Jacinto Calvo and San Francisco Seals owner Charlie Graham were unable to come to terms on a contract for 1918, and the local press quickly turned on the outfielder.
The San Francisco Chronicle said:
“(Calvo) is a simple-minded Cuban boy…When he is hitting he can go around the bases in nothing flat. When he has a batting slump, he develops water on the knee and can hardly limp up to the plate.”
He remained in Cuba and served as a police officer in Havana.
It was rumored again in 1919 that Calvo might return to the Seals, but The Chronicle, under the headline “Calvo May Come Out But No One Cares,” made it clear that twelve months had not softened opinions about the holdout outfielder:
“Calvo has written friends that he wants to come back, but if he stays in that dear old Havana until Charlie Graham coaxes him back, he will grow whiskers a foot long. Graham really tried to get Calvo last year, for he was in a bad way for lack of outfielders, but if there is any coaxing to be done this year, Calvo will do it.”
Terms were not reached for 1919, and Calvo remained in Havana for another year.
In February of 1920 The Chronicle said Calvo, “Who bobs up every year about this time,” had written Graham saying he wanted to return to the Seals, then in March the paper reported that “The Havana World” said that Calvo “has joined the Franklin, PA independent team together with (Manuel) Cueto.”
Neither report proved true; instead, Calvo was signed by Clark Griffith for a second tour of duty with the Washington Senators. In 17 games he had only one hit, a triple, in 23 at-bats before being sent to the Little Rock Travelers in the Southern Association in July.
Calvo could not hit American League pitching, but no one questioned his throwing arm; except teammate Stanley “Bucky” Harris. The future Hall of Famer wrote in 1925, in a series of articles he wrote for The North American Newspaper Alliance, that his doubts about Calvo’s arm almost cost him his career:
“I thought I could hurl a baseball farther than anyone on the club and entered into a contest with Jack Calvo, an outfielder. The Cuban has a reputation for having a great arm. I had won a long-distance throwing contest…while with the Buffalo club. That convinced me I could hold my own.”
Despite being warned against taking on Calvo by teammate Clyde Milan, Harris went ahead with the contest, the two stood in the infield:
“(Calvo) cut loose. He threw the ball over the right field bleacher wall. I realized it was a truly wonderful peg.”
Harris said he was concerned about being caught by manager Clark Griffith and rushed his throw:
“My elbow cracked as the ball left my hand. It sounded to me as if a board had been broken across a fence…The ball dropped yards inside the park.”
Harris said for three weeks he “wondered if I ever would be able to throw a ball again.” By the time Harris returned to the lineup, Calvo was on his way to Little Rock where he hit .306.
From 1921 through 1926 Calvo spent his summers playing baseball in the states; most notably in Fort Worth, where he helped lead the Texas league Panthers to two Dixie Series victories over the Southern Association champions in 1923 and ’24. His winters were spent working as a lieutenant in Havana’s Harbor police and playing baseball in the Cuban League.
Calvo’s career ended abruptly in September of 1926. The San Antonio Light reported that the former Fort Worth outfielder, then with the Memphis Chickasaws in the Southern Association “must forego baseball…and return to his job, his leave of absence was about to expire, and he packed up and beat it for a boat.”
Calvo played briefly in Cuba that winter but never played professionally again. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948 and died in Miami in 1965.
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