The Yankees have had fewer Cuban players than any other club in this series — twenty-one in a hundred and twenty-five years. The White Sox have had 27, the Reds 34, the Senators and Twins 53.
And yet no club’s Cuban history has mattered more, because the Yankees were the ones who paid. Orlando Hernández, José Contreras and Aroldis Chapman all came to New York, and the second of those signings produced the most famous phrase in the sport’s biggest rivalry. The Yankees did not scout Cuba. They bought its most valuable exports, one at a time, at the top of the market.
| Player | Pos | Born | Yankees seasons | With the Yankees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ángel Aragón | 3B | Havana | 1914, 1916–17 | 33 G, .118, 0 HR, 5 RBI |
| Armando Marsans | OF | Matanzas | 1917–18 | 62 G, .232, 0 HR, 24 RBI |
| Willy Miranda | SS | Velasco | 1953–54 | 140 G, .241, 2 HR, 17 RBI |
| Pedro Ramos | P | Pinar del Río | 1964–66 | 130 G, 9–14, 3.07 ERA |
| Luis Tiant | P | Marianao | 1979–80 | 55 G, 21–17, 4.32 ERA |
| Bobby Ramos | C | Calabazar de Sagua | 1982 | 4 G, .091, 1 HR, 2 RBI |
| Bert Campaneris | 2B | Pueblo Nuevo | 1983 | 60 G, .322, 0 HR, 11 RBI |
| Orestes Destrade | 1B | Santiago de Cuba | 1987 | 9 G, .263, 0 HR, 1 RBI |
| Orlando Hernández | P | Guají | 1998–02, 2004 | 139 G, 61–40, 3.97 ERA |
| Tony Fossas | P | Havana | 1999 | 5 G, 0–0, 36.00 ERA |
| José Canseco | DH | Havana | 2000 | 37 G, .243, 6 HR, 19 RBI |
| Adrián Hernández | P | Havana | 2001–02 | 8 G, 0–4, 5.46 ERA |
| José Contreras | P | Las Martinas | 2003–04 | 36 G, 15–7, 4.66 ERA |
| Michel Hernández | C | Havana | 2003 | 5 G, .250, 0 HR, 0 RBI |
| Juan Miranda | 1B | Consolación del Sur | 2008–10 | 46 G, .253, 4 HR, 14 RBI |
| Amauri Sanit | P | Havana | 2011 | 4 G, 0–0, 12.86 ERA |
| Raúl Valdés | P | Havana | 2011 | 6 G, 0–0, 2.90 ERA |
| Aroldis Chapman | P | Holguín | 2016–22 | 315 G, 24–14, 2.95 ERA |
| Adeiny Hechavarría | SS | Santiago de Cuba | 2018 | 18 G, .194, 2 HR, 2 RBI |
| Kendrys Morales | DH | Fomento | 2019 | 19 G, .177, 1 HR, 5 RBI |
| Néstor Cortés | P | Surgidero de Batabanó | 2019, 2021–24 | 126 G, 33–20, 3.62 ERA |
In the organisation now
No Cuban-born player is on the major league roster in 2026 — Néstor Cortés was traded to Milwaukee in December 2024 and nobody has replaced him. Four are in the system, and it is the deepest Cuban group the Yankees have ever had at once:
Yanquiel Fernández (outfielder, born Havana 2003) and Ernesto Martínez Jr. (first baseman, born Holguín 1999) at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; Brando Mayea (outfielder, born Havana 2005) and Jose Martinez (pitcher, born Bayamo 2005) at Single-A Tampa.
Two Cubans, then thirty-five years, 1914–1966
The Yankees were slower to Cuba than almost anybody. Four Cuban-born players in the first sixty-six seasons, and two of them were the same men other clubs had already used.
Ángel Aragón, third baseman, 1914, 1916–17
Thirty-three games across three seasons and a .118 average. The first Cuban Yankee, and for a long time the only evidence the club knew Cuba existed.
Armando Marsans, outfielder, 1917–18
The man who had opened the door in Cincinnati six years earlier, arriving in New York at the end of it: 62 games, .232. He appears on the Reds list as the more important half of his career.
Willy Miranda, shortstop, 1953–54
140 games as a defensive replacement on two pennant winners. He is on the White Sox and Senators lists too — a glove that five organisations passed around.
Pedro Ramos, pitcher, 1964–66
After a decade of losing games for Washington he came to New York and was, briefly, excellent out of the bullpen: 130 games, a 3.07 earned run average, and, in September 1964, thirteen appearances, eight saves and a 1.25 earned run average after arriving too late to be eligible for the World Series the Yankees reached partly because of him. He saved 19 more in 1965 and 13 in 1966.
The veterans’ last stop, 1979–2000
For the next two decades the Yankees’ Cuban signings were all the same kind of transaction: a famous name at the end of a career, bought for one or two seasons. Not one of them was a Cuban the club had developed.
Luis Tiant, pitcher, 1979–80
Two seasons in the Bronx at 38 and 39, 21–17 in 55 starts. It was the fifth of the six organisations he pitched for, and the last at which he was a full-time starter.
Bert Campaneris, second baseman, 1983
Sixty games and a .322 average at 41, in the last season of a nineteen-year career. He had been the shortstop on three straight World Series winners in Oakland.
José Canseco, designated hitter, 2000
Claimed on waivers in August, 37 games, six home runs, a World Series ring he barely played for. He turns up on the White Sox list the following year.
Bobby Ramos (four games, 1982), Orestes Destrade (nine games, 1987) and Tony Fossas (five appearances, 1999) complete the era.
The Evil Empire era, 1998–2022
Everything that makes the Yankees’ Cuban history matter happens in these twenty-five years, and it happens because the defection era created a market in which the richest club could simply outbid everyone.
Orlando “El Duque” Hernández, pitcher, 1998–2002, 2004
He left Cuba by boat on Christmas Day 1997, having been banned for life from Cuban baseball after his half-brother Liván defected. The Yankees signed him in March 1998. He was listed as 28 and was almost certainly 32.
139 games, 61–40, a 3.97 earned run average — and a post-season record that is the real point. He was Most Valuable Player of the 1999 American League Championship Series and won World Series rings in 1998, 1999 and 2000. He later turns up on the White Sox list for the 2005 title.
José Contreras, pitcher, 2003–04
On 26 December 2002 the Yankees signed Contreras for four years and $32 million. Executives from both New York and Boston had been in Managua courting him; the Yankees closed first, and reportedly for less money than the Red Sox were willing to pay.
The next day the Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said: “The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America.” The most quoted sentence in the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry was said about a Cuban pitcher — and the Yankees traded him eighteen months later, whereupon he won 15 games and a World Series in Chicago.
His Yankees record: 36 games, 15–7, a 4.66 earned run average.
Aroldis Chapman, pitcher, 2016–22
Acquired from Cincinnati in December 2015, traded to the Cubs the following July for a package built around Gleyber Torres, and re-signed as a free agent that winter for five years and $86 million — at the time the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher.
Seven seasons in pinstripes: 315 games, a 2.95 earned run average, three All-Star selections, and the fastest arm the sport has recorded. His Cincinnati years are on the Reds list.
Néstor Cortés, pitcher, 2019, 2021–24
The counterweight to all of the above, and the best story on this page. He was born in Surgidero de Batabanó; when he was seven months old his father won the US visa lottery and the family moved to Hialeah. The Yankees drafted him in the 36th round in 2013 for $85,000.
He was released, claimed, traded and released again before sticking. In 2022 he went 12–4 with a 2.44 earned run average and made the All-Star team. The Yankees spent $118 million on two Cuban pitchers and got their best value out of one who cost less than a car. He was traded to Milwaukee in December 2024.
The rest of the era: Adrián Hernández (eight games, 2001–02), Michel Hernández (five, 2003), Juan Miranda (46, 2008–10), Amauri Sanit (2011), Raúl Valdés (2011), Adeiny Hechavarría (2018) and Kendrys Morales (2019).
Twenty-one Cubans, and the club’s relationship with the island can be told through three contracts and one sentence. That is what makes this list different from the others in the series: every other franchise here has a pipeline story. The Yankees have a purchasing story. Whether the four Cubans now in their farm system change that is the most interesting open question on this page.
The rest of the series
Cuba Dugout keeps a page like this one for every franchise with a real Cuban history: Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. For the players active right now, see Cubans in MLB 2026. Every one of these lists is drawn from the Cuban Major Leaguers Database — all 403 Cuban-born major leaguers, searchable and downloadable.
Spotted an error in this article? Let us know and we'll correct it.
