1923-24 Nacionales Cigarros C48, Jacinto "Jack" Calvo ⭐ MLB Pioneer
This card is over 100 years-old and is the finest PSA graded example of any 1923-24 Nacionales Cigarros card. The black borders are the grading graveyard for this series.
Jack Calvo was born in Cuba and made his way to the US to play in the Majors for the Washington Senators in 1913.
Before that he played in the Negro League for the Long Branch Cubans and afterwards played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL).
Because of his light-colored skin he was able to navigate between segregated MLB and the Negro League, one of the first Cubans to play in MLB and to also play in the Negro League.
His presence in both leagues blurred the hard color lines that defined American baseball, demonstrating that ability, not race, should determine a man’s place on the baseball diamond.