This Obscure Original Twin Once Received an MVP Vote as a Washington Senator

[Al from SoDak]

The inaugural Minnesota Twins boasted some talented players, many of which you might be thinking are the subject of this article. Maybe power hitting Harmon Killebrew. Maybe newly acquired Earl Battey. Maybe 1959 Rookie of the Year Bob Allison. Good guesses, but this article is not about any of them. Let me introduce you to little known infielder José Valdivielso.

José Martinez de Valdivielso Lopez was born May 22, 1934, in Matanzas, Cuba. He came from an affluent Cuban family. His father played football at Boston University and returned to Cuba to teach physical education. He also started a family, which included our subject, José. The younger Valdivielso loved baseball and hoped to play professionally one day.

The Griffith family purchased the Washington Senators in 1919 and, from the start, were often known as penny pinchers when it came to talent acquisition. Original owner Clark Griffith passed the frugality (and ownership) onto his nephew Calvin, who ran the team during the 1950s. The franchise had discovered a talent stream in players from Cuba who often signed for less than their American counterparts. The franchise had scout Joe Cambria, who specialized in discovering and signing Cuban talent. It is estimated that the franchise signed 400 or more Cubans over the years. Before the 1954 season, Cambria found and signed the six-foot-one, 175-pound Valdivielso to play in the West Texas-New Mexico League. José started as a 19-year-old shortstop in Class-C Lubbock but showed enough ability to move up the minor league system steadily and incrementally. By 1955, the slick right-handed infielder was already making his major league debut for the woeful Washington Senators.

José Valdivielso’s 1955 season started slowly with no hits in his first three games, but he soon warmed up a little. He connected for two hits in his fourth game. By his tenth game, he had four multi-hit games. His batting average peaked at .316 in his 12^th game but would drop slowly all season. His final batting line for 1955 was .221/.277/.316 for an OPS+ of 63. He had two home runs and 28 RBI. Despite his apparent slick fielding capabilities, he produced a negative WAR of -0.5. For all of this, one MVP voter decided that was enough to justify an MVP vote to José, who finished 24^th for the award. José was known as a slick and steady fielder, but those statistics do not seem worthy of an MVP, regardless of how good the defense was. When you factor in that Washington lost 101 games in 1955, that vote seems even more questionable.

José, a light-hitting infielder with a good glove, was one of many Cubans to play in the Minnesota Twins' inaugural season of 1961. Along with him were Julio Becquer, Bert Cueto, Camilo Pascual, and Pedro Ramos. Cuban super-scout Joe Cambria was responsible for signing many of these Cubans. Interestingly, Valdivielso was part of the only all-Cuban triple play in MLB history – a liner to Pascual on the mound who threw to Becquer first, then to shortstop José at second. Mr. Valdivielso hit .195/.234/.248 in his lone season with the Twins. His OPS was .482, and his OPS+ was a paltry 27, which is not just good enough to continue in MLB. 

I found Valdivielso interesting in that he received that one weird MVP vote. I would venture that Valdivielso is unknown in Minnesota except to the most dedicated of baseball fans. His career WAR was worse than that of David McCarty, who was cited on Twins Daily as the Twin with the worst WAR ever for the team. I’m taking liberties mixing apples and oranges, comparing Valdivielso’s career WAR (with Washington and Minnesota) to McCarty’s Twins-only WAR, but you get the idea. Valdivielso played four of his five big league seasons before the franchise moved to Minnesota, so his -3.3 WAR does not qualify him to have the lowest of the Twins era. 

After baseball, José had many jobs. He was a youth recreation director plus did morning sports reports on a Newark radio station. He even called New York Yankees games on Spanish-language radio stations. Newsweek reported, “Valdivielso joined the MLB Players Alumni Association's Board of Directors in 1999 and served on the Board for decades. He was granted the lifetime title of MLBPAA Board Member Emeritus status in January 2020.”

José Valdivielso died March 4, 2025, at the age of 90. José was one of the last living original Twins.  

So, there you go. This installment of Remembering Random Twins was of a truly random Twin. José made the major leagues, played five seasons, and continued in the game for many seasons as a broadcaster and in other capacities. Despite his short career, he positively impacted the sport following his playing career.

Does anybody out there remember José Valdivielso’s single season in Minnesota? If so, please share your memories and recollections in the comments below.

If you like looking back at the Twins' past, check out my previous articles at Twins Daily History.

Sources include Baseball Reference, Baseball in Minnesota, Newsweek, and  https://www.espn.com/page2/wash/s/2002/0311/1349361.html. 

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[terrydactyls]

I remember the name but not the player.  Zoilo Versalles is the SS I remember.

[Linus]

I do not remember him. The Cuban connection to the Twins is so interesting. I wonder if anyone has ever done an in depth piece on that. 

[Twins63]

I like the articles on the little known players like this. It provides a very human side to them. Especially when we focus so much on stats starting as a kid in the 60s looking at baseball cards.😁

[gil4]

2 hours ago, Twins63 said:

I like the articles on the little known players like this. It provides a very human side to them. Especially when we focus so much on stats starting as a kid in the 60s looking at baseball cards.😁

Speaking of baseball cards, here is his 1961 card, which you can buy for a mere $45,090.99.

I bet if you haggle you could get them down to $45K even. And they do have free shipping. 🙂 

[jkcarew]

Valdivielso is my second-favorite negative-WAR player from Cuba in Twins history. Right behind Sandy Valdespino.