RIP to Leo Posada, an outfielder for the Kansas City Athletics from 1960-62. He died on June 23 in Miami from pancreatic cancer. He was 86 years old. His time with the Athletics is just a small part of his baseball history. At a time when ballplayers could come and go between Cuba and the United States, before the Castro regime, Posada established himself as a talented ballplayer in both countries. After his playing days, he enjoyed a long career as a minor-league manager and a coach. Since he couldn’t go back to Cuba, he became part of a vibrant community of Cuban baseball pros who settled in Miami. His brother Jorge is a scout for the Colorado Rockies, and his nephew, Jorge Posada, carried on the family’s tradition of talent with a distinguished playing career of his own.

Leopoldo Jesús Posada Hernández was born in La Habana, Cuba, on April 15, 1936 — various articles about his death have listed his birthday as April 1, 1936. As his touching obituary on Legacy.com notes, baseball was not the first sport where he made his name. He represented Cuba in cycling at the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Central American Games in Guatemala in 1954. At one point, he held the Cuban speed record for a 1km race. However, the family passion for baseball eventually surpassed his love of cycling, so he devoted his energy to that sport instead.

Read more here: RIP Baseball

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