KNOWN CARDS: 37
MEASUREMENTS: 1-9/16" by 2-5/16"
KEY CARDS: Alejandro Oms
MAJOR LEAGUERS: 10
players of Cuban nationality. This issue is often referred to as "1st Series Aguilitas,"
although it was likely issued after what is referred to as the "2nd" series. The exact date
of issue is unknown, but it was once thought to have been somewhere between 1922 and
1925. This, however, is actually not the case. Of the 37 cards that are known to exist, at
least 3 of them show players wearing the uniform of a team called "San José". This team
was only in existence for 2 months: November and December of 1925. Those 3 cards are
Alejandro Oms, Pelayo Chacón and Joséito Rodríguez. There are also 2 cards showing
players with the letters "RS" on their hats, which stood for Havana "Red Sox". This team
was only in existence for a short time during the 1926/27 season. Therefore, 1926/27 is
the earliest the set could have produced, unless the cards were printed and distributed
over several years.
These cards, printed on a glossy photographic stock, are part of a 900 card set which
features subjects such as showgirls, actresses and dancers, as well as various other
athletes. Like most other Cuban issues, they were likely meant to be pasted into albums.
Thanks to the back of a rare promotional card we know that numbers 751 through 850 are
athletes. Other than baseball players, most of the other athletes are either boxers or
soccer players. Out of the 100 athletes, 37 of the cards are of are baseball players. There
are only 33 different players, however. Card number 782 can be found with either Alfredo
Cabrera or Daniel Blanco. 4 cards are in the set twice: Armando Marsans (779 & 829),
Daniel Blanco (782 & 832), Roberto Puig (797 & 847), and Juanelo Mirabal (774 & 824).
Of the 10 players with Major League experience in the set, 2 of them only appeared in 1
game! Alfredo Cabrera in 1913 and Oscar Estrada in 1929.
752 Fernandez (José María Fernández)
756 R. Torres (Ricardo Torres)
759 Jacinto Calvo
761 E. Palmero (Emilio Palmero)
763 Champion Mesa (Pablo "Champion" Mesa)
769 C. Zarza (Carlos Zarza)
771 Fernando Ríos
772 J. Rodriguez (Joséito Rodríguez)
776 L. Rodriguez (Lalo Rodriguez
777 A. Luque (Adolfo Luque)
778 Alejandro Oms
779 Marsans (Armando Marsans) same as #829
782 A. Cabrera (Alfredo Cabrera)
782 Daniel Blanco - same as #832
787 B. Portuondo (Bartolo Portuondo)
791 Navarro (Agustin Navarro)
796 R. Quintana (Rafael Quintana)
797 Puig (Roberto Puig) - same as #847
817 Levis (Oscar Levis)
819 Raul Atan
821 Pepin Perez
822 Fabre (Isidro Fabre)
823 Jimenez ( Bienvenido "Hooks" Jiménez)
824 Mirabal (Juanelo Mirabal)
825 Tomas Calvo
826 Chacon (Pelayo Chacón)
829 Marsans (Armando Marsans) - same as #779
832 Daniel Blanco - same as #782
836 Dreke (Valentín Dreke)
838 Echarri (Jose Echarri)
839 Miguel Angel (Miguel Angel González)
841 Estrada (Oscar Estrada)
846 Acostica (José Acosta)
847 Puig (Roberto Puig) - same as #797
849 Alvarez (Cesar Alvarez)
