Emilio Navarro

Emilio Navarro (September 26, 1905 – April 30, 2011), better known as "Millito Navarro", was a Puerto Rican second baseman and shortstop. Navarro was the second Puerto Rican to play baseball in the American Negro leagues, two years after Gacho Torres played for the 1926 Newark Stars. At the time of his death, at age 105, Navarro was the oldest former professional baseball player and the last surviving player from the American Negro League. In Ponce he attended Castillo Public School, a public school on Calle Castillo, Ponce, and worked after school shining shoes and delivering the foods which his mother prepared to support the family. His first contact with baseball occurred when he went to watch the school team play. On one occasion he did not have enough money to pay for an entrance ticket to watch a game between the Castillo and Reina teams. He therefore jumped a fence, which happened to be in the outfield. It so happened that one of the Castillo team members became sick and when the coach saw Navarro jump the fence he asked him to play. He agreed and played baseball since. Both of those teams consisted mainly of African-American or Afro-Latino players.

Navarro played for two years with the Cuban Stars and had a batting average of .337. The experience was bittersweet for Navarro, especially when they played in the South — he felt discriminated against due both to his skin color and his lack of English. After playing with the Negro leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela. a position that he held for 10 years.

Awards and accolades In 1938, Puerto Rican sportswriter Emilio Huike voted Navarro as the "Ideal Professional Baseball Player". On December 29, 2006, Navarro was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. Former Astros great José (Cheo) Cruz presented the plaque of induction to Navarro.

On June 6, 2008, Major League Baseball held a ceremonial Negro league draft prior to the amateur draft. Navarro was selected by the New York Yankees. He was also honored at a game during the final homestand in Yankee Stadium history on September 18, 2008. In 2010, Navarro was honored by "Experience Works" who recognized him as an outstanding active Senior Citizen in the United States. He was survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Legacy On May 1, 2011, the New York Yankees held a moment of silence to honor Navarro before the start of their game against the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2011, his home municipality of Ponce named a sports complex after him, Ciudad Deportiva Millito Navarro. He is also recognized at Ponce's Parque de los Ponceños Ilustres in the area of sports.