Minnie Minoso Marquee Hall of Fame 2022

He came out of Cuba to the New York Cubans in 1946 and led the Negro National League in triples in 1948. His first full major-league season, 1951, began in Cleveland and continued in Chicago, where the trade made him the first Black player in White Sox history. He led the American League in stolen bases and in triples that year. The Sporting News named him its rookie of the year; the writers gave their award to Gil McDougald.

In ten of the eleven seasons from 1951 through 1961 no American League batter was hit by more pitches, the one exception being Nellie Fox in 1955. He was hit 23 times in 1956. He led his league in triples four times and in stolen bases three years running, won three Gold Gloves, and was named to seven American League All-Star teams.

Across twenty seasons in both leagues he had 2,113 hits and batted .299. The archive holds nothing at all from the Cuban leagues he came out of. Chicago gave him a handful of at-bats in 1976 and two more in 1980, 34 years after he first played for pay in the United States. The Hall of Fame elected him in 2022, seven years after he died.