{{short description|Puerto Rican baseball player (born 1929)}} {{for|the Nicaraguan poet and political activist|Roberto Vargas (poet)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{family name hatnote|Vargas|Vélez|lang=Spanish}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Roberto Vargas | image = Roberto Vargas.jpg | image_size=137px | position = Pitcher | birth_date = {{birth date|1929|05|29}} | birth_place = Santurce, Puerto Rico | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|05|27|1929|05|29}} | death_place = Caguas, Puerto Rico | bats = Left | throws = Left |debutleague = NgL | debutdate = | debutyear = 1948 | debutteam = Chicago American Giants |debut2league = MLB | debut2date = April 17 | debut2year = 1955 | debut2team = Milwaukee Braves |finalleague = MLB | finaldate = September 21 | finalyear = 1955 | finalteam = Milwaukee Braves |statleague = MLB{{efn|On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".<ref>{{cite web|title=MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-officially-designates-the-negro-leagues-as-major-league|website=MLB.com|date=December 16, 2020|accessdate=September 23, 2024}}</ref> Vargas' statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues during the 1948 season.}} | stat1label = Win–loss record | stat1value = 0–1 | stat2label = Earned run average | stat2value = 7.46 | stat3label = Strikeouts | stat3value = 20 | teams = ;Negro leagues *Chicago American Giants ({{by|1948}}) ;Major League Baseball * Milwaukee Braves ({{mlby|1955}}) |highlights= * NgL All-Star (1948) |medaltemplates= {{MedalSport | Men's baseball}} {{MedalCountry|{{bb|PRI}}}} {{MedalCompetition|Baseball World Cup}} {{MedalSilver| 1947 Cartagena | Team}} }}
'''Roberto Enrique Vargas Vélez''' (May 29, 1929 – May 27, 2014) was a Puerto Rican pitcher in Major League Baseball and Negro league baseball. Vargas played for the Chicago American Giants for one season in 1948, in which he was named a Negro League All-Star. He also played one season for the Milwaukee Braves of the National League during the 1955 season. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico.<ref name=BaseballReference>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vargaro01.shtml |title=Baseball Reference MLB statistics}}</ref>
Vargas pitched for the Puerto Rico national baseball team at the 1947 Amateur World Series.<ref>{{cite news |title=Boricuas eliminaron al equipo de Nicaragua ayer, 6–1 |url=https://gpa.eastview.com/crl/elmundo/newspapers/mndo19471220-01.1.19 |access-date=13 October 2025 |agency=El Mundo |date=20 December 1947 |location=East View Global Press Archive |page=19}}</ref>
Vargas was among the first ten Puerto Rican ball players to debut in MLB, making his first appearance for Milwaukee on April 17, 1955, the same day as fellow Boricua Roberto Clemente did it with the Pittsburgh Pirates.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/Puerto-Rico_born.shtml Baseball Reference – MLB players born in Puerto Rico]</ref> Vargas was origianally considered Black and not Puerto Rican, which excluded him from playing in the Majors until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Burgos , Jr. |first1=Adrian |last2=Burgos , Jr. |first2=Adrian |date=2012 |title=Playing Ball in a Black and White "Field of Dreams": Afro-Caribbean Ballplayers in the Negro Leagues, 1910–1950 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9798400617478.0008 |journal=Béisbol |pages=45–86 |doi=10.5040/9798400617478.0008|isbn=979-8-4006-1747-8 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
He made 25 relief appearances for the Braves, allowing 23 earned runs on 39 hits and 14 walks for an 8.76 ERA, while striking out 13 in {{frac|24|2|3}} innings of work and did not have a decision.<ref name=BaseballReference/>
Sent back to the minors midway through the season, Vargas, who had pitched for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League in 1948,<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/nlb/player.cgi?id=vargas001rob BR Negro Leagues]</ref> performed for 11 teams in eight different leagues in a span of eight seasons from 1949–1960.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=vargas001rob BR Minor Leagues]</ref> He played four years in the Mexican League as well as winter baseball at Puerto Rico between 1947 and 1961, while representing his country several times in the Caribbean Series tournament.<ref>Moffi, Larry; Kronstadt, Jonathan (2006). ''Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 1947–1959''. Bison Books. {{ISBN|978-0-80-328316-9}}</ref>
Eventually, Vargas had a long career coaching and managing in the Puerto Rico winter league. There, he advised young pitching prospects about the importance of throwing first-pitch strikes and pounding the strike zone and jamming hitters.<ref>Crossing the Line</ref>
Vargas died in 2014 in Caguas, Puerto Rico, two days short of his 85th birthday.<ref>[http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/baseball_deaths.php?y=2014 Baseball Almanac – Major League Baseball Players Who Died in 2014]</ref>
==See also== * List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|mlb=123658|br=v/vargaro01|brm=vargas001rob}}, or [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=varga01rob Seamheads] *[http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/V/Pvargr101.htm Retrosheet]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Roberto}} Category:1929 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Baseball players from San Juan, Puerto Rico Category:Charros de Jalisco players Category:Chicago American Giants players Category:Drummondville Cubs players Category:Houston Buffs players Category:Lakeland Pilots players Category:Macon Dodgers players Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Category:Memphis Red Sox players Category:Mexican Baseball League pitchers Category:Milwaukee Braves players Category:Montreal Royals players Category:Negro league baseball players from Puerto Rico Category:Petroleros de Poza Rica players Category:Puerto Rican baseball players Category:Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Category:Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Mexico Category:Reading Indians players Category:Sportspeople from Santurce, Puerto Rico Category:Victoria Rosebuds players Category:Wichita Braves players