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Actually the nickname was 'El Cuchara" (which does mean shovel), which he picked up while playing in Cuba because on the lousy infields there in the 1900s and 1910s he would often end up with more than the ball in his glove, He was a contemporary of Honus Wagner.
The Cuban league of the time, like other "minor leagues", was independent; but unlike the Pacific Coast League and other stateside leagues, it was integrated.