Born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, Cuba,[1][2][3] Estalella earned the nickname "Tarzan"[4][5] by his medium-frame, stocky and compact body.

Standing 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall and weighing 180 pounds (82 kg), he threw and batted right-handed.

He would have played many more years, but he was one of the players suspended by Commissioner Happy Chandler in 1946 for jumping to the outlaw Mexican League.

Although Estalella vigorously denied it during his life,[6] several current baseball writers now consider him to have been the first player of some African ancestry to have played in the Major Leagues in the 20th century.

[6][7][8] In the major leagues, Estalella was a career .282 hitter with 44 home runs and 308 RBI in 680 games played.