to go to Yankee Stadium. He wants to walk where Babe Ruth played before they tear the stadium down.”
Earlier that summer, Millito had been selected by the Yankees in a ceremonial Negro League Player Draft conducted in conjunction with the June amateur draft. The ceremonial draft had been a project of Winfield, who sought another way to honor Negro Leaguers and bring them into the Major League Baseball family, even if belatedly.
Then a vice president/special advisor with the Padres, Winfield called me after MLB greenlighted his project. “Which Latino players from the Negro Leagues might we include?” Winfield asked. Navarro was the first name that came to mind. Not only was he the oldest living Negro Leaguer at the time, he was the first Puerto Rican to have played in the Negro Leagues, a 5-foot-5 infielder with blazing speed and soft hands.
Moreover, I suggested to Winfield, it also made sense that it would be the Yankees (not the Mets) who drafted Navarro, since the Bronx has been a traditional home to Puerto Ricans and the team was actually in existence when he played. No promises, Winfield responded, but he would pass along the suggestion.
Fortuitous timing
On June 5, the Yankees selected Navarro at the ceremony that preceded the amateur draft at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. But Millito wanted more. He wanted to walk the same grounds that Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle had traversed. The man who was older than the hallowed grounds of the South Bronx that first opened in 1923 wanted to visit Yankee Stadium.
At Eric Navarro’s suggestion, I called Winfield. The timing was fortuitous. The Hall of Famer had just arrived in New York for Old-Timers’ Day celebration at Yankee Stadium that weekend. Winfield agreed to talk with Yankees officials and I agreed to work with my friends like Danny Torres and other media contacts in New York City and in the Puerto Rican community to hopefully make Millito’s wish come true.
Four generations of Navarros gathered in the Bronx for Millito’s big day. Yankees vice president Felix López spoke with reporters about what the day meant to the organization.
“We are all very happy and glad that he’s here today. We’re proud that he represents so much that is baseball. The only mistake we, the Yankees, made was to draft him so late,” López said.
López escorted the Puerto Rican centenarian, now wearing a Yankees jersey, onto the field, where the Yankees presented him with a birthday cake just before they took batting practice. Fascinated by the history Navarro represented, Dominican Robinson Canó walked over to López, insisting on a personal introduction to Navarro.
Dominican-Puerto Rican bonds
In a way this made absolute sense, a Dominican approaching the Puerto Rican. After all, 80 years earlier it was another Dominican, Pedro Alejandro Sán, whose hearty recommendation of Navarro to Cuban Stars owner Álex Pompez set into motion the 1928 signing of the first Puerto Rican to debut in the Negro Leagues, 14 years before Hiram Bithorn would break through in the majors.
Meeting Millito made an impression on Canó, who then introduced Navarro to some of his Latino teammates: Panamanian closer Mariano Rivera, Dominican-American Álex Rodríguez, and Puerto Rican catchers José Molina (brother of Bengie and Yadier) and Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez, who had been traded to the Yankees just before the deadline.
“To talk to a guy like that, wow, what an experience,” Canó told sportswriter Dan Graziano. “He was playing baseball so long before we were born. He must know so much.”
As for Millito, estaba en las papas, he was “living the good life,” he shared with me the following day at the annual Latino sportswriters’ luncheon held at the Stadium.
“This is a great pleasure for me,” he shared with reporters in Spanish. “No matter my age, I’m the man who is enjoying this day the most.”
Millito had his day at Yankee Stadium, a place that was not open to players like him in the 1920s. Instead, he pioneered a different path into professional baseball in the United States for Puerto Ricans in the Negro Leagues.
That I played a part in making that day happen for Navarro, and in so doing gave something tangible back to one of our pioneering players, remains the achievement I am most proud of as a baseball historian.
Featured Image: Adrian Burgos Jr. / La Vida Baseball