Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba

Book Description: The Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1947 so Jackie Robinson could practice safely. Yet that was hardly the beginning: the Bums played in Cuba over 60 seasons, from 1900 to 1959. Ballplayers drank hard with Hemingway. Some found themselves in Cuban jails. Pitcher Van Lingle Mungo, barricaded in the Hotel Nacional with two women, fended off an angry husband (and his machete). Leo Durocher got into a brawl with an umpire, after Lippy's translator correctly cursed him in Spanish. Vin Scully watched machine gun-toting barbudos enter the room. An outfielder leaped into the stands, with a loaded gun, to chase a fan. Several players encountered Fidel Castro, who once walked onto the field in his fatigues, patted his pistol, and said to Lefty Locklin, "Tonight, we win."

Author Bio: Jim Vitti has written several baseball books and received the Sporting News/Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Award in 2004. He longs for the day when Havana can rejoin the International League.

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JG: This book is superb! I got my copy on the mail on Saturday. It has a big treasure of outstanding photos of great MLB players while they were "spring training" in Havana. If you like Cuba and baseball, this book belongs in your library.

Willie 'Say Hay Kid' Mays - Almendares - Cuba - Béisbol

The Say Hey Kid
as an Almendarista

Injury kept Willie Mays from playing for Almendares in 1950-51 [at cubanbeisbol.blogspot.com]

Friday, May 6, 2011

Happy 80th birthday Willie Mays.

Willie Mays Statistics and History

For a guy who never had a single plate appearance or got to play a single inning in the field in the Cuban League, there certainly are lots of images of him in an Almendares uniform.

The photo, at the top of this post, on Feb. 13, 2009.
sold for $377.18 at Goodwin and Co.

Mays was on the 1950-51 Almendares roster along with players such as Conrado Marrero, who turned 100 on April 25, 2011; Tommy Lasorda, Willy Miranda and Negro leaguers Lenny Pearson and Terris McDuffie.

But an ankle injury kept him off the field.

Too bad for Almendares, which lost the Cuban League pennant by one game to archrival Habana.

Labels: Almendares, Baseball, Cuba, History, Willie Mays

More Willie Mays photos at Academy of Achievement

Images for Photos of Willie Mays at Google

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JG: One year after Willie Mays was proudly wearing the uniform of Almendares, I switched my allegiance from being a Leones de La Habana fan and proceeded to join the legions of fans of the Alacranes del Almendares. It was a very sad year, that 1952. The U.S. favorite "democrat," General Fulgencio Batista had staged a coup on March 10, which would destroy the last vestiges of civility and democracy in the Caribbean Island. On January 1st, 1959, rebel forces led by Fidel and Raul Castro, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and others, would liberate the island from the U.S. supported puppet. CUBA WAS FINALLY FREE!