Baseball in Cuba

One of Cuban Baseball History: Athens, Cuba

Taiwan Province fans adore and are infatuated with Cuban baseball, but their understanding of the history of Cuban baseball is not as good as that of the United States and Japan. Ball critic Huang Chengfu once wrote the book Red Lightning Cuba, and Boston also published articles about the history of Cuban baseball. The details are still very limited. Founder Dong, a reporter from Minsheng Daily who visited Cuba, mentioned in his report that Cuba "1started playing baseball in the late 9th century" and pointed out that 1878 held the first Cuba National Baseball Competition, which made me very excited and more motivated to uncover the mystery of Cuba's "ancient" baseball. I began to sort out the information collected in recent years, hoping that by exploring the development track of Cuba's early baseball, fans can get a closer understanding of Cuban baseball and its cultural charm!

The origin of baseball all over the world is related to the United States. When talking about the origin of Cubans, the Cuban writer Lechka Bentiel readily replied that Cubans all came from ships. Cuban baseball also comes from "boats". 15 10 year, the Spanish expedition crossed the ocean to Cuba, slaughtered Indian aborigines and colonized them. Sugar, coffee, tobacco and slaves have become Cuba's four "crops". Western trade ships frequently enter and leave Cuban ports, especially the American fleet, which is geographically adjacent and imports baseball earlier than other countries.

Legend has it that in 1864, a young Cuban named Nemisio? Nemesio Guillo, who originally studied at Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama, returned to his hometown with a stick and a ball, and demonstrated and introduced this game, which opened the eyes of the villagers. Then, in June of 1866, an American cargo ship loaded sugar in the port of matanzas, Cuba. One day, American sailors invited Cubans to play a game called baseball. Cubans joked that Americans wanted to sell them baseball equipment, but they helped them build a stadium in Palma del Jonko, and baseball gradually spread all over Cuba.

Cuba is only about145km away from key west, the southernmost tip of Florida, and people's exchanges are convenient. Esteban "Steve" Bellan, a Cuban student at Fordham University in new york, is learning baseball skills at school. 187 1 In the first year, he joined the League of Nations and played second and third bases for Troy Haymakers. Defending is better than attacking.

/kloc-at the end of 0/874, Havana and matanzas held a game in "Palma de Junko", which was the first game recorded in history. Steve Beran of Havana hit two home runs, but only in the seventh inning. Because it was too dark, Havana led matanzas by 5 1 9. The Cuban Athens team in Havana is the first officially organized Cuban team on record.

1878 65438+In February, former major league players Steve Beran and Emilio Sabolin formed the Cuban Professional League, which consisted of Havana, matanzas and Almendarez. It is the second largest professional league in the world, second only to the National League (1876 was founded in the United States). In the opening match, Havana narrowly beat Elmendares by 2 1:20. In the end, the Havana team won the championship with four wins and one loss. Steve Beran, the main player and manager, came back from America to promote baseball. Due to the income of the alliance, it was provided to the Cuban independent guerrillas who broke away from Spanish colonial rule and was seized by the Spanish Governor's Office. Emilio Sabolin, a key figure in the League, was sentenced to prison!

Cuban Giants: The Second History of Cuban Baseball

The historical evolution of Cuba is somewhat similar to that of Taiwan Province Province. The aborigines living on the island are Indians. By the15th century, the Spanish landed, gradually immigrated and occupied Cuba, and claimed that Cuba belonged to the Spanish Empire. Since the beginning of the19th century, Cuba's independence movements have been launched frequently, among which the ten-year war of independence from 1868 to 1878 was the fiercest, forcing Spain to grant Cuba autonomy. At this time, however, the United States, which regarded Cuba as the "back garden", pretended to defend Cuba's independence and declared war on Spain. Spain lost, the two countries signed the Paris Treaty in 1989, and Cuba's sovereignty fell into the hands of the United States. Therefore, in the political, economic, cultural and social aspects, Cuba is greatly influenced by these two great powers.

Cuban baseball is undoubtedly inherited from the United States. Early baseball rules, equipment, venues, etc. Not as complete and complicated as it is today. The pitcher is a supporting role, and pitching can only be from the bottom up? Close to the current slow base, the batter can ask the pitcher to pitch, such as higher, lower, left and right, etc. The rules of the ball are not good or bad, unless the batter can't hit the ball or the ball is caught on the second rebound, it is normal to play in a high ratio; 1873 The United States played ten-a-side baseball, and there was a defender named "Right Short" between the first base and the second base. In less than a year, it changed back to nine-a-side baseball.

The early baseball games and rules in Cuba were the same as those in the United States, but they were completely different from the black discrimination in the United States in terms of racial attitude. Cuba is a melting pot of races. There are whites born in Spain and Europe, blacks enslaved in Africa, and black Indians. Chinese workers who go to China are all yellow-skinned, so there is no problem of racial exclusion. In Cuba, people of all colors can play baseball together. Castro is Hispanic and white.

Cuba's baseball history is very well preserved. For example, George McCullar, an American who plays in the Cuban League, is the catcher of the Cologne team and hit the first home run of the Cuban League in Havana on1October 23rd,1879+165438; On February 25th, 65438, Carlos Marcia, the pitcher of Elmendares, created the first bunt (not for sacrifice). He also set a record for the first clean race of 1886. He beat the Flying Cubans (Fe) 0 16: 0 and got only three hits.

1882, the iron pill of Josimar? A horse became the first batter to open the bow left and right. He kept all nine defensive positions, with a pitching record of 4 wins and 3 losses and a batting average of 225. In the same year, two semi-professional teams set a "world record" of 60 mistakes in a single game. According to the official records of the Cuban Union, the first strike king was Vinceslo Galvez, and the strike rate in 1886 was 345%.

From 1886 to 1887, a paid all-black team named Cuban Giants appeared, which was very popular when touring all over the world, but its boss, Frank P.Thompson, was not born and raised in Cuba. He used to be the head waiter of argyle Hotel in Babylon, new york. He often entertains the players of Keystone and occasionally plays with them. Later, he found some of them to go to Cuba to form a tour of Cuban giants.