Prevented by racism from playing in the minors in 1955, Roman Mejias opened the season in the majors as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting right fielder ahead of another rookie, Roberto Clemente.
That season, Mejias (of Cuba), Clemente (Puerto Rico) and Felipe Montemayor (Mexico) formed the first all-Latino starting outfield in the big leagues.
Though Mejias didn’t play often for the Pirates as a rookie, he had some of his best games versus the Cardinals. For the rest of his career, Mejias hit well against them.
A right-handed batter and outfielder, Mejias played nine seasons in the majors with the Pirates, Houston Colt .45s and Boston Red Sox, He was 92 (and probably much older) when he died on Feb. 22, 2023.
Bayou bigotry
Mejias was born in Abreus, Cuba. Most sources list the date of his birth as Aug. 9, 1930. Others list it as 1925. Pirates scout Howie Haak said Mejias was 32 when he signed him for $100 before the 1953 season. Pirates general manager Branch Rickey agreed to list Mejias’ age as eight years younger, Haak told Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe in 1985.
(According to the Waco Herald-Tribune, George Sisler was scouting for the Pirates in Cuba, spotted Mejias in a game, “liked the way he snapped those wrists and signed him on the spot.”)
In 1953, Mejias’ first season in the Pirates’ system, he hit .322 for Class D Batavia, N.Y. The next year, he batted .354 with 141 RBI for Class B Waco, Texas, and had a 55-game hitting streak.
At spring training in 1955, the Pirates assigned him to the Class AA New Orleans Pelicans, but that club “refused his contract because of color,” The Pittsburgh Press reported. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The Pelicans owners decided they wouldn’t take his contract because he is a Cuban Negro.”
Because Mejias hit well in spring training, the Pirates put him on their Opening Day roster, hoping he could make the leap from Class B to the majors.
Latino talent
Mejias and Clemente were assigned to be road roommates with the 1955 Pirates, according to The Pittsburgh Press. Clemente was drafted from the Dodgers’ system during the winter, but when the Pirates opened the 1955 season at Brooklyn their starting right fielder was Mejias. Frank Thomas started in left and Tom Saffell in center. Boxscore
The next day, for the Pirates’ home opener against the Phillies, Mejias again started in right and Clemente was on the bench. Mejias hit a home run against Herm Wehmeier but also made an error, leading to a pair of Phillies runs. Boxscore
After a third consecutive start in right, Mejias was benched by manager Fred Haney and replaced by Clemente.
On April 24, 1955, at Philadelphia, when Haney started an outfield of Mejias in left, Felipe Montemayor in center and Clemente in right, “the Pirates were told they are making history with the first all-Latin American outfield,” The Pittsburgh Press reported. Boxscore
A week later, on May 2, the Pirates started the same outfield combination against the Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Boxscore
Put me in, coach
On June 12, 1955, in a game against the Braves at Pittsburgh, Mejias snapped a 3-3 tie with a two-run home run against Warren Spahn, lifting the Pirates to a 5-3 victory. Boxscore
As the summer wore on, though, Mejias got less playing time. He had three hits in July and four in August. When the Cardinals came to Pittsburgh at the end of August, Mejias was batting .197 for the season.
In the series opener on Aug. 30, Mejias got the start in right, smacked a two-run triple against Harvey Haddix and scored a run in the Pirates’ 3-1 victory. Boxscore
Starting again in the series finale on Sept. 1, Mejias had four RBI, including a three-run double versus Luis Arroyo, in a 7-6 Pirates triumph. Boxscore
Mejias hit .355 (11-for-31) against the Cardinals in 1955 _ far better than his season batting mark of .216 in 176 plate appearances.
“It didn’t do him good to be on a big-league roster (in 1955),” Jack Hernon of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote. “He wasted away a season when he could have been developing. It was because the club didn’t have a farm team which would accept him. The player suffered and perhaps the Pirates killed off a fine prospect.”
Ups and downs
After playing for minor-league Hollywood (Calif.) in 1956, Mejias was the Pirates’ Opening Day right fielder in 1957 when Clemente was sidelined because of a bad back. Boxscore When Clemente recovered, he joined an outfield with Bill Virdon in center and Bob Skinner in left. Mejias was sent back to the minors.
In 1958 and 1959, Mejias was a reserve outfielder with the Pirates. A highlight came on May 4, 1958, in a start against the Giants, when he slammed three home runs in the game at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium. Two of the homers were hit against Johnny Antonelli and the other off Marv Grissom. All were pulled to left. Mejias was the first Pirate to hit three homers in a game since Ralph Kiner.
“I hit line drives, try to get base hits,” Mejias told the San Francisco Examiner. “I’m not a home run hitter really.” Boxscore
In 1959, when he hit .236 for the season, Mejias batted .377 (20-for-53) against the Cardinals.
Mejias spent most of the next two seasons (1960 and 1961) in the minors and wasn’t on the roster when the Pirates prevailed against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series.
Houston calling
In October 1961, the Houston Colt .45s selected Mejias in the National League expansion draft, and he finally got a chance to play every day.
Mejias, the starting right fielder, hit a pair of three-run home runs in Houston’s Opening Day win at home against the Cubs. Boxscore
As usual, he battered the Cardinals, hitting .290 against them. On April 26, 1962, Bob Gibson held Houston hitless until Mejias hit a home run in the eighth. Boxscore Mejias hit another home run against Gibson in August. Boxscore (Mejias batted .300, 6-for-20, versus Gibson in his career.)
Mejias went on to lead the expansion team in runs scored (82), hits (162), home runs (24), RBI (76), stolen bases (12), batting average (.286) and total bases (252) in 1962. According to his listed birth date, Mejias turned 32 that season. “He was 40,” Howie Haak insisted to the Boston Globe.
“He’s a wonderful person, and he’s a very fine ballplayer,” Houston manager Harry Craft told the Globe. “I know of at least 10 games we never would have won without Mejias. He has a tremendous throwing arm. He’ll never embarrass you.”
Fenway follies
Envisioning Mejias launching home runs over the Green Monster wall in left at Boston’s Fenway Park, the Red Sox traded two-time American League batting champion Pete Runnels to Houston for him in November 1962.
When Red Sox officials learned Mejias’ family was unable to get permission from the Fidel Castro regime to leave Cuba, they worked with the Red Cross to make it happen. Mejias’ wife, two children (ages 12 and 10) and two sisters joined him in the United States in March 1963. “Best day of my life,” he told the Globe.
The Red Sox opened the 1963 season with Mejias in center, but he got off to a dreadful start, hitting .117 in April and .189 in May.
He started to press and tried too often to hit home runs over the Green Monster. “I’m playing like a bush-leaguer,” Mejias said to the Globe.
Red Sox executive Mike Higgins told him, “Forget about the fence. Don’t even look at it when you’re batting,” the Globe reported.
“You’ve got fence-poisoning,” Higgins said. “You’re spoiling your swing and your timing because you’re trying to hit the fence. Just try to hit the ball anywhere.”
Mejias had a good June _ batting .304 for the month and hitting three home runs in a doubleheader against the Orioles Boxscore and Boxscore. September was good, too. He hit .310 for the month and had seven RBI in a game against the Twins. Boxscore
Overall, though, he hit .227 with 11 home runs. The Red Sox thought he was 33, but if Howie Haak was correct, Mejias was 41.
The next year, Tony Conigliaro, 19, started in center for the Red Sox and Mejias was on the bench. Mejias batted .238 in 1964, his last season in the majors.
A career .254 hitter, Mejias batted .316 versus the Cardinals.
Of Mejias’ 54 career home runs, 12 came against pitchers who got elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame _ Warren Spahn (4), Sandy Koufax (2), Bob Gibson (2), and Jim Bunning, Robin Roberts, Don Drysdale and Juan Marichal (1 each).
RetroSimba 
Excellent post Mark. One can only wonder what kind of career he might have enjoyed if he could have had more of a chance to develop his skills in the minor leagues. Along with this, how he was able to concentrate on playing baseball having to worry about his family and all the social obstacles is just a tribute to his character.
I agree with your observations, Phillip.
I could not find an explanation for why Branch Rickey and the Pirates didn’t know the New Orleans club wouldn’t accept Roman Mejias before they assigned him there, or why the Pirates would even make such a racist group part of their farm system. It’s inexcusable.
According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox executives who went above and beyond to arrange for Mejias’ family to come to the United States were Tom Yawkey, Mike Higgins and Dick O’Connell. Mejias said he was forever grateful to them. It is interesting that Yawkey, the last American League owner to have a black player on his team, made this humanitarian effort for Mejias.
Mejias could not speak or read English when he first came to the U.S. to play pro ball. He relied on teammates to be interpreters. He overcame a lot of hurdles to get as far as he did.
The Waco newspaper in July 1954 had a photo of Branch Rickey meeting with Mejias in Texas. Rickey came to Waco specifically to see him play.
On his first trip to Boston, in January 1963, two months after the trade from Houston, Mejias went to the Sportsman’s Show in town to meet Ted Williams, who was his favorite boyhood player, the Globe reported.
I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him to adapt to a new country, a new language, and a new way of life and then to have deal with racism on top of it. Heroic if you ask me.
I wonder how he was able to leave Cuba? I guess before Castro the borders were open.
Yes, Roman Mejias was able to come and go from Cuba before Fidel Castro took over the government. Mejias played two seasons (1957-58 and 1958-59) in the Cuban Winter League after completing his U.S. seasons. With Cienfuegas in the winter of 1958-59, his teammates included big-leaguers Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos and John Goryl.
All the information in this piece is mind-boggling. If there is a better”pure” baseball blog out there I haven’t seen it.
I am grateful for your appreciation of the work, Gary.
I knew very little about Roman Mejias. When I saw he had died, I went looking for a Cardinals connection. Though it turned out he played well against them, I didn’t think there was enough for a story. I kept digging around one last time and found the reports of the New Orleans rejection. That was a story. Then the more I looked, the more interesting the story became. It’s satisfying when readers like yourself see the value in the stories of these mostly forgotten players.