by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–Cuban players in baseball were the pioneers from Latin America. The very first professional baseball player from Latin America to play organized baseball in the United States was Esteban Bellán, between 1871 and 1873, with the Troy Haymakers of the New York Mutuals, for a total of 59 games at third base, shortstop and outfield.

Bellan played for the National Association, -later the National League, as we know it today. Bellán originally came to the United States to attend Fordham University in New York City, played there and then his next step was as a professional baseball player. Other Cubans that followed at the start of the 1900’s, one of the most famous was Adolfo Luque, who pitched for 20 years and in 1923 with the Cincinnati Reds won 27 lost 8 with a 1.93 earned run average. He would have been the first Hispanic to be awarded the Cy Young Award, but that award was not given (for the first time) until 1956 when Don Newcome won it with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was 27-7 with a 3.06 earned run average.

Cuban players were in the United States since then, and until the US and Cuba (governments of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Fidel Castro Ruz) broke relations. In December 1961, Castro made clear what most U.S. officials already believed. In a televised address on December 2, Castro declared, “I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life. The US could not tolerate a communist country just 90 miles away from its shores, so since then there have been no (nada) relations between the two countries. The diplomatic break on January 3, 1961 was the culmination of an increasingly acrimonious situation. This was at the height of the Cold War.

Moving the clock past a few decades, here we are today, and all-of-a-sudden Cuban players are “fashionable”again in the Major Leagues. Many students do not understand this history here in the United States(very little if any at all, is teached in our schools) and there is a belief that under Fidel Castro’s over half-century dictatorship Cuba has made great strides in the game of baseball.

But a good argument would be that because of it’s geographic proximity to the US and it’s very similar western culture and past history, Cuba was going to continue with its tradition of great baseball players with or without Castro. As a Cuban-born person, I can tell you we had previous dictators to Castro, and we still developed great baseball players.

The difference with Castro is that he followed the Soviet Communist policies, and the government sponsored all sports. Castro eliminated pro sports in the island, ALL sports, not only béisbol. Right after the US and Cuba broke diplomatic relations many Cuban players came into the US and today there is another Cuban exodus taking place, with Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Céspedes, Abreu, Ramírez, Viciedo Grantal, Aroldis Chapman and many many others. We have over 20 Cuban players today in the major leagues.

A lot of people constantly asked me: are there any new Cuban players in the horizon? So here it is.

According to my sources, very involved in this endeavor.The next Cubans to keep an eye on are outfielder Yasmany Tomas (Industriales), infielder Yoan Moncada (Cienfuegos), and second baseman Hector Olivera (Santiago). Olivera just left Cuba within the past few days, while the other two left a few months ago. Olivera had the best Cuban career of the three (by far), but he’ll be 30 next April. Moncada is the best pure prospect of the three (he’s only 19 or 20), while Tomas is a 24-year-old slugger who strikes out a lot.

I will have more in the future.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the LA Angels and is the Spanish radio voice for A’s baseball and does News and Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com