OAKLAND–We are living during an era of instant communication, but very little details can twitter offer in 140 characters. There is a lot of miss-information regarding baseball and Cuba, there are people in the United States that are organizing tours to Cuba and some Americans, mostly millenniums, are discovering that baseball is the main sport in the largest island in the Caribbean. I have gotten unsolicited e-mails from some of the people organizing these trips to the island, advertising baseball like it was a “new thing” in Cuba. Here is a little history.

On December 29, 1878, the first game is played between two teams of the first professional baseball league in Cuba, later known as the Cuban League. Representing the city of Havana, the Habana club faced off against their greatest rivals, a club from the neighboring suburb of Almendares. Habana, coached by Esteban Bellán, the first Cuban to play professional baseball in the United States, won that inaugural game 21-20.Baseball had first been introduced in Cuba around 1864, when students returned home from studying in the United States and introduced their fellow Cubans to the greatest game on earth. The sport quickly gained in popularity, prompting the creation of the Cuban League in 1878. At a time when Cuba was struggling to win its independence from Spain, baseball became an important part of the Cuban national identity. Cubans also helped spread the sport throughout the Caribbean region and into Latin America, particularly the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Cubans were truly pioneers for Latin America when it came to the game of baseball.

The Cuban League grew over the years from 1878 to 1959, evolving into a successful winter league that produced many great players. A number of them also played in the U.S. major leagues, although one of the island’s biggest stars, Martín Dihigo, was only allowed to play in the Negro leagues due to the color ban that existed in U.S. baseball until 1947. Things changed in 1959, when Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and abolished all professional sports. As a child I remember my father Joaquin taking me to thoise games in that professional winter league made of, four(4)teams who played during weekend: Leones del Habana, Alacranes del Almendares, Tigres de Marianao y Elefantes de Cienfuegos. After Fidel Castro banned all professional sports,the Cuban League was replaced with the current national baseball system, all played at the amateur level. The level of talent was high, and Cuba won the first two gold medals awarded in baseball at the Olympics, in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.

With the aging Castro still firmly entrenched in power, some 50 Cuban players defected to the United States to play baseball between 1991 and 2001, including the celebrated pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez.But Cubans lost all freedom of free enterprise, free expression as well as travel and Cuba suffered a blockade from the United States. However, during the time of the US blockade, Cuba did business with many industrialized countries in Europe as well as Asia. Yet,the communism system in the island destroyed all further development, one of the reasons when you visit Cuba you will see dilapidated buildings, 1950’s American cars and such. This was not by “design”, Cubans do not collect these all cars as a hobby, like we do in the US, they had to repair them and maintain them because they had to survive under a system of government that was a total failure, socially and economically.

Since then many other Cuban players have defected including; Jose Abreu, Yoenis Cespedes, Aroldis Chapman and dozens of others. From the early 1960’s and until 1989, when the wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed with their system of communism Cuba was sponsored by the Soviets, to the tune of billions of dollars per year and the Cubans did very well during the Olympic games, because under that system of government the youth was brainwashed and many recluted to play sports for the homeland.

Today Cuba is left to survive by itself, and their main source of revenue is tourism, which is opening in the island as cruise ships and airliners are traveling once again from the United States to the island. Although before diplomatic relations were lifted between the two counties (USA and Cuba) Cuba was already getting tourism from Europe and other parts of the world, but American tourism is always proven to be the most lucrative and many are now visiting the island, with great curiosity.

Although since the 1870’s governments in Cuba have ‘come and gone’, there is one constant that remains in the island, beisbol.

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