by Amaury Pi Gonzalez
OAKLAND–This week José Abreu was named American League Rookie of the Year. The Chicago White Sox first baseman won the honors as he finished the season with a .317 average 36 home runs and 107 runs batted in, if the White Sox had won the Central Division, José Abreu would have been in contention to win the Most Valuable Player, and you can make an argument that even with his team finishing in fourth place, Abreu’s performance is among the very best in baseball.
Other Cuban-born players, like the extremely talented Yasiel Puig, with the big market Los Angeles Dodgers got much more publicity than José Abreu, there is little doubt that Abreu had the best season among the newly arrived talented crop of players born in the largest island of the Antilles. A lot of the young people in this country are “rediscovering Cuba”, like it is a new place for baseball, but that could not be anything further from the truth.
For Cuba, baseball is nothing new. The first ever Hispanic player to play professional baseball in the United States was Esteban Bellán.
Bellán was born in La Habana Cuba in 1850. Bellán and his brother were sent to the United States to study at Fordham, a Jesuit institution. In 1868, after his time at Fordham, Bellán played for the Unions of Morrisania, a New York team.
In 1869 Bellán joined the Troy Haymakers for whom he played third base until 1872. In 1871 the Haymakers joined the National Association, which became the National League in 1876. The Haymakers later became the New York Giants, now the San Francisco Giants.The Esteban Bellán story is part of history as well as what happened in Cuba when Fidel Castro took over power over 50 years ago and eradicated all professional sports in the country, after declaring his government a Marxist-Leninist system of government, and since has remained a communist dictatorship. Cubans have been playing baseball,even before Fidel Castro’s father was born.
Major League Baseball has a rich tradition of Hispanic players, and Cubans are back in force, as part of the mix in today’s game. Many of these Cuban players arriving escaped in man made crafts and left the country in the middle of the night.
Many of the new crop of Cuban players had to risk their lives in order to come and play in the United States. Previous to the current system in Cuba, players like Orestes “Minnie”Miñoso, Camilo Pascual, Leo Cárdenas, Zoilo Versalles, Pedro Ramos, Tony Taylor, Octavio”Cookie”Rojas, Frank”Panchón”Herrera, Julio Béquer, Mike Fornieles and many others played in Major League Baseball, but even with previous dictatorships in Cuba, they were allowed to travel in and out of the island.
That is not possible in today’s Cuba and that is why most of these Cuban players arriving now,have to defect while they are playing outside their country, or escape in small boats looking for that opportunity of playing here, in the Major Leagues. For any baseball player the ultimate goal is to play here in the best baseball league in the world. These two countries are separated geographically by 90 miles, but in ideology by 10,000 miles.
Dozens of Cubans have defected, and not all made it to the Major Leagues, but today Yoenis Céspedes, Yasiel Puig, José Abreu, José Fernández, Aroldis Chapman, and others are part of the names in box scores during the regular season which media and fans are very familiar.
The young Yasmani Tomas is part of the new breed, the 23 year old has been pursued by at least six different teams and could be the next signing. Maybe by the time you read this article he already has a contract. Also,a 19 year old that has been working out in Guatemala, by the name of Yoan Moncada,(considered a phenom), there are reports of at least 60 Major League scouts who went to Guatemala to see the kid.
The Los Angeles Angels recently signed 20 year old Cuban-born infielder Roberto Baldoquin to a record-breaking $8 million signing bonus. In 2004 the Angels signed Kendrys Morales, making that the last time the Angels dived into the Cuban-player market. By the way, this season Yoslan Herrera pitched for the Angels, he was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, the land of the great Tony Oliva. Cuban Rusney Castillo, who signed with the Boston Red Sox is now going to play for the Caguas team of the Puerto Rican Winter League.
Back in 1980 the Mariel Boat-lift brought a group of players, among them Bárbaro Garbey,who played third base for the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, so Cubans have been leaving the island for decades now, but what is different now is this “steady stream” of players arriving, which is more like and invasion of the “Y”< A lot of these Cuban players have first names that begin with the letter "Y".
I have asked many of them,-more of that later- and they really do not know. What we do know is that until the collapse of the Soviet Union 25 years ago in 1989, the Soviet influence was big in Cuba, since the former communist super power was supporting Cuba to the tune of billions of dollars each year. It is possible that because of the failure of that system, that the Cuban government now "looks the other way" and is just about conceding that they cannot keep these talented players in Cuba.
Yuniesky Betancourt, was one of the first I remember(with the first name beginning with a Y) when he was at the Seattle Mariners Spring Training camp in Peoria, Arizona, before his first year,(2005) I asked him,if he knew why he and many of his compatriots had names that began with the letter Y. He really didn't know. Although this is not any kind of scientific study,I came to the conclusion, simply common sense, that it was the result of these players were born during or recently after the collapse of the Soviet Union. While many of these names are not Russian, they are a combination of Russian and Cuban cultures. But there is no doubt, the Y is now a very popular letter in the baseball dictionary.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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