It was January 12, 1936, and the Newark Eagles, of the Negro National League, were in trouble. They were in San Juan, Puerto Rico for an exhibition series against the Cincinnati Reds, and their star pitcher, Leon Day, had come down with appendicitis. The Eagles had seen Hiram “Hi” Bithorn on the mound during practice games earlier that week (at that time there were no organized baseball leagues in Puerto Rico, but it was played locally throughout towns across the island), and were impressed enough to invite him to step in and act as an emergency starter.
MLB in Puerto Rico: today the Twins and Cleveland, next time the Mariners?
