One of the pitfalls when trying to book a famous barnstorming team to play your local club was making sure you were actually getting what you thought you were getting.
Fake House of David teams crisscrossed the country for years; there were reports of fake Negro League teams and fake versions of the Nebraska Indians. Most made an attempt to field a competitive team who could at least pass for the team they were fraudulently representing; some didn’t even bother.
Charles A. Mills thought he was getting the authentic Cuban Stars for a May 1910 game against his St. Louis Giants; the Cubans roster included the great pitcher Jose Mendez, and well-known players like pitcher-outfielder Luis Padron, first baseman Augustin “Tinti” Molina and shortstop Luis Bustamante.
None of them arrived in St. Louis.
Jose Mendez
The Freeman said:
“Much talk is going the rounds over the way in which the management of the St. Louis Giants were deceived by a bunch of get-rich-quick schemers, who claimed to be the real Cuban Stars, when in fact there was not a Cuban in the club.”
More than thirty-six-hundred fans came to Kuebler’s Field to see the famous barnstormers play the hometown team, but:
“Mr. C.L. East, advance agent for the supposed Cubans, brought to the city a set of misfits to fool the public and get the money.”
The Freeman insisted that Mills, who bore the brunt of the reaction from angry fans, was an innocent victim of a scam and that the impostors were “in no way the fault of the St. Louis Giants.’”
Mills called it a “high-handed game to defraud the public,” an “unpleasant occurrence that has caused (The Giants) to be unjustly criticised (sic) by some of our best followers.”
There is no record of the outcome of the game or a mention of whether the game was even completed.
The legitimate Cuban Stars, with Mendez, played in St. Louis the following year.
Luis Bustamante
Baseball History Daily 
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