(Adolfo Luque Cuban Pioneer 1920’s Cincinnati Reds photo from the author Amaury Pi Gonzalez)
The Bambino in Cuba in 1920 – Meeting Professor González-Echevarría —
That’s Amaury News and Commentary-
Amaury Pi-González
Babe Ruth visited and played baseball in Havana, Cuba, in October 1920. He played a series of games with the New York Giants against Cuban teams Habana and Almendares, earning $20,000 (equivalent to $260,280 in 2020) for the appearance.
His first game was on October 30, 1920, where he played center field. They played two games in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second largest city, at the Cuban Park. Ruth loves to gamble and visited El Hipódromo Oriental Park, also Jai Alai, staying at the Hotel Plaza in room #216. According to reports from the Cuban media, he spent almost all the money he made playing in Cuba and lost it in the casinos.
At the end of the series, he ended with a .345 average, two home runs, a triple, and a double. As Babe Ruth is part of the great history of baseball, his trip to Cuba during the 1920s brought to my mind a friend and professor who was also born in Cuba, as we met in New York.
During the 1998 baseball season, as I was working as a play-by-play announcer in Spanish for the San Francisco Giants, I had the pleasure of meeting. Professor Roberto González-Echevarría, a Cuban-born critic of Latin American literature and culture and Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature at Yale University.
A man whom I had always admired. In the typical tradition of Cuban baseball writers, he is a remarkable man, a teacher at Yale University. We share many memories of Cuba from past years; speaking with him is always a pleasure and to me he is a treasure.
Professor Roberto González Echevarría and I met in the Press Box at the Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets. He asked me if I could introduce him to Giants manager Dusty Baker. We went to the Giants’ dressing room and Dusty’s manager’s office, where I introduced the professor to Dusty.
It was an enlightening conversation among the three of us, with González-Echevarría doing most of the questioning for a project the author was working on. I always enjoyed my friendship with the professor, and my favorite of his books, “The Pride of Havana,” A History of Cuban Baseball.
In that book, he documented the great Adolfo Luque’s career, who pitched in the 1920s in the Major Leagues and had a sensational season in 1923 with the Cincinnati Reds when he finished with a record of 27-8 and a 1.93 ERA, started 41 games, and completed 37 games. Towards the end of his baseball career, I remember attending the games in Cuba with my father when Luque managed the Leones del Habana of the old Cuban Professional League..
González-Echevarría’s books, from Cuba’s José Martí to Cervantes’ Don Quixote to books about baseball in the United States and Cuba, are great reads for everybody. My favorite is”The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball,” where he highlights Adolfo Luque, a historical Cuban pitcher.
As published in 1999 and winning the Dave Moore Award in 2000. It is an excellent contribution to Cuban baseball history and culture. Cuban players (not black) were some of the first Latino pioneers to make it to the Big Leagues, Like Adolfo Luque, who pitched for 20 years (1913-1935)
A Piece of History: Bullfights and Baseball are deeply rooted in Cuban history. Cuba’s independence from Spain came in 1902. The Spanish colonizers of the island wanted Cubans to master Bullfighting, but after Cuba gained its independence, the Americans taught Cubans the game of baseball. Cubans were enamored with the great baseball game (“la pelota,” as we call it in Cuba) and forgot about bullfighting. Cuba was a pioneer of baseball in Latin America.
Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.
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