Baseball in Cuba
is the most popular sport in Cuba, followed by association football. Baseball was popularized in Cuba by Nemesio Guillot, who founded the first major baseball club in the country. It became the most played sport in the country in the 1870s, before the period of American intervention.
Despite its American origin, baseball is strongly associated with Cuban nationalism, as it effectively replaced colonial Spanish sports such as bullfighting. Since the Cuban Revolution, the league system in Cuba has been nominally amateur. Top players are placed on the national team, earning money for training and playing in international competitions.
History
The early years (1864–1874)
Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 1860s by Cuban students returning from U.S. colleges and American sailors who ported in the country. The sport spread quickly across the island nation after its introduction, with student Nemesio Guillot receiving popular credit for the game's growth in the mid-19th century. Nemesio attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, with his brother Ernesto. The two returned to Cuba, and in 1868 they founded the first baseball team in Cuba, the Habana Base Ball Club.Soon after this, the first Cuban War of Independence spurred Spanish authorities in 1869 to ban the sport in Cuba. They were concerned that Cubans had begun to prefer baseball to bullfights, which Cubans were expected to dutifully attend as homage to their Spanish rulers in an informal cultural mandate. As such, baseball became symbolic of freedom and egalitarianism to the Cuban people. The ban may have also prompted Esteban Bellán, an early Cuban player, to remain in the United States and become the first Latin American player to appear in the major leagues. Bellán played baseball for the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club while attending Fordham University. After that he joined the professional Unions of Morrisania, a New York City team, followed by the Troy Haymakers. In 1871 the Haymakers joined the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which is regarded by many historians as a major league. Bellán played for them in 1871 and 1872, then moved to the New York Mutuals, another NA team, in 1873.
The first organized match in Cuba took place in Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas, at the Palmar del Junco, December 27, 1874. It was between Club Matanzas and Club Habana, the latter winning 51 to 9. Bellán played for Habana and hit two home runs.
Cuban baseball is organized (1878–1898)
In late 1878 the professional Cuban League was founded. At its inception the league consisted of three teams: Almendares, Havana, and Matanzas. Every team played the other two teams four times each. The first game was played on December 29, 1878, with Havana defeating Almendares 21 to 20. Havana, under team captain Bellán, went undefeated in the inaugural season and won the championship. The teams were composed of amateurs and were all-white, however professionalism gradually took hold as teams bid on players to pry them from their rivals.Cuban baseball becomes international (1898–1933)
The Spanish–American War brought increased opportunities to play against top teams from the United States. Also, the Cuban League admitted black players beginning in 1900. Soon many of the best players from the North American Negro leagues were playing on integrated teams in Cuba. Beginning in 1908, Cuban teams scored a number of successes in competition against major league baseball teams, behind outstanding players such as pitcher José Méndez and outfielder Cristóbal Torriente. By the 1920s, the level of play in the Cuban League was superb, as Negro league stars like Oscar Charleston and John Henry Lloyd spent their winters playing in Cuba. Furthermore, Cuban teams began flocking to the United States, and with it, intertwining Latino and African American baseball cultures. Defeats at the hand of colored teams in Cuba posed a threat to some Americans, one being the American Baseball League head, Ban Johnson, who had said, "We want no makeshift club calling themselves the Athletics to go to Cuba to be beaten by colored teams". This might have limited some opportunities but overall, baseball in Cuba was thriving and incorporating its own twists backed by the multiethnic ties of those who were playing it. It is often said that the United States is to thank for the spreading of baseball across the country, but it is really the citizens of Cuba, who were the ones who had a deep love and passion for the sport, so much so, that they can even be attributed with helping baseball spread to places like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.In 1899, the All Cubans, consisting of Cuban League professional players, were the first Latin American team to tour the United States. The team returned in 1902–1905, exposing white Cuban players to U.S. major league and minor league scouts, and introducing black Cuban players to competition against the Negro leagues. Later Negro league teams included the Cuban Stars and the New York Cubans, which were stocked mostly with Cuban or other
Amateur baseball in Cuba (1933–1960)
Amateur baseball in Cuba was thriving in the 1940s and deepened the organization and maturity of the league. There were several amateur leagues in Cuba, referred to as los amateurs. Many of the leagues were composed of factory or business workers who represented their individual companies. Originally, amateur teams represented exclusive social clubs in the Havana area, such as the Vedado Tennis Club. The growth of amateur baseball can be attributed to the economic recovery in Cuba around 1934. In 1934 there were only 6 teams, but by 1940, that number grew to 18.In 1954, amateur Dominican baseball became better organized, respected abroad, and very structured which led professional clubs to draw young talent from the amateur leagues in cities throughout Cuba. The removal of some of the talented players in the league only slightly impacted the amateur leagues in Cuban cities. The young and talented team players who remained in the leagues gained physical strength by participating in the amateur games.
One major form of amateur baseball in Cuba was sugarmill baseball. Sugarmill baseball was popularized in the early 1950s. This group of amateurs consisted mainly of players who were workers at the sugarmill. It was often loosely organized and regionally established. Each team represented a different sugarmill, and they would compete against one another. Games were generally played on Sunday and holidays in order to leave weekdays reserved for field work. Players in the league used sugarmill ball as an escape from the harsh working conditions of the mill. During the Golden Age of Cuban League, sugarmill baseball was one of the most important producers of talent.
In Cuba's amateur baseball leagues, some of the greatest moments and players the game has ever produced on the island can be found, along with a high level of unconcealed iniquity. Until 1959 blacks were excluded from the amateur leagues. Segregation is traced back to the start of the 20th century when disagreement among players regarding the professionalization of the game led to a split. The amateur game was the origin of the segregation and remained a sport played among exclusive social clubs and factory workers. Membership in these clubs were restricted to whites, therefore blacks were excluded from amateur baseball and had to play for the semiprofessional teams. Whether the whites-only policy was a direct consequence of American influence on upper-class Cubans, or was a retention from colonial times is difficult to determine.
Fidel Castro was an avid baseball player who pitched for the University of Havana in the 1940's and attended games at El Gran Estadio del Cerro in Havana. In 1959, Castro committed to financing the Havana Sugar Kings, which won the Junior World Series in that year. As president, Castro implemented a system in which ball players could be locally sourced by state-sponsored programs. These programs allowed for young athletes to enhance their abilities. Every two to three years, players would be promoted to different levels based on skill. Parents were encouraged to place particularly talented children in the program at an early age. Children who participated in these programs were sometimes offered amenities such as more comfortable living, opportunities to travel and compete, pocket money, access to better food, etc. Placing a young generation in such state-controlled camps allowed for the regime to foster a new generation of loyalists.
In 1960s the government abolished all professional sports on the island. Sports were viewed as opposing the principles of the Cuban Revolution. With this thought in mind, the ideas of sport were altered to better coincide with the ideology of the Revolution. To reshape baseball was a difficult task. The idea of tradition had to be demolished and rebuilt. Rewriting Cuban baseball history by connecting the president to the glory years of the Amateur Leagues began to take shape and reflect revolutionary ideas. From then on, baseball and sports in Cuba were meant to encourage cooperation among nations, represent national pride, and promote fitness and military preparedness. Through sports, Cubans were able to feel personally involved in the nation building, socialization, and political integration of the revolution. Fidel Castro said, "e can say that our athletes are the children of our Revolution and, at the same time, the standard-bearers of that same Revolution."
In the 1960s, once amateur baseball became the main focus, there was a strong desire to play and participate in sports. Cuban baseball shed its commercial skin and sought out to advance the social and political aims of the revolution via sport. The organization of the game and role baseball led in society was transformed. Changes were revolutionary and discrimination in amateur baseball was abolished. The reorganization of baseball after 1961, the durability and expansion of the structure of baseball, construction of new stadiums, and the production of players are all significant results the Revolution had on Cuban sports. The island has remained the powerhouse of world amateur baseball since this time.