I got this email from Tito Rondon the other day:
Thanks to you, I have found the first Spaniards who played baseball at the professional level. Following one of your links, I read the book El Base Ball en Cuba y América, by Ramón de Mendoza, Manuel Calcines and José María Herrero. On pages 21 and 28 the players who founded Almendares are mentioned. Then on p. 42, bingo: Antonio Alzola and Leonardo Ovies “were two Peninsulars [my note: Spaniards] who were the catcher and the firstbaseman of Club Almendares.” Elsewhere it states that they were pretty good. It shows also the universal appeal of baseball.
Historians and sociologists insist that baseball replaced bullfighting as the national sport in Cuba as a symbol of independence and getting closer to the new ideals in the United States. Which is all very nice, except that nobody in Cuba thought of bullfighting as a sport (you will never find it in the Sports section in Spanish newspapers, plus it is usually described as a “fiesta brava,” somewhat like a celebration or dance showing bravery). So it could not be replaced by one, except as an avocation or hobby.
[…]
And, by the way, it has never been established that supposed Spanish big leaguer Alfredo “Pájaro” Cabrera was born in the Canary Islands; it is theorized that 1) he was trying to avoid being thought of as a mulato (half Black) from Cuba, or 2) that he was really born in Spain and he was brought to Cuba as a baby. I suppose all this means I have to investigate Gregorio Solis (first Spanish minor leaguer circa 1957?), Alberto Pardo, and recent minor leaguers Gaby Valarezo and Xavier Civit. And hurry; like the other European countries they are “nationalizing” Argentinians, Cubans, and Americans in order to compete against pros...
Tito
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