Leon Day, Josh Gibson and others to receive the Pancho Coimbre Award

Leon Day, Josh Gibson, William de Jesús, Ángel “Cuqui” Mangual, Guillermo Montañez and Eddie Olivares will be given the Pancho Coimbre Award.

The event will be held virtually tonight, on Thursday, January 28, as a preamble to the birthday of the renowned player.

La fundación los invita a la ceremonia virtual Jueves 28 de enero
8PM🇵🇷 7PM🇺🇸 #BaseballAhora
👉 https://t.co/9AaXXrekVX pic.twitter.com/5xRRbLSjvf

— Fundación P. Coimbre (@pcoimbre_fdn) January 25, 2021

The Francisco “Pancho” Coímbre Foundation and Museum, Autonomous Municipality of Ponce and its Mayor, Honorable Luis M. Irizarry Pabón, invite you to the celebration of the 10th Edition of the Awards Francisco «Pancho» Coímbre. The awards ceremony will be held virtually on Thursday, January 28, 2021, at 8:00 pm, through the Facebook page of the “Baseball Ahora” program, hosted by journalists and historians Jorge Colón Delgado and Raúl Ramos.

The «Pancho Coímbre» award is the top activity of the Museum and the Foundation, in which the birth of Francisco «Pancho» Coímbre is commemorated, with the delivery of this award, which are awarded to players featured in Puerto Rico Professional Baseball.

In this tenth edition, the winners are the legendary: Guillermo Montañez, one of the best defensive first baseman of all time; Eddie Olivares, one of four players to hit two home runs in the same inning; William De Jesús, who played in the Professional Baseball League for 20 seasons; Ángel “Cuqui” Mangual, extraordinary player.

A Posthumous tribute

In posthumous tribute, León Day is recognized, elected to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 and who, at his request, wears a Puerto Rican cap and Joshua Gibson, considered in the United States as the strongest slugger in baseball history. Mrs Geraldine Day and Michelle Freeman will receive the award on Leon Day’s behalf. Sean Gibson, president of the Josh Gibson will also receive the award on behalf of his great grand father.

“We are overly excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the awards and that other baseball stars continue to add to our museum. On this occasion, the ceremony will be virtual since unfortunately, due to the tremors and the pandemic, we had to cancel this holiday, which was scheduled for January of last year, ” expressed Mr. Héctor L. Ortiz Rivera, Administrator of the Museo del Deporte Ponceño Francisco “Pancho” Coímbre.

For his part, the mayor of Ponce, Hon. Luis M. Irizarry Pabón, stated that “For 10 years, the Coímbre Family, through its Foundation, has overseen recognizing great glories of Puerto Rican baseball.

“I congratulate you for this feat of immortalizing our athletes who have brought so much joy to our country through baseball. I join this activity and congratulate the winners and the families of those who will be recognized posthumously. My commitment is and will always be with sport. For the sake of our children and youth, Ponce will breathe sport again.»

Former Award recipients

Currently, a total of 30 professional baseball glories from Puerto Rico have been recognized with the Pancho Coímbre Award. These are: Santos Alomar (Father), José “Cheo” Cruz, Luis “Wicho” Figueroa, Félix Torres, Hiram Bocachica, Raúl Casanova, Roberto Clemente Walker, Otoniel Vélez Franceschi, Luis Rodríguez «El Jibaro» Olmos, Joséì G. «Pants» Santiago, Saturnino «Nino» Escalera, Luis E. «Tite» Arroyo, José A. «Coco» Laboy Guilbe, Orlando “Peruchín” Cepeda, Ramón «Wito» Conde, José G. «Palillo» Santiago, Luis «Mambo» De León, Rafael Alomar, José «Tony» Valentín, Luis A. «Torito» Meléndez, Carlos Baerga, Juan J. Beníquez, Max «Mako» Oliveras , Orlando Gómez, Benigno Ayala Félix, Juan “Terín” Pizarro, Desiderio De León, Florentino Rivera, Héctor Valle and Atanasio “Tany” Pérez.

7PM EST

Pancho Coimbre played for 13 seasons in the Puerto Rican Professional league. He is considered a legend in Latin American Baseball, he was an All-Star with the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues.

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