# Sandy Nava

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**Vincent Irwin "Sandy" Nava** (April 12, 1850 – June 15, 1906) was an American 19th-century [Major League Baseball](/source/Major_League_Baseball) player for five seasons from through .[1] Of Mexican heritage, Nava is the first known American-born Hispanic baseball player in the major leagues, and the second of [Hispanic](/source/Hispanic) descent, behind Cuban-born [Steve Bellán](/source/Steve_Bell%C3%A1n).[2]

## Career

Born as Vincent Irwin in [San Francisco, California](/source/San_Francisco,_California), Sandy made his Major League debut for the 1882 [Providence Grays](/source/Providence_Grays) as a [catcher](/source/Catcher).[1] He was brought in to be fellow San Francisco native [Charlie Sweeney](/source/Charlie_Sweeney)'s catcher.[3] 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](/source/East_Coast_of_the_United_States), he returned to his name of Nava and the Providence team tried to promote his "Spanish" heritage.[2]

He played in 28 [games](/source/Games_played) his rookie season, and [batted](/source/Batting_average_(baseball)) .206, while scoring 15 [runs](/source/Run_(baseball)). He returned to the Grays for two more seasons, continuing to be the back-up catcher to [Barney Gilligan](/source/Barney_Gilligan), having his best year in when he batted .240 and scored 18 runs in 29 games.[1] 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](/source/Cyclone_Miller). The team decided to leave Nava and Miller behind on a road trip and later loaned them to a [military](/source/Military) team in [Fort Monroe, Virginia](/source/Fort_Monroe,_Virginia).[3]

For the and seasons, Nava played for the [Baltimore Orioles](/source/Baltimore_Orioles_(19th_century)) of the [American Association](/source/American_Association_(19th_century)), and played in just 10 games in those two years before leaving the Majors.[1]

## Post-career

Nava was of Mexican descent; however, he was identified as [Black](/source/African_American), [Indian](/source/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas), [Portuguese](/source/Portuguese_people), [Spanish](/source/Spanish_people), and [Cuban](/source/Cubans) throughout his baseball career. In the [1900](/source/1900_United_States_census) [United States Census](/source/United_States_Census),[4] he was enumerated at 363 Davis Street in [Baltimore, Maryland](/source/Baltimore,_Maryland). He was listed as Vincent Nava, white and single, born April 1850, and working as an upholsterer, in a neighborhood with a large black population. Nava died in Baltimore at the age of 56, and is interred at Trinity Cemetery in Baltimore, a segregated cemetery.[1][5]

## References

1. ["Sandy Nava's Stats"](http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/N/Pnavas101.htm). *retrosheet.org*. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

1. Bob Timmerman. ["Book Review: Playing America's Game"](http://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/813072.html). *Baseball Toaster: The Griddle*. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

1. ["Old Grays: Vincent "Sandy" Nava, Extra Catcher"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070808231108/http://providencegrays.org/Old_Grays/Vincent_Nava/vincent_nava.html). *providencegrays.org*. Archived from [the original](http://providencegrays.org/Old_Grays/Vincent_Nava/vincent_nava.html) on August 8, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

1. ["FamilySearch Record Search"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080828014219/http://pilot.familysearch.org/). *familysearch.org*. Archived from [the original](http://pilot.familysearch.org) on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-04-18.

1. ["Mario Longoria: Current research project(s)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080821124806/http://colfa.utsa.edu/ecpc/teaching_assistants/longoria.htm). *colfa.utsa.edu*. Archived from [the original](http://colfa.utsa.edu/ecpc/teaching_assistants/longoria.htm) on August 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandy Nava](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Nava) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Nava?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.