Sandy Nava
Vincent Irwin "Sandy" Nava was an American 19th century Major League Baseball player for five seasons from through. Of Mexican heritage, Nava is the first known American-born Hispanic baseball player in the major leagues, and the second of Hispanic descent, behind Cuban-born Steve Bellán.
Career
Born as Vincent Irwin in San Francisco, California, Sandy made his Major League debut for the 1882 Providence Grays as a catcher. He was brought in to be fellow San Francisco native Charlie 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 the East Coast of [the United States|East Coast], he returned to his name of Nava and the Providence team tried to promote his "Spanish" heritage.He played in 28 games his rookie season, and batted.206, while scoring 15 runs. He returned to the Grays for two more seasons, continuing to be the back-up catcher to Barney Gilligan, having his best year in when 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 of Cyclone Miller. The team decided to leave Nava and Miller behind on a road trip and later loaned them to a military team in Fort Monroe, Virginia.
For the and seasons, Nava played for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association, and played in just 10 games in those two years before leaving the Majors.