By the time the young man from Sancti Spiritus, Cuba arrived here in 1951 as a member of the Houston Buffs pitching staff, the 26 year old righthander was already drawing favorable comparisons to the great big league Cuban hurler of the 1920s, Adolfo Luque of the Cincinnati Reds. Rubert had stormed onto the scene in 1946, going 13-6 with a 1.72 ERA for the Class C West Palm Beach club. – He then bettered that mark with the same team in 1947 by pumping his record up to 23-12 1ith a 1.76 ERA. Want more? Rubert went over to Class C Tampa in 1948 and pulled off a 22-7 record with a 2.11 ERA.
The next three seasons sometimes happen to international players who pitch twelve months a year. Rubert spent most of his winters pitching well for Almendares in his native Cuba, but that also meant that his arm also tired or experienced injury that briefly limited his state side service during “our” baseball season. After going only 2-0 consecutively as a reliever in limited action for the AAA Rochester Redwings in 1948-49, Rubert moved down to Houston after the season was underway in 1949 to go 3-10 with a 4.68 ERA for the AA Buffs. Based on his 10.13 ERA at Rochester in 1949, I’d say this move was more of a “find his right level” transfer than it was due to any arm problems. Still, he had to be tired. At age 24, he’d been pitching all year over the course of his enire walking, breathing, ballplaying life.
Octavio found his level in 1950, going 17-8 with a 3.07 ERA for Class A Omaha – and stirring the anticipation of his return to the Buffs in 1951. He did not disappoint.
Rubert posted a 19-5, 2.28 ERA for the “blow ’em all away” 19651 Texas League Champion Houston Buffs, second only in wins to Al Papai at 23-9, 2.44 ERA mark. It was a starting rotation that also included Vinegar Bend Mizell (16-14, 1.96), Freddy Martin (15-11, 2.55), and spot starter/reliever Mike Clark (10-7, 2.78) Throw in the big support bats of first basemann Jerry WItte (38 HR) and Larry Miggins (28 HR) and you walk over to the competition oven with most of the marinated ingredients for a championship year in the Texas League. – And, of yeah, and let’s not forget third baseman Eddie Kazak (.304) and knuckleballing reliever Dick Bokelmann (10-2, 0.73 ERA) for a little extra spice.
That’s “Black Mike” Clark and the bust of Eddie Kazak showing up in this cropping from a team photo – and they were just two of the guys who helped Octavio Rubert and the ’51 Buffs make their day in the baseball sun a mostly happy one. The party was only spoiled by Houston’s six-game loss to Birmingham in the Dixie Series. Our excuse? A mysterious stomach illness hospitalized Vinegar Bend Mizell and made him unavailable for the Buffs’ Series cause at crunch time.
Octavio Rubert had good stuff and good command, but he never got to pitch in the big leagues, probably for the ususal reasons – an abundant supply of options controlled completely by the clubs through the reserve clause and a baseball cultural attitude of the time that predominantly played out by the clubs as “we’ll use the guys who eventually are good, strong, and ucky enough to not get hurt trying too hard.” Survival of the fittest, and the luckiest, was the rule.
Octavio Rubert ran out of steam and luck after 1951. He became a hittable pitcher. He won only 22 more minor league games over the next four seasons and was out of baseball after 1955. Years later, his native country still celebrated his home cooking days. Octavio Rubert was admitted to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Tags: Houston Buffs, St. Louis Cardinals
The Pecan Park Eagle 
May 1, 2011 at 9:21 pm |
The cottagers and laborers keep their children at home, their business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their education is of little consequence to the public; but the old and discased among them are supported by hospitals: for begging is a trade unknown in this kingdom.
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