Steve Bellán

Esteban Enrique Bellán
born Estevan B. Bellan

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
• Height 5' 8", Weight 154 lb.
• School St. John's College
• High School St. John's College Preparatory (Bronx)
• Debut May 9, 1871
• Final Game June 9, 1873
• Born October 1, 1849 in Cuba
• Died August 8, 1932 in Havana, Cuba

BR page

Biographical Information

Steve Bellán was the first Cuban-born (and Latin American) player to play in Major League Baseball. Before the National Association was founded in 1871, he played for Fordham University (where he attended in 1863-1868), the Unions of Morrisania, and the Troy Haymakers in their amateur days. Eventually, he went back to Cuba to become a player-manager for the Habana club there. He played in the first organized baseball game in Cuba and later led the Habana team to three championships.

The book Viva baseball! says his nickname was the "Cuba Sylph" (a sylph being a kind of nymph or spirit). He was a catcher in college, but developed a reputation as a good-fielding third baseman in the majors. His picture can be found here: Bellan. It has recently been discovered that Bellán played with a number of other Latin players in college and with amateur clubs before the National Association was founded in 1871. Not much is known about Bellán's later life, although he apparently became a U.S. citizen in the 1870s and received a U.S. passport.

Some serious doubt has been expressed about his date of death: his body was exhumed in 2019, and an analysis of the remains point to a 50-year-old man - which would have meant that if the body in the grave was truly that of Bellán, he would have died around 1900. There were no records remaining in the cemetery about the date of his burial, so the question remains open.

Further Reading

• "A Cuban Mystery", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, January/February 2026, p. 1.

Related Sites

• Steve Bellán at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page