Nicknamed the “Babe Ruth of Cuba,” Cristóbal Torriente played as an outfielder for various independent and Negro League Baseball teams from 1912 to 1932. In 1926, he was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs, where he led the team with a batting average of .407. Torriente was then signed by the Detroit Stars in 1927 and several independent teams thereafter, such as Gilkerson’s Union Giants, Atlanta Black Crackers, and the Cleveland Cubs. He finished his career pitching for the Louisville Blackcaps in 1932. To this day, Torriente is recognized for his excellence in all areas of baseball: hitting, fielding, throwing and running. In 2006, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Torriente came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1914 aboard the ship Saratoga.  

Born James Thomas Bell, James “Cool Papa” Bell was voted one of the hundred greatest baseball players of all time, despite never having had the chance to play in the MLB. An American center fielder, Bell spent his career in the Negro, Dominican, and Mexican leagues. He launched his professional career playing for the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League in 1922. Bell later joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords, where he and two other teammates formed what became known as the best outfield in Negro League history. In 1974, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the end of his career, he totaled 57 homeruns and a batting average of .325.

Our records include a manifest that reflects Bell’s travels during his Dominican League tenure in 1937.  

When the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants left for Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, New York was left without a National League baseball team. Joan Whitney Payson was instrumental in the formation of the New York Mets in 1962. Payson was an entrepreneur, art collector, and member of the prominent Whitney Family that owned a share of the New York Giants. A sports enthusiast, Payson used her financial might to found the New York Mets, serving as the team’s president from 1962 – 1975. She was the first woman to buy and build her own professional sports team, rather than inheriting it.

Our records include a manifest of a trip aboard the famed S.S. United States, reflecting one of her many voyages through the Port of New York. 

Considered to be one of the greatest athletes of her time, Dorothy “Kammie” Kamenshek was scouted by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League at the age of 17. The left-handed infielder joined the Rockford Peaches at the start of the league in 1943. By 1946, she led the League’s batting average, with an average of .316. Kamenshek played for the AAGPBL for 10 seasons and was selected as an All-Star seven times. In 1947, she was offered recruitment from a Fort Lauderdale men’s league team that she willfully turned down.

Her mother, Johanna Bandenburg from the Austrian Empire, came through Ellis Island in 1921.  

A surefire Hall of Fame candidate, Justin Verlander’s career began in 2005 with the Detroit Tigers for whom he pitched for 12 years. In mid 2017, he was traded to the Houston Astros and became part of their World Series winning team. In 2022, Verlander would repeat this feat with the Astros. His career highlights include: 9 All Star appearances, 3 Cy-Young awards, and 3 no hitters.

Verlander’s maternal great grandfather, Luigi Caponi arrived in 1908 aboard S.S. Hamburg.