In the 1920s, the United States was a racially segregated country and Navarro's skin color presented a problem for his participation in American baseball leagues — in baseball, black players were not permitted to play in the same leagues as their
white counterparts. As a consequence of this policy, a group of white and black businessmen joined forces and organized their own Negro leagues. The teams played against each other and even had their own
Negro World Series. Two of those teams were the
Cuban Stars, owned by
Alex Pompez, and the
Cuban Giants. Both of those teams consisted mainly of
African-American or
Afro-Latino players. Navarro played for two years with the Cuban Stars and had a
batting average of .337. The experience was bittersweet for Navarro, especially when they played in the South — he felt discriminated against due both to his skin color and his lack of
English. After playing with the Negro leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the
Dominican Republic and in
Venezuela. By the time baseball had become
integrated in the United States, Navarro had returned to Puerto Rico. The experience and knowledge he had gained contributed to his success when he became one of the founders of the
Leones de Ponce baseball team in his hometown of Ponce. He played, coached, and contributed in various other ways in the team, dedicating 20 years of his life to the "Leones". ==Retirement from baseball==