Connie Marrero, who pitched for the original Washington Senators and is the oldest former major leaguer, turned 101 years old yesterday.
The Cuban-born Marrero pitched for the original Senators — now the Minnesota Twins — at the tail end of his career, making his Major League Baseball debut as a 39-year-old rookie with the 1950 Senators, making 19 starts and compiling a 6-10 record for a miserable Washington squad that somehow didn’t finish in last place. (The Sens finished 20 games under .500 and still managed to finish fifth in the American League, albeit 31 games out of first.) He was named to the American League All-Star Team in 1951 but didn’t make it in the game. By 1955 he was pitching in the minors, retiring in 1957 as a member of the International League’s Havana Sugar Kings.
Today Marrero lives in pretty humble circumstances in a small Havana apartment, confined to a wheelchair. He’s blind and can’t hear very well, but he still manages a cigar daily. He’s visited regularly by baseball fans (including our John Moist a few year ago). And he listens regularly to baseball games on the radio.
RELATED STORIES: Touring the ballparks of Cuba
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