The Miami Marlins will be debuting their new uniforms celebrating the legacy of the Cuban Sugar Kings. The Marlins will wear the uniforms beginning this Saturday at Loan Depot Park in Miami (Photo from Periodico Cubano)

Miami Marlins Celebrate Cuban Sugar Kings with Uniforms

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Let’s Celebrate!!!! The Miami Marlins are celebrating the Cuban Sugar Kings legacy and the influence of Cuba and baseball in Latin America as they will wear uniforms this coming weekend against the New York Mets at Loan Depot Park their home adjacent to Miami’s “Little Havana”.

The club announced they will also be celebrating Cuba’s Independence from Spain, which took place on May 20, 1902. El 20 de Mayo falls on a Thursday which the Marlins will celebrate this Saturday. About the uniforms, which are a collaboration with Nike and MLB, as Juan Martínez, Director of Events and Promotions from the Miami Marlins told me; “we are all very proud of taking the field with them this weekend and beyond for years to come”.

The Marlins will also wear the uniform at least once per month for the remainder of the 2021 season. The Cuban Sugar Kings were the first and only Major League Baseball franchise outside the United States; they played from 1954 to 1960 in Havana on the old Triple A International League, until 1960 when the communist government of Cuba eradicated all professional sports, including baseball.

Their motto was “un paso más y llegamos” trans- “one more step and we arrive”. Future stars as Octavio (Cookie) Rojas, Leonardo (Leo) Cárdenas and Tony González played for the Sugar Kings, which were also managed by Cuban-born and later the first manager of the San Diego Padres, Cuban-born Preston Gómez.

After being thrown out of Cuba by the government, the franchise moved to New Jersey in 1962 and Jacksonville, which today is the Marlins Triple A affiliate. The Marlins are the first team to celebrate the Cuban Sugar Kings and their heritage.

With some 25 Cuban players in the Major Leagues today, the largest island in the Caribbean was the pioneer as far as baseball talent is concerned coming to the United States. Esteban Bellán, born in La Habana, Cuba is recognized as the first Latin American player to appear at the big league level in 1871 with the Troy Haymakers of the old National Association, before it became the National League in 1876. Today, 150 years after Bellán played in the US, close to 30 percent of all major league baseball players are of Hispanic Heritage.

Stay well and stay tuned.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com