Baseball in Cuba

History of baseball in Cuba

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.

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 (1863–1868). 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.

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.

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 Northern 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 (who were both enshrined in the United States' National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006). 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 multi ethical 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 Latin American players.

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. (In writing about amateur baseball in Cuba, Professor Roberto González Echevarría refers "specifically [to] the game played by social clubs who played in the Amateur League", as opposed to the semi professional and sugarmill teams.) 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. The growth of education in Cuba led to the decline of amateur baseball. As the players became more educated, they attempted to bypass the amateur level of ball and head straight for the professional leagues. Fidel Castro was a keen baseballer 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. By the end of 2014, approximately 30 subsequent Cuban defectors had signed MLB contracts totaling just under $500 million.

In 1999, the Cuba national baseball team played a two game exhibition series against the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. This marked the first time the Cuba national team played against an MLB team, and the first time an MLB team played in Cuba since 1959. The Orioles won the first game, which was held in Havana, while the Cuba national team won the second game, which was held in Baltimore. In December 2014, the United States and Cuba began to re establish diplomatic relations. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred entered into discussions to hold an exhibition game between an MLB team and the Cuba national team in 2016. The Tampa Bay Rays played the Cuba national baseball team on March 22, 2016, in Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cuba national baseball team, 4 to 1. The game was attended by U. S. President Barack Obama, Cuba President Raul Castro and Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson. In January 2019, pitcher Matthew McLaughlin joined the Plaza club in Havana's provincial league, believing himself to be the first American to play in Cuba's national baseball system in over 60 years.

Baseball was brought into Cuba by those returning from America in the late 1800s. While Americans may not have intended for baseball to become popular in Cuba, the sport had become a large part of the culture not just for the game but for what it represented to Cubans at the time. According to Rob Ruck in his article "Baseball's Global Diffusion", the meaning of the United States to the people of Cuba, "a fresh, democratic vision of [Cubans] future", was transferred to the sport (Ruck 200). However, the racial segregation that was prevalent in the United States in the 1900s affected some people of Cubas ability to play baseball. While in Cuba, there was no racial segregation in the game, dark skinned and black players were unable to play in any minor or major leagues in the United States. Eventually, this was changed through the influence of Caribbean countries and Mexico, the unavoidable skill of dark skinned and black players, and the shift of racial segregation in the United States. The United States had more influence in the beginning of baseball's journey in the Caribbean but it does not take long for Cuba to take the lead in making changes in baseball from racial segregation to the wages of players.

The Cuba national team represents Cuba in international baseball. There are also a number of other national teams from the Under 12 team to the Under 18 team. In addition, there is a women's national team that represents Cuba in international women's events.