Sandy Nava

Sandy Nava
Catcher
Born:(1850-04-12)April 12, 1850 San Francisco, California,U.S.
Died:June 15, 1906(1906-06-15)(aged 56) Baltimore, Maryland,U.S.
Batted:Unknown Threw:Unknown
MLB debut
May 5, 1882, for theProvidence Grays
Last MLB appearance
June 29, 1886, for theBaltimore Orioles
MLB statistics
Batting average	.177
Runs scored	45
RBIs	33
Teams
Providence Grays(1882–1884) Baltimore Orioles(1885–1886)

Vincent Irwin "Sandy" Nava(April 12, 1850 – June 15, 1906) was an American 19th centuryMajor League Baseballplayer for five seasons from1882through1886.Of Mexican heritage, Nava is the first known American-born Hispanic baseball player in the major leagues, and the second ofHispanicdescent, behind Cuban-bornSteve Bellán.

Career

Born as Vincent Irwin inSan Francisco, California,Sandy made his Major League debut for the 1882Providence Graysas acatcher.He was brought in to be fellow San Francisco nativeCharlie Sweeney's catcher.Nava's history in professional baseball showed two sides; when he was growing up in San Francisco, he apparently tried to hide his Mexican heritage and went by names like Irwin Sandy or Vincent Irwin, but when he came to theEast Coast,he returned to his name of Nava and the Providence team tried to promote his "Spanish" heritage.

He played in 28gameshis rookie season, andbatted.206, while scoring 15runs.He returned to the Grays for two more seasons, continuing to be the back-up catcher toBarney Gilligan,having his best year in1883when he batted.240 and scored 18 runs in 29 games.Even though he didn't hit well, he stayed on as Sweeney's personal catcher, until Sweeney was expelled from the team by refusing to leave a game in favor ofCyclone Miller.The team decided to leave Nava and Miller behind on a road trip and later loaned them to amilitaryteam inFort Monroe, Virginia.

For the1884and1885seasons, Nava played for theBaltimore Oriolesof theAmerican Association,and played in just 10 games in those two years before leaving the Majors.

Post-career

Nava was of Mexican descent, however, he was identified asBlack,Indian,Portuguese,Spanish,andCubanthroughout his baseball career. In the1900United States Census,he was enumerated at 363 Davis Street inBaltimore, Maryland.He was listed as Vincent Nava, white and single, born April 1850, and working as an upholsterer, in a neighborhood with a large black population. Nava died in Baltimore at the age of 56, and is interred at Trinity Cemetery in Baltimore, a segregated cemetery.

References

"Sandy Nava's Stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
"Old Grays: Vincent" Sandy "Nava, Extra Catcher". providencegrays.org. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
"Family Search Record Search". familysearch.org. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
"Mario Longoria: Current research project(s)". colfa.utsa.edu. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

External links

• Career statistics and player information fromBaseball Reference,orBaseball Reference (Minors)