León Kellman

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León Kellman
Miami, Florida
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Professional debut
Panamanian league: 1945
Negro league: 1946
Mexican league: 1951
Last Panamanian league appearance
1958
Career highlights and awards
  • Four-time Negro league All-Star (1946, 1948–1950)
  • Three-time Panamanian league championship (1948–49, 1950–51, 1956–57)
  • Two-time led Baseball World Cup in home runs (1941, 1945)
  • First player in Mexican league history to hit two grand-slams in the same game (1954)

Edric León Kellman (September 4, 1924 – September 13, 1981) was a Panamanian professional baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 11", 160 lb., Kellman batted and threw right handed. He was born in Gatún, Panama Canal Zone.[1]

Although he never played in the

major leagues, Kellman achieved a measure of notoriety for his many successful years in the Panamanian Baseball League, both during and after World War II, and later for his careers in Negro league baseball and the Mexican League
.

Primarily a

spot starter or long reliever. A four-time Negro league All-Star, he played in the Negro World Series, managed in Panama and Mexico, and usually represented his country in international tournaments.[2]

Early life

At age 17, Kellman started his baseball journey with the Panama national baseball team that competed in the 1941 Baseball World Cup held in Havana, where he batted the sole home run of the tournament. He then led the BWS batters with two homers in the 1945 tournament.[3]

Career

In 1945 Kellman became a member of the General Electric club of Panama, playing for them two seasons before joining the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro leagues in 1946. He posted a .301 batting average as the regular third baseman of the Buckeyes, improving to a .306 mark in 1947.[4]

In that season, Cleveland won the Negro American League championship behind catcher/manager Quincy Trouppe, advancing to face the Negro National League champions New York Cubans in the 1947 Negro World Series. The Cubans, guided by catcher/manager José Fernández, defeated the Buckeyes four games to one. Kellman went 8-for-20 (.400) to lead the Buckeyes in the Series, though they featured future big leaguers as Trouppe, Al Smith and Sam Jethroe (.316), who was the only other player over .300.[5]

In 1948 Kellman batted .307 for Cleveland, posting a better average than Jethroe (.296),

East-West All-Star Game.[10][11]

In 1951 Kellman journeyed to Mexico, where he enjoyed a solid season with the

at-bats,[12] helping the team to clinch the championship.[13]

After that Kellman returned to the Negro leagues, dividing his playing time with the

Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo for the rest of the year, batting .268 in 79 games.[15]

His most productive season in Mexico came in 1954, when he posted a slash of .357/.502/.608 and 13 home runs for Nuevo Laredo, while driving in 61 runs and scoring 74 times in 73 games, being surpassed by

René González in the batting race by a measly .002 points.[15] In addition, Kellman became the first player in Mexican baseball history to hit two grand slams in the same game, accomplishing his feat against the Diablos Rojos de México on May 5, 1954.[16]

Kellman continued contributing with the Tecolotes in 1955, batting .336/.458/.487 in 100 games. He caught and managed for them in part of 1956, then moved to the Leones de Yucatán during the midseason, hitting a combined .297/.444/.429 in the two stints.[15]

He batted 309/.435/.423 for Yucatán in 1957, and then found himself on the move again, this time to the Diablos Rojos late in 1958, during what turned out to be his last season in Mexican baseball. Kellman hit a combined line of .279/.405/.394 in 34 games, while accumulating .309/.440/.456 during his seven seasons in the league.[15]

As was customary in those years, Latin American players as Kellman participated in the winter leagues of their respective countries. As a catcher/manager for the Spur Cola Colonites, Kellman had the distinction of leading his homeland's first team through the inauguration of the Caribbean Series in 1949 in the city of Havana, Cuba. Spur Cola was designated as the road club in the Opening Game against the Indios de Mayagüez of Puerto Rico, which was the first game played in Caribbean Series history. Panama won the contest, 13–9, following an amazing 10-run rally in the seventh inning. The team finished third with a 2–4 record.[17]

Kellman led back Spur Cola to the Series in its

Tigres de Marianao (5–1) in the 1957 Series
.

Later life

Kellman retired with a career average of .297 in the Panamanian league and batted .205 (9-for-44) in five Caribbean Series, while tying with teammate Sam Bankhead and Cuba's Chuck Connors for the most stolen bases with four during the inaugural tournament.

His early efforts would enable future generations of fellow countrymen to follow him, including Humberto Robinson, the first Panamanian-born big leaguer, as well as Rod Carew, Webbo Clarke, Héctor López, Ben Oglivie, Mariano Rivera, Carlos Ruiz, Manny Sanguillén and Pat Scantlebury, among many others.

Kellman later became a long time resident of

Miami, Florida, where he died in 1981 at the age of 57.[1]

Sources

  1. ^ a b "Baseball Reference Negro Leagues – Edric Leon Kellman profile".
  2. ISBN 978-0-80-328000-7
  3. ^ Historia de la Copa Mundial de Béisbol Archived 2011-12-12 at the Wayback Machine (Spanish)
  4. ISBN 978-0-78-642279-1
  5. ISBN 080-3820-07-0
  6. ^ Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – Sam Jethroe
  7. ^ Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – Elston Howard
  8. ^ Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – Willie Mays
  9. ^ "Boone Drives Buckeyes Hard". St. Petersburg Times - March 22, 1949.
  10. ISBN 978-0-91-013760-7
  11. ^ Baseball Fever – Negro League Awards
  12. ISBN 978-0-78-641378-2
  13. ^ Baseball Reference – 1951 Mexican League
  14. ^ MLB.com – Negro Leagues Team Histories
  15. ^ a b c d The Mexican League/La Liga Mexicana
  16. ^ Lanzando para Home – Alfonso Araujo B., Diario del Yaquis (Spanish)
  17. ISBN 980-07-2389-7

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=León_Kellman&oldid=1207544920"