Here is José Méndez’s early career, according to Roberto González Echevarría:
By 1905 [Méndez, then 18 years old,] was in Sagua la Grande, farther east of Havana, playing for a club significantly named Patria (Fatherland). Patria was involved in a championship that included Remedios and Caibarién, towns, like Sagua la Grande, on the
southernnorthern coast of the old Las Villas Province [my mistake, not in the original]….In 1907 Bebé Royer, Marsans, Armando Cabañas, Jabuco Hidalgo, and other Almendares players went to earn a few extra dollars by playing in that provincial championship (professionals continued to do this throughout the forties and fifties). Royer was charged with looking at a Remedios pitcher who was being touted by people as a phenom. Bebé repoted back to Pájaro Cabrera, who was then managing Almendares, that there was a scrawny black kid playing short (he was apparently 5 feet, 9 inches and 150 pounds) who, when he pitched in relief, showed speed, uncanny control, and a snapping curve. Méndez was signed at once by Almendares… (The Pride of Havana, pp. 129-30).
So Méndez started his professional career in a league we’ve seen before. In 1915, it was referred to in La Lucha as La Liga Federal Cubana, and its champion team then was none other than Remedios. David Skinner has pointed out that I misinterpreted the description “celebrado en las Villas,” which certainly refers specifically to Las Villas Province.
It so happens that on November 9, 1907, La Lucha printed a box score of a Las Villas championship game. The contest involved Sagua and Remedios, and playing third for the latter team is one “Méndez”:
There are several other well-known names here, notably the Remedios battery of (Gonzalo) Sánchez and (Juan) Violá, both well-known Cuban League players (as the game story points out). Interestingly, Sagua boasted an Irish double play combination. The story also says that this game is part of the “‘champion’ concertado entre las novenas Caibarién, Camajuaní, Sagua y Remedios.”
The English page of La Lucha has this note, on November 7, 1907:
A Cuban Island League has been formed, and it looks as though the whole country has gone baseball mad. Several of the Havana star players, such as Viola, Carillo, Perez, and others have gone to the interior, and cast their fortunes with different clubs.
On December 17, 1907, La Lucha reported these records for “El Campeonato de Las Villas”:
Caibarién: 5-1
Remedios: 5-2
Canajuani: 2-4
Sagua: 1-6
On December 30, 1907, La Lucha mentioned these players as members of the Caibarién team who were leaving to take part in the campeonato nacional: Conrado Rodríguez (nicknamed “General Sagua”), Juan Quiveiro, and Pedro Olave.
On January 4, 1908, La Lucha reported two games as “los últimos juegos celebrados en las Villas en opción al campeonato de la provincia”: an 11-5 victory by Remedios over Sagua on December 29, and a 1-0 win by Caibarién over Sagua on January 1. I assume this means these were the last games of the season. Unfortunately, I wasn’t looking for this particular league, so I cut off the final standings in my photocopy (though I can easily check the next time I’m at the library).
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