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Baseball was introduced by the 1860’s to Cuba island
by the Cuban students who went to the United States
for further studies and the American sailors who
anchored in the Cuban ports at that time. Nemisio
Guillo was the first student in 1864 returning to
the homeland bringing in his luggage the first bat
and baseball after his studies in the Mobile,
Alabama.
Afterwards two more Cubans, one of them
being Ernesto, the brother of Nemisio Guillo, were
sent to Mobile for further studies. The two Guillo
brothers together with their friends of this period
formed a club in the year 1868 the Habana Baseball
Club. Their first important victory was against the
sailors of an American ship which was docked in the
Matanzas harbour.
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Some time after, the war of Independence broke out
and by 1869 baseball was banned within the Cuban
territory. The ban provoked a migration of the best
Cuban baseball players to the United States teams.
The Spanish empire saw the mounting importance of
this sport activity within the Cuban community as an
insult as the Cuban citizens neglected attending
bullfights which was an informal allegiance to the
colonialist power and a legacy of the Spanish
culture upon Cuba. Baseball due to the ban became a
popular game thus symbolising freedom of the Cuban
nation against the colonial rule.
The first official baseball match was held in
Pueblo, Matanaz at Palmar del Junco pitch on
December 27, 1874. The opposing teams were Club
Matanzas and club Habana. It took four years to the
Cuban baseball to organise itself and the Cuban
league had three teams the Habana, Matanzas and
Almendares evolving. The players, all white, were
amateurs but soon developed to match international
standards.
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The Spanish –American War brought many opportunities
to the Cuban baseball teams enabling them to play
against American teams and by 1900 the teams of the
Cuban League also admitted black players. By this
time some of the top players of the Negro Leagues of
Northern America came to play in Cuban teams and by
1920 some even come to spend all their winter season
playing in Cuba with the Cuban baseball being at its
best.
Cuban Baseball Federation regulates this
sport in Cuba and holds National
championships. In all provinces, baseball
teams made up of amateur punctuate the life
of the Cuban citizens as well as being part
of their folklore. The Cuba National
Baseball team is made up of amateurs as
there are no professional players in Cuba
and are affiliated to the Cuban National
League. |
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The players are recruited
by national championships in the country. Since the
1992, Cuba has been participating in the summer
Olympic Games. In the four games held they have won
three gold medals and a silver one evolving in the
high spheres of international baseball teams.
The Cuban team also played in 2006 World Baseball
Classic against Japan and lost 10-6 in March 2006
placing them in a good position in the history of
baseball world wide. |
