The two videos in my two previous posts are cool, but one of my favorite photos that captures the atmosphere of a baseball game at El Gran Estadio de la Habana comes from this Life magazine archives available on Google, a photo taken by Mark Kauffman in 1951. More than 200 of his photos can be accessed by typing “cuban baseball kauffman” into the search window.

The two videos in my two previous posts are cool, but one of my favorite photos that captures the atmosphere of a baseball game at El Gran Estadio de la Habana comes from this Life magazine archives available on Google, a photo taken by Mark Kauffman in 1951. More than 200 of his photos can be accessed by typing “cuban baseball kauffman” into the search window.

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This vimeo.com video show the amateur baseball championship at Vedado Tennis Club. Unlike the professional Cuban League, where black and white players shared the same fields since its beginnings in the late 1800s, Cuba’s amateur ranks were not fully integrated. Many amateur teams were affilated with exlusive private clubs, such as Vedado Tennis Club, whose members were weathy Cuban families. The clothing worn by fans suggests this footage is from the 1920s or ’30s.

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Many thanks to a reader of this blog from Cuba. He alerted me to this amazing video from a Cuban newsreel of the 1959 Junior World Series between the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League and the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. The series took place in the months following Fidel Castro’s rise to power on Jan. 1, 1959. Just the next season, the Sugar Kings were forced to relocate to Jersey City because the revolution put a chill on U.S.-Cuba relations. The newsreel shows Castro in attendance at Havana’s Gran Stadium as the Sugar Kings rally in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 to win the Series. The video is posted at vimeo.com. Hopefully, there will be others to come.

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We’ve devoted several blogs to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ spring training in Havana in 1947 because of Jackie Robinson’s historic presence in Cuba. But that year wasn’t the only time the Dodgers trained in Cuba. And the Life photo archive hosted by Google has dozen’s of photos by William Vandivert documenting the Dodgers’ 1942 spring training in Havana. Type in “Dodgers Havana” in the search window. This is just one of the photos of the Dodgers at Estadio La Tropical. Mananger Leo Durocher is in the foreground.

We’ve devoted several blogs to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ spring training in Havana in 1947 because of Jackie Robinson’s historic presence in Cuba. But that year wasn’t the only time the Dodgers trained in Cuba. And the Life photo archive hosted by Google has dozen’s of photos by William Vandivert documenting the Dodgers’ 1942 spring training in Havana. Type in “Dodgers Havana” in the search window. This is just one of the photos of the Dodgers at Estadio La Tropical. Mananger Leo Durocher is in the foreground.

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Vicente Lopez starred for Almendares

This post is late in coming but I wanted to note that former Cuban League star Vicente Lopez died earlier this month in Miami. He was 83.

Here’s the Spanish-language obituary that ran in Diario Las Americas.

Lopez, who died on July 16, was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 10 Cuban League seasons with Almendares, Cienfuegos, Habana and Marianao, he compiled a 21-16 record with a 3.73 ERA. His best season coming during the 1950-51 season when he led the league with a .700 winning percentage (7-3) while notching a 2.64 ERA with Almendares.

Born in Cotorro, in the province of Havana in 1927, Lopez was 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in three Caribbean World Series (1949, 1950 and ‘57).

A career minor leaguer, Lopez went 8-11 with a 2.71 ERA for the 1952 Havana Cubans and played two seasons with the Havana Sugar Kings.

But he began is professional career in the United States playing against the Havana Cubans, pitching for the Miami Sun Sox of the Florida International League in 1949. That season he won the inaugural game at Miami Stadium, upsetting the perennial pennant winning Cubans, 6-1.

“The only run they got off me, they got with two outs in the ninth inning,” Lopez told me during an interview in 2000. “I never thought the stadium would be filled because Miami was such a small town at that time. There were fans on the field [behind roped-off areas] down the right-field and left-field lines.”

Lopez went 18-9 and 20-6 in his two seasons with the Sun Sox but never made it out of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm system to reach the majors.

Monday, July 26, 2010   ()
On the night of the MLB All-Star Game, here’s a photo from what appears to have been a Cuban League All-Star Game, with players from all four teams — Almendares, Habana, Cienfuegos and Marianao — posing in the same dugout. Among the notable players: Willy Miranda (fourth from left, standing), Sandy Amoros (to Miranda’s right), Minnie Minoso (far left, front row), Camilo Pascual (front row, third from right) and Mike Fornieles (to Pascual’s right).

On the night of the MLB All-Star Game, here’s a photo from what appears to have been a Cuban League All-Star Game, with players from all four teams — Almendares, Habana, Cienfuegos and Marianao — posing in the same dugout.

Among the notable players: Willy Miranda (fourth from left, standing), Sandy Amoros (to Miranda’s right), Minnie Minoso (far left, front row), Camilo Pascual (front row, third from right) and Mike Fornieles (to Pascual’s right).

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Hall of Fame broadcaster Red Barber (right) in Cuba for spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers. This photo is from the University of Florida — Barber’s alma mater — digital library. CMQ and CMBZ (shown on the banner in the background) were among the radio stations that broadcast Cuban League games. The Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1941, 1942 and 1947, the year Jackie Robinson’s bid to break baseball’s color barrier began in Cuba. Barber joined the Dodgers in 1938 and the UF archive doesn’t specify which of those visits is depicted in this photo. Barber, who was born is Missississippi, actually considered quiting when Dodgers president Branch Rickey told him he was considering signing a black player to play for the Dodgers.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Red Barber (right) in Cuba for spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers. This photo is from the University of Florida — Barber’s alma mater — digital library. CMQ and CMBZ (shown on the banner in the background) were among the radio stations that broadcast Cuban League games.

The Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1941, 1942 and 1947, the year Jackie Robinson’s bid to break baseball’s color barrier began in Cuba. Barber joined the Dodgers in 1938 and the UF archive doesn’t specify which of those visits is depicted in this photo.

Barber, who was born is Missississippi, actually considered quiting when Dodgers president Branch Rickey told him he was considering signing a black player to play for the Dodgers.

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June 30: On this date in 1915, Roberto Ortiz was born in Camaguay, Cuba. The 6-foot-4 first baseman, El Gigante, “The Giant” as he was known in Cuba, played six major-league seasons — mostly with the Washington Senators — between 1941-50. He was a star for Almendares in the Cuban League, so much so he was the subject of a 1952 movie, Honor y Gloria: La Vida de Roberto Ortiz, starring Ortiz as himself. It’s pretty cheesy, but it does have brief footage from actualy Cuban League games. Ortiz died in Miami on Sept. 15, 1971 at the age of 56.

June 30: On this date in 1915, Roberto Ortiz was born in Camaguay, Cuba. The 6-foot-4 first baseman, El Gigante, “The Giant” as he was known in Cuba, played six major-league seasons — mostly with the Washington Senators — between 1941-50. He was a star for Almendares in the Cuban League, so much so he was the subject of a 1952 movie, Honor y Gloria: La Vida de Roberto Ortiz, starring Ortiz as himself. It’s pretty cheesy, but it does have brief footage from actualy Cuban League games. Ortiz died in Miami on Sept. 15, 1971 at the age of 56.

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Sandy Amoros, whose catch saved 1955 World Series, died 18 years ago today

June 27: On this date in 1992, Sandy Amoros died at age 62 in Miami, Fla.

Amoros is best remembered for what was the defining moment of the 1955 World Series (shown in this Life magazine photo on the right), his running, one-handing catch of Yogi Berra’s drive down the left field line.

With the Dodgers up 2-0 in the decisive Game 7, Amoros came in as a defensive replacement in left field to start the sixth inning. After the first two Yankee batters of the inning reached base, the left-handed hitting Berra sliced toward the left-field corner for an apparent double that would have tied the game.

Instead, Amoros raced toward the line, extending his gloved right hand at the last instant to snare the drive. He then threw back to the infield, where a relay throw by Pee Wee Reese doubled Gil McDougald off first base.

The Dodgers got the final out of the inning without surrendering a run and would go on to win the franchise’s only World Series title in Brooklyn.

Never more than a part-time player in seven major-league seasons, Amoros was a star in the Cuban League with Almendares and Habana and was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.

Amoros, who went on to live in Tampa, Fla., after his playing days, suffered from diabetes, and doctors amputated part of his left leg in September 1987.

During a 2008 interview, Glorida Mayor, the widow of Cuban baseball legend Agapito Mayor recounted the friendship between Amoros and her husband while the two former players lived in Tampa.

Mayor adored Amoros. He helped him a lot. Amoros was in Tampa for 11 years, and for 11 years Mayor was fighting to help Amoros. When they amputated his leg we were with him in the hospital. Mayor would go every day to the hospital. Mayor would buy his groceries, buy him food until his daughter took him back to Miami. He died in Miami. Mayor loved Amoros, even though there was a big age difference. Amoros started playing just as Mayor was finishing his playing career. But he was so fond of Amoros and Amoros was so fond of Mayor. Amoros used to say that Mayor was his brother. One of the last times, he saw Amoros, Mayor went to get Amoros at his home and took him to the stadium to one of the Cuban legends games. Amoros had a prosthetic leg. He found Amoros and took him to the stadium. Mayor would never leave Amoros behind.

Sunday, June 27, 2010   ()

Rare Cuban baseball card set from 1920s draws plenty of attention, interest

A set of Cuban baseball cards from the 1920s has been garnering a lot of attention in recent days.

The cards, a complete set of the 1924-25 Aguilitas Segundas series, are part of a large collection (900 cards) that featured celebrities from sports and entertainment fields. The set includes 44 players from the Cuban League, including some of the greatest Cuban and Negro league players.

Among them: Cristobal Torriente, Armando Marsans, Pop Lloyd, Jose Mendez, Adolfo Luque, Oscar Charleston, Alejandro Oms, Biz Mackey and Dick Lundy.

Here’s a complete list courtesy of Cubanball.com.

The set sold for $41,434.80 on SPC Auctions.

It was featured in The Miami Herald and in a cool segment on NPR with baseball historian Peter Bjarkman.

Monday, June 14, 2010   ()
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