Federación Cubana de Béisbol y Softball Held 150th Anniversary Game First Official Statistical Baseball Game Being On The Island On December 27

The Federación Cubana de Béisbol y Softball had their 150th-anniversary official statistical game of baseball being held on the island on December 27, resulting in the Club Habana team blanking the Cocodrilos de Matanzas 6-0 at Estadio Palmar de Junco in Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas, Cuba.

The 150th official statistical anniversary game was played with retired Serie Nacional players and current Serie Nacional players. Some coaches were active and on coaching staffs’ of Serie Nacional teams and also were former coaches that participated in the event.

Rigoberto Rosique, Wilfredo Sanchez, Fernando Sanchez, Gaspar Perez, Alfredo Garcia, and Gerardo Rionda were part of the Cocodrilos de Matanzas coaching staff and Pedro Medina, Rodolfo Puente, Antonio Acea, Heriberto Corbea, Jose Elosegui, Ismael Triay and Julian Sarria were part of the Club Habana coaching staff.

No stats were recorded on https://www.beisbolcubano.cu/default or https://www.beisbolencuba.com.

The Cuban government-operated news site, JIT Digital, published an article on the 150th Anniversary game and stated certain accomplishments of players that participated in the game with no stats published.

Juan Manrique, Luis Ferrales, Wilfredo Menendez, Alberto Diaz, Vaisel Acosta, Julio G. Fernandez, Eduardo Cardenas, Marcos Walters, Lazaro Junco, Andres Perez, Arturo Sanchez, Evelio Hernandez, Leonardo Goire, Lazaro Garro, Jonder Martinez, Roberto Alvarez, Eduardo Terry, Tomas Valido, Barbaro R. Amores, Rafael Delgado, Guillermo Tortolo, Jesús Torriente, Luis Fernandez, Barbaro Rosales, and Ignacio Roca were listed on the roster for the Cocodrilos de Matanzas.

The players that were listed on the Club Habana roster were: Frank C. Morejon, Antonio Scull, Joyse Su, Ernesto Sanchez, Yoandry Urgelles, Irakly Chirino, Leonardo Castranza, Ernesto Morilla, Jose A. Soto, Miguel A. Llanes, Andres Moya, Lazaro De La Torre, Wilber Perez, Frank J. Menendez, Rene Espin, Jorge Fumero and Jorge L. Valdes.

The sport was brought to the country in 1864 by Cuban students returning from United States colleges. It were with American sailors who also arrived on the island simultaneously to introduce the game.

On December 27, 1874 the first game that involved stats was played in Cuba on December 27, 1874, in Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas, at Estadio Palmar de Junco, with the Club Habana team beating the Club Matanzas Team 51-9, while former Fordham University player Esteban Bellan cracked three home runs.

Bellan is considered the first Latin American player to play in Major League Baseball the professional leagues back then, and teams structured as the National Association of Base Ball Players with the Union of Morrisania in 1868, the Troy Haymakers from 1869–1870, and the National Association of Professional Baseball Players with the Troy Haymakers from 1871–1872, and the New York Mutuals in 1873.

Bellan was born in Havana, Cuba, and played for Fordham University from 1863-1868 before helping to bring the sport back to the island from the U.S. during that time frame and later organized the Cuban League in 1878 for its first winter league season.

Bellán won three Cuban League championships with Club Habana in 1878–79, 1879–80, and 1882–83 winter league seasons.

Bellan was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame at Estadio LatinoAmericano in Havana, Cuba in 2014 and is not yet in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Notebook: Former Manhattan College player Lou Castro from Medellin, Colombia is considered to be the first MLB player from Latin America to play in the modern era, when he made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 23, 1902, for the Philadelphia Athletics in his only season.

Pedro San was the first recognized Latin American Player from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, to play in the Negro Leagues with the Cuban Stars (East) from 1926–1928 and now registered with cumulative stats and is recognized by Major League Baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Mel Almada from Huatabampo, Mexico, was the first Latin American player to play in MLB in the Modern World Series Era and debuted on September 8, 1933.

Negro League stats registration” refers to the recent action by Major League Baseball (MLB) to officially incorporate statistics from the Negro Leagues into their historical record, meaning that the accomplishments of players from the Negro Leagues between 1920 and 1948 are now considered part of the official MLB record books, allowing for direct comparison with other Major League players throughout history in registration from December 2020 and were added with the help of Seamheads, Retrosheet, the Elias Sports Bureau, and the Negro League Statistical Review Committee.

Baseball References Guide of Stats being elevated with Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues on June 15, 2021:https://www.baseball-reference.com/negro-leagues-are-major-leagues.shtml

MLB added Negro League stats to their database on May 29, 2024.

The first officially recorded baseball game in the United States was played on June 19, 1846 in Hoboken, N.J., at Elysian Fields, when the New York Nine defeated the Knickerbockers 23–1 in four innings.