Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Moses Yellow Horse, 1920s MLB player

Moses J. Yellow Horse, born January 28, 1898 in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was a full-blooded Pawnee, who played two seasons in Major League Baseball. He began playing baseball when he attended the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. After leaving Chilocco, he pitched for the Little Rock Travelers, a minor league team in the Southern Association.  He helped the team win its first championship in 1920. 

In 1921, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His MLB debut was on April 15 when he relieved pitcher Peter Hamilton.  The Pirates won the 3-1 over the Cincinnati Reds.  Later that year, he injured his arm and the surgery forced him to sit out for two months.  In 1922, he injured his arm a second time.  In his two years with the Pirates, he compiled a record of 8 wins and 4 losses.

With his major league career over, Yellow Horse moved to the minors, but his career was plagued with injuries and alcoholism.  He played for the Sacramento Senators of the Pacific Coast League. He was traded to Fort Worth but then soon was returned to Sacramento.  They sold him to Omaha.  He pitched his final game May 16, 1926. 

In 1945, he stopped drinking, which had created a divide between him and the Pawnee tribe, and found steady work.

He passed away in Pawnee, Oklahoma in April 1964.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Steve Bellan, first Latin-American to play major league baseball

Esteban Enrique "Steve" Bellan, born October 1, 1849 in Havana, Cuba, is the first Latin American to play professional baseball in the US.  He attended school at what is now know as the Fordham University in the Bronx, from 1866 to 1868. He joined the Live Oaks, a Second Division baseball team.  After graduation, he played a season for the Union of Morrisania, a member of the NABBP, and helped them win the national championship in 1868.  He joined the Troy Haymakers in 1869.  

Sometime after that he went to the New York Mutuals until 1873.  Bellan moved by to Cuba to play in their baseball leagues.  He played for Club Habana and beat Club Matanzas on December 27, 1874, in the first organized baseball game in Cuba.  He has been called the Father of Cuban Baseball for his role in organizing the game.

He passed away in Havana, Cuba in 1932.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Luis Castro, first Latin-American to play in Major League Baseball

Luis Castro, born November 25, 1876 in Colombia, is the first Latin American to play for Major League Baseball.  He played only one season with the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1902 season, as a second baseman and a right-handed batter.  The Athletics went on to win the American League championship.

Castro passed away in New York City at 64 in September 1941.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Roberto Clemente, first Latino inducted into Nat'l Baseball Hall of Fame

Roberto Clemente, born August 18, 1934 in Puerto Rico, played eighteen seasons in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972.

He joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve in September 1958 and served a six-month active duty in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Washington DC.  He gained an early release from Sate Senator John Walker for the 1959 season.  He continued to serve during off-seasons through 1964, as a private first class.

During his career, he made All-Star 15 times, helped the Pirates to two World Series championships, was National League MVP in 1966, World Series MVP in 1971, won 12 Gold Glove Awards, and was the NL batting champion 4 times.  

He was involved with charity and humanitarian work throughout his career in Latin America and the Caribbean during the off-seasons.  On December 31, 1972, the plane he was riding in crashed off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, while carrying relief supplies and aid packages to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.  An award in his honor the Roberto Clemente Award, is given to the player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team".

He was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming the first Latin-American to be inducted.  He was inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame in 2018. He has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Celebrating Black History Month: Emmett Ashford, first African-American umpire in Major League Baseball

Emmett Ashford, born November 23, 1914, was the first African-American umpire in Major League Baseball.  He began moonlighting as an umpire in a Santa Ana municipal softball league and National Night Ball League of Southern California.  He left Santa Ana to umpire in the Southwestern International League, making him the first black umpire in professional baseball..  

He joined the Arizona-Texas league and then to the Western International League in 1953, and then onto the Pacific Coast League in 1954.  

After 12 years, he was promoted to the American League and made his major league debut April 11, 1966 at DC Stadium.  He retired in 1970.  

He passed away in March 1980. 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Jim Thorpe: the world's greatest athlete

Jim Thorpe, born May 1887 in Prague, Indian Territory (east of Oklahoma City), has been named the world's greatest athlete.  He was a member of the Sac and Fox nations, and became the first Native American to win a gold medal at the Olympics in 1912, for the pentathlon and decathlon.  His Olympic medals were lost when it was found he had been playing semi-professional baseball, which violated the amateur rules in place.  In 1983, the International Olympic Committee restored his medals, thirty years after his death.  

He was a two-time All-American in football.  He played six seasons in the Major League Baseball from 1913-1919.  He played for the Canton Bulldogs in 1915 and helped them win three professional championships.  He played for six teams in the NFL.  

From 1920-1921, he was the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922

He passed away in March 1953.