Baseball universe yearbook 2013 by Universo Béisbol

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BASEBALL UNIVERSE YEARBOOK 2, 2013|LET‘S MAKE BASEBALL A MORE UNIVERSAL GAME.

CONTENTS:  THE SHORT FLIGHT OF CUBAN LEGEND “EL PÁJARO”.  2013 IN PERSPECTIVE (THE GOOD AND THE NOT-SO-GOOD THAT HAPPENED IN 2013).  BASEBALL UNIVERSE ALL-STAR.  SOPHOMORE JINX VS. MVP CANDIDACY: IS WHAT WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR IN MIKE TROUT A HOF CAREER IN THE MAKING?  ARE CUBAN PITCHERS CAUGHT BETWWEN GAME SCORE AND LOW PITCH COUNT?  SABR ARTICLE: THE ORIGINS OF THE PITCHIN ROTATION.  CUBAN BASEBALL VS. MLB: WHO IS ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS?  MICHEL ABREU, FEELING 100% CUBAN

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MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF Baseball Universe is a project that surfaced during the editions 28 and 30 of the Spanish magazine Universo Béisbol, which is also the main publication stored in 4shared, Issuu, and Box.net and the main objective of the homonymous blog.

Editing team of Baseball Universe Chief editor Reynaldo Cruz Díaz Translators Reynaldo Cruz Díaz Yanela González Pérez Columnists Jim Allen Rolando A. Barrueco Eric Bynum Lilian Cid Escalona Gustavo Hidalgo Ton Hofstede (Honorary member) Chris Kabout Norton Lorenzzi Véliz Matt Nadel Andrés Pascual Ibrahín Sánchez Reynaldo Cruz Díaz Design Reynaldo Cruz Díaz Promotions Odette Fernández López Photos Rob Jelsma Fotografie Javier Mola Hernández Ismael Francisco González Arceo Internet sources universobeisbol@yahoo.com E-mail reycd321@gmail.com Web http://universobeisbol.wordpress.com Founding date March 23rd, 2010

BASEBALL UNIVERSE Dear readers: Things did not turn out the way we expected and unfortunately the Baseball Unvierse English Yearbook is not coming out until today (it should have come by mid February), which is why we would like to start by apologizing because of the delay. Many of the problems we faced were out of our reach to solve, including several technological issues in both connection and hardware matters. Therefore, there is no excuse, but for the time being, we are bringing a much smaller English magazine, compared to the one you had the chance to read about a year ago. Much of that has to with the problems mentioned above, so I will not repeat them. This time, we have included a few less works, and we have given a less thorough analysis to the Cuban league as well as the other foreign leagues. We do believe that as long as we don‟t find a designer who does that part of the magazine, we will not be on time as much as we want, no matter how big the effort we could make. Recently, many things have happened around Unvierso Béisbol, from being sent a bat by Cuban Five Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo (there is a piece here devoted to the history of his baseball bat project named CubaCan), to start opening new windows with readers like Julio Cesar Bermudez, Teofilo Villa and Ariel Villa, all of whom have made an approach to the work of Universo Béisbol beyond the digital work (the two latter, father and son, have met me personally). Of course, the usual contributions made by Jim Allen, Chris Kabout, Matt Nadel and Ton Hofstede (all of whom do things voluntarily) have also enriched the work of UB for the course of the year. Despite of being still ignored, underrated and di(Continued on page 50)

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Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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BY MATT NADEL

The

MLB is becoming a lot more modern as each year goes by in the 21st century with new rule changes happening almost every year. Recently, Major League Baseball has expanded its use of instant replay. Now, managers have the ability to challenge force outs, hit by pitches, foul balls, and various other plays that were not allowed to be challenged in the past. They start off with one challenge per game and if they win their challenge, they are able to challenge one more challengeable play during the game. I’m not too fond of this for a couple of reasons. Baseball games are relatively slow, so expanding the use of replay will result in more delays, thus slowing down the game. The MLB is all about making baseball exciting. Making the game slower is definitely not accomplishing this. Also, if the umpiring is so bad that Major League Baseball needs to expand the use of replay, why don’t they just train the umpires to be better? If the umpires were more intelligent in their decision on balls or strikes or whether a batter is out or not, then expanded replay would not be necessary. PHOTO CREDIT: AP

Another change the MLB has recently made is that home plate collisions are now illegal. That means that there will no longer be incidents where a catcher or runner is injured in a critical play at the plate. Unlike the last change I mentioned, I like this change. It makes the game safer and it lowers the risk of injury for all ballplayers. Sports all over the United States are trying to make their sporting events as safe as possible. Major League Baseball is just joining in these acts. This change is excellent for catchers’ safety because they already have to handle the wear and tear of squatting behind the plate for at least nine innings a day. Making this rule change is a problem the guys behind the plate no longer have to worry about. Matt Nadel has been a columnist for both Baseball Universe and out parent publication, Universo Béisbol, since 2012.

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A CANADIAN MAN MAKES BASEBALL BATS MOVED BY MORE THAN HIS LOVE FOR THE GAME. When I read that letter, I took Gerardo out of the Cuban Five, out of all politics, and focused on the man… that man who was writing a letter to his Adriana. _ Israel Rojas Fiel (Singer, Buena Fe), May 2, 2012 By Reynaldo Cruz If you happen to take a look at one particular model of bat used especially by Industriales‘ players in the Cuban Baseball National Series you will notice a logo having a map of Cuba extending under a maple leaf, along with a couple of woodburned rings of barbwire and that would make you instantly think of a very rare coincidence. Yet, a much closer look at the lumber would have you rethink and notice there is a lot more to that type of bat —by now you would have found out they are branded as Cubacan— than what meets the eye. It is the result of the bond shared between Bill Ryan, a converted craftsman, and Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, a Cuban man who has spent over 15 years away from his wife, serving two life sentences plus 15 years in a US prison for warning the Cuban government on the terrorist actions against Cuba, planned in US soil by violent groups whose masterminds are walking without concerns in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Yet, that is another non-baseball story to be told by non-baseball authors. Let‘s focus on the bats, Ryan and Hernández, and how their ―conspiracy to commit murder‖ against curveballs, sliders, four-seamers, two-seamers, forkballs, changeups, cutters, sinkers, knuckleballs, splitters, palmballs, screwballs (and all sorts of pitches a hurler can throw) has reached Cuba, especially the team of Industriales, beloved by many, hated by many more, revered by all of Cuban fans. Players from other teams, such as sluggers Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) or Joan Carlos Pedroso (Las Tunas) have also been privileged. Ryan‘s first bats were brought to Cuba as gifts, and he started using images of the Cuban Five as a suggestion made by Bill Hackwell. Later on, he presented a bat to the former head of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcón, who spoke to him about their [the Cuban Five‘s] situation, thus making him become really interested in their case, something that has gained notoriety in Cuba‘s everyday life and that has transcended boundaries of religious and even political affiliations. Following a suggestion by Hackwell, and taking into account that all Cuban Five were baseball fans to some extent —just like over 85% of the Cuban population— Ryan sent a piece to each one of the families, which led to a phone conversation with Gerardo Hernández, bringing about a variety of projects.

When Pinar del Río won the Cuban Baseball‘s Golden Season (the 50th National Series), it was Ryan who suggested sending a bat to the winning team. Gerardo‘s loyalty for the Blues of the Capital made him reluctant at first, but then found himself loving the idea, which was followed by a trophy bat for Ciego de Ávila in the 51st and another one for Villa Clara in the 52nd. In the meantime, other players had been honored: Enrique Díaz (all-time leader in at bats, hits, walks, runs scored, stolen bases and other offensive categories) and Lazaro Valle. Those two bats were delivered by the manager of the Canadian Women‘s National Baseball Team, Andre Lachance, who had brought a group of junior players to Cuba for a series of development games. Andre knew Enriquito quite well and was thrilled to help. The project was nameless until early in 2012, when Gerardo Hernández wondered if Ryan could make bats to give away to players, hoping that, at some point, they could be used in the Cuban domestic championship, if they met the standards, of course. Cubacan (seeing the logo and determining that it is a blending of Cuba and Canada is not rocket science) has been described by both Hernández and Ryan (they give the credit to one another on that) as a ―work in progress‖, but several players have had the opportunity of wielding those bats and hit balls out of the park or put them where they ain‘t if you may. The logo was designed by Gerardo himself, and Ryan added the small detail of a dot representing his beloved Cayo Largo, just next to the Isla de la Juventud (or Isla de Pinos). Although Ryan had ―… no idea how good they would be I agreed to try.‖

They started digging and doing some research, using the support and directions of former Industriales‘ catcher and current baseball analyst Pedro Medina, who reported that most of Industriales‘ players (including outfielders Carlos Tabares and Yoandri Urgellés, and infielders Alexander Malleta and Rudy Reyes) used bats 34 inches long, while diameter was around Following a suggestion by Hernández Nordelo, Ryan made 2.75 inches and weighing from 31.5 to 32 inches. trophy bats —not meant to be used— for former Industriales stars Pedro Medina and Javier Méndez. That proved to be the first hurdle they would encounter. Ryan Then, after Industriales won the 2010 National Series in a spectacular come-from-behind fashion, Gerardo wondered if Bill could make a trophy bat for the team, which was presented at the Opening Day the following season.

PHOTO CREDIT: BILL HACKWELL

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

visited the factory SamBats, which provides some MLB players with their ―weapons‖, looking for approval regarding his work. The Industriales had asked for 2.75-inch bats (diameterwise), and the largest diameter allowed in the Majors is just over 2.50 inches, according to SamBats. Taking into account that the bats made by Ryan had the same weight as the MLB standards required, the handles were thinner, therefore weaker, so the first batch broke rather quickly.

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home game in Las Tunas.

Yet, the story does not stop there. In August, 2013, Ciego de Ávila, as the 2012 champions, represented Cuba in the World Baseball Challenge held in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Seven game bats were sent to the tournament (Cubacan‘s international debut) along with three trophy bats. The trophy bats were meant to be the Tournament‘s awards, given to the MVP, its Top Player and the winning club. Since Yet, that did not discourage them, especially Ryan, who found all awards were swept away by the Cuban team (Champions of new energy in the challenge and made all the necessary adjust- the tournament) and its players, all Cubacans made their way ments for the bats to meet the requirements for official game to Cuba once it was over. play, especially the Cuban Baseball National Series, and of Cubacan bats have also been given to many supporters. For course, suitable for the Industriales. example they sent seven children‘s bats to La Colmenita, two 12 more bats were shipped in November 2012 and seven more of which were game bats and 5 contained the signatures of the were delivered during Ryan‘s visit to Havana the following Cuban Five. Also, when La Colmenita visited Canada in April month. 2012, a group that hosted a performance stole over $3,000 donations. Gerardo Hernández and Bill Ryan organized a Although the bats were initially intended to be used during fundraising program using Cubacan bats. Each group or indibatting practice, Ryan states that players have used it to actuvidual making a donation received a special Cubacan bat. Over ally play —they have also been approved by the Cuban Na$2,800 was raised and used to purchase badly needed video tional Commission to play in the National Series— and he even equipment for the group. had the pleasure of seeing Rudy Reyes clout a grand slam using a Cubacan (Adriana Pérez was at the stadium at the time, The significance of the Cubacan bats has reached a point in talking to her husband Gerardo Hernández on the phone, and which even not-so-well-known people and organizations in he actually heard the hit), and seeing other players wielding Cuba have been awarded one. That is the case of the magazine Cubacan bats. Universo Béisbol, which happens to be Baseball Universe‗s parent publication. I myself received the Cubacan, The bats also include the signatures of each of Cuban Five, and which also includes the names of our three most solid and conthe most recent models have a design of two rings of barbed stant columnists: Jim Allen, Chris Kabout and Matt Nadel. wire around the signature representing their imprisonment. The Signature Series lumbers are also meant for game play, Hernández Nordelo, form that matter, happens to be a diehard alternating the signatures of each the Cuban Five. Trophy bats, baseball fan, and a diehard Industriales fan, so in love with the on the other hand, feature the logo of the Cuban Five campaign team, that he was in the stadium the night all-time great among other markings and drawings depending on who or Agustin Marquetti hit that famous walk-off homer against what the bats were meant to. Vegueros‘ intimidating forkballer Rogelio Garcia to decide the 1986 National Series, and appeared on the front page of JuAmong the players who have received bats, one of the most ventud Rebelde with the crowd, celebrating the victory, the notorious is slugger Alfredo Despaigne, who was given a trovery next morning. His zest for baseball (not Industriales, of phy bat, to honor his single season homerun record — course) is what I share with him, and what all baseball enthusicoincidentally and ironically, set in a game against Industriaasts share with a man who is serving two life sentences plus 15 les— as well as one for his newborn son and a two game bats. years, but tends to feel free every time the crack of the Cubacan In a touch of humor, Gerardo had a fifth bat sent to Despaigne hitting the ball and making it sail far, far away is heard in having a hole in the sweet spot, which he is supposed to use Cuba… or elsewhere. when he plays against Industriales, so his dingers don‘t hurt Hernández‘s beloved team so much. Another player who got Cubacans was Isla de la Juventud leader and team Cuba‘s longtime star and captain Michel Enríquez, who received four game bats that he wielded and shared with some of his teammates. However, perhaps the most important Cubacan-related moment was when Las Tunas‘ slugger Joan Carlos Pedroso hit his 300th career blast with one of them, while playing as a reinforcement player for Isla de la Juventud, in 2013. Pedroso had been given two game bats (he gave one away to his longtime friend and fellow teammate Danel Castro), to which he added a trophy bat honoring his accomplishment. Since Pedroso and Gerardo Hernández have a common friend named Andy Daniel, it was a good occasion to honor both the player and the fan, who got a trophy bat the same day as Pedroso did at a PHOTO CREDIT: WORLD BASEBALL CHALLENGE

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BY REYNALDO CRUZ

it represented, was the fact that the Dominican Republic tied the game in the ninth, Mexico broke the tie in the fourteenth it has always happened since Baseball only to see how it got even again, until Clark‘s homer in the Universe got to the end of a year for the eighteenth. first time, we place here the summary of what we consider the Cubans return home: This is an event that probably didn‘t best or what could have been the best of 2013 on world basehave the importance that it should in the minds of many Cuball. It was, undoubtedly, a year extremely full of events, bans, several of the players born in the island and with particimainly due to the World Baseball Classic and the great Major pation in major leagues returned to Cuba for a visit. The most League World Series. There were also a few facts without touted case was that of the right-handed José Ariel Contreras precedents in the Japanese Baseball League and an electrifyfrom Pinar del Río, although this was also done by shortstop ing closure in the Cuban National Baseball Series for the first Rey Ordoñez from Havana, utility form Villa Clara Yunieski time with reinforcement players in the lists of the classified Betancourt (Riquimbili, and some unconfirmed reports acteams to the second phase. count that both right-handed pitcher and NL Rookie of the We tried to keep a certain ―chronology‖ to avoid giving or tak- Year José Fernández and Hank Aaron Award Candidate Kening importance to each fact, and we have also chosen some of drys Morales visited Cuba too. the ―not-so-good‖ events, like the report that opens this selecQuisqueya conquers heaven: Where it had been a retion. served space only for Japanese in two previous editions, the Voting of the BBWAA for the HoF with hunger strike: Dominican Republic won the third installment of the 2013 When the name of the polemic Barry Bonds appeared in the World Baseball Classic, becoming the first team to go undeballot of the Baseball Writers‘ Association of America to enter feated, placing Robinson Canó as the Most Valuable Player of to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown it provoked in the voters a the tournament, although some would have voted for the certain mistrust that led them to exclude personalities like closer and author of seven saves Fernando Rodney. It was nice Craig Biggio and Jack Morris. These leading men will have it a to see an excellent demonstration on behalf of Italy, a new bit more difficult this year, since the adding of Greg Maddux, disappointment of Cubans and Americans, a Netherlands Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas to the ballot ―ties‖ things up team that got to semi-finals, and a totally Latino final (the Doeven more. minican Republic and Puerto Rico). Before a sorrowful event, the death of the Cuban pitcher Yadier Pedroso, the Americans Caribbean Series: Yaquis win in extra-innings: showed pain and respect —maybe for the first time in years— Obregón Yaquis of the Mexican League won over the Escogido to something for what the Cubans felt an extreme sadness. Lions of the Dominican League in the Caribbean Series, in 18 tied innings where there were highlights like the homeruns of (Continued on page 7) Karim García and Doug Clark. A symbol of the type of struggle PHOTO CREDIT: THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY IMAGES

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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(Coming from page 6)

Of no-nos and almost no…: First, it was Yu Darvish, from the Texas rangers, who was one out away from the perfect game and didn‘t get the no-no either… however, he wasn‘t the only one, since in this Major League season Yusmeiro Petit, from the San Francisco Giants, and rookie Michael Wacha, from the San Luis Cardinals were also one out away from the no-hit game. However, three others did accomplish the dream: Homer Bailey, from the Cincinnati Reds (by the way, author of the last no-hitter previous to that one); Tim Lincecum, from the San Francisco Gants (Bailey‘s victim in his own); and Henderson Álvarez, from the Miami Marlins, a particularly peculiar game, since it was decided when the Marlins won on a walk-off wild pitch. Another curious note was brought by Cardinals‘ rookie Shelby Miller, who allowed a single to open the game and retired the other 27 batters down in order.

ball Classic roster by the rival coach, Víctor Mesa (Cuban National Team Manager), took revenge from what many considered an outrage and buried the Crocodiles with a spectacular grand slam that blew the foundations of the Orange City and gave them a title that had been eluding them for 18 years.

Mike Trout hits for the cycle: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout had an unusual breakthrough that simply shows his excellence as a batter and his quality as a five -tool player when he hit for the cycle on may 21. Curiously, and maybe in a sense of irony, Trout‘s single was an infield hit, proving that, apart from hitting homeruns he has an excellent speed.

Céspedes wins the homerun derby: In spectacular fashion, Cuban outfielder of the Oakland Athletics, Yoenis Céspedes, beat Bryce Harper in the homerun derby of the AllStar Game, held in the City Field of the city of New York, and home of the New York Mets. The Cuban was applauded by fans that enjoyed the distance and rate of his hits, and he was awarded by the end of the event with a Chevrolet Silverado.

Cubans to the pro leagues for the first time: During the play off of Cuban baseball, the news on the Cuban baseball players playing in the Professional League in Mexico went public, with the approval and satisfaction of the Cuban authorities. The first who travelled was Michel Enríquez, when he was chosen to take part of the Mexican League with the Campeche Pirates, and he was followed, to play for the same team, by Alfredo Despaigne and Yordanis Samón. Even when only Despaigne had a great performance —Michel got injured and Samón was released due to a low—, in which he reached a record for the Mexican baseball previously owned by Martín Dihigo (he hit 6 for 6 in a game), this meant the beginning of a new era for the Cuban Baseball: for the first time since 2002, Cuban baseball players were authorized to play in a professionally in foreign leagues. In this case, unlike his predecessor, players keep on active in national baseball. A Play Off Great Freddy Asiel: Villa Clara‘s right-handed Freddy Asiel Álvarez gave one of the most impressive single performances in the history of all the post-seasons of all leagues, when he won five times (three in semi-finals to Cienfuegos and two in finals to Villa Clara) and got up to 40 straight innings and two thirds without allowing any type of scoring. In spite of allowing one run in his last inning (due to two errors with two outs in the eighth inning of the last game where he threw), his dominance was crystal clear, filing Game Scores of 85, 82, 71, 78 and 66, with a 0.22 runs allowed every nine innings and achieving a WHIP of 0.714. Pestano paints the night orange… eighteen-year drought over: In a highly emotional finale —and full of morbid aspects— Villa Clara won convincingly over a Victor-Mesacoached Matanzas in the final Play Off of the 52 National Series. Ariel Pestano, veteran catcher, left out of the World Base-

Mariano Rivera, his greatness and his farewell: Few major-league pitchers in recent years could brag of having a brilliant career as Mariano Rivera‘s… less than a few are those who could say openly that they retired when they could still go out and do the job brilliantly. But the Panamanian that everyone called Mo, the one who went to close the game with the Enter Sandman tune by Metallica, decided that it was time to hang‘em up and did so stylishly. Just as Chipper Jones had done the previous year, the rivals gave him presents in every stadium he played. However, nothing could be compared to going out to relief in the eighth inning of the All-Star Game against the National League, and listening to the notes of Enter Sandman in a rival stadium. He was selected the MVP of the Midsummer Classic, and ended his tour in the Yankee Sta-

PHOTO CREDITS: (TOP RIGHT) CAROLINA VILCHES MONZÓN; (MIDDLE RIGHT) MLB.COM

(Continued on page 8)

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crowned itself in the World Baseball Challenge with a record of 6-1, beating JX ENEOS from the Industrial League from dium III, with his teammates and Metallica playing for him. Japan with a score of 14-4 in the finals. Raúl González (batting His greatness was much more magnified when he took the mic champion), Yoelvis Fiss (leader in homeruns and runs), and and he addressed to his homeland Panama in Spanish. Yander Guevara (wins leader) were essential in the Cuban victory, that attends a tournament of this kind for the first time without a national squad whatever its type but with a team representing a province. (Coming from page 7)

Like in Millington, the USCT humiliates Cuba again : Just like it had happened in Millington 18 years ago, the US Collegiate Team crushes the Cuban team, but this time the sweep was even more humiliating since it was a five-game friendly series. This time, the venues were Des Moines, Omaha, Cary and Durham, and though Cubans tied several times (except for one time, all the games were decided by one run), they fell short. The most negative aspect was undoubtedly the 16 stolen bases in 15 tries by the US.

#ichiro4k, the baseball world salutes you: Despite that many people consider this milestone to have no value because 1278 of his hits came in the Nippon Professional Baseball, a less strong circuit than the MLB, Ichiro Suzuki got the glory when he reached 4000 hits summing up his performances in Japan and in the United States. Unfortunately, Ichiro was forced to go nine seasons (playing full time only in seven of them) in Japan, and it will never be known if he had got this amount if he had played all the time in the United States, but we will never know that for sure. Until now, no one can deny that it is a really incredible achievement. Puigmania explodes: In a dramatic fashion, a baseball player from Cienfuegos named Yasiel Puig came into the Los

Shohei Otani from the mound and at the plate: The young pitcher of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Shohei Otani gave without any doubt an excellent demonstration in the All-Star Series of the Nippon Professional Baseball when he threw a game and played another one in right field. Otani, to whom the Fighters gave Yu Darvish‘s number 11 in the midst of controversy, hasn‘t met all the expectations placed around him, however many have acknowledged as good having him throwing strikes or fielding fly balls in the outfield.

Angeles Dodgers and the National League showing his quality as baseball player. In a short time, Los Angeles city was his, and he made the Puigmania explode, making everyone aware of anything he could do, even throwing shade on the media covering on Alex Rodriguez due to his connection to the Biogenesis clinic. Puig was hitting almost all the time, and when

Ciego de Ávila wins the Challenge: Ciego de Ávila team PHOTO CREDIT: (TOP LEFT) NATI HARNIK/AP; (BOTTOM LEFT) KYODO; (TOP RIGHT) KATHY WILLENS/AP; (BOTTOM RIGHT) AP

(Continued on page 9)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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outs list). For this reason he began hitting the ball better, which is why he got many more homeruns tan the ones he had he entered the Dodgers, they were making tumbles in the last achieved in previous years. places of the standings, and they ended on the top of the NaCubans invade the MLB: Twenty one Cubans played this tional League West Division, although they perished in fightyear in the Major League Baseball, taking over the headlines of ing for the NL pennant against San Luis Cardinals. the Major Leagues, mainly by Yasiel Puig (due to the Puigmania), José Fernández (Rookie of the year, second in the voting for the Cy Young Award), Yoenis Céspedes (winner of the AllStar Game Homerun Derby), Kendrys Morales (24 homeruns) y Aroldis Chapman (38 saves). Other that shone were Alexei Ramírez and José Iglesias, as the rest had less remarkable performances, but they were performances anyway. (Coming from page 8)

Rakuten wins the trophy for the first time: In an undisputable manner and led by Manabu Mima, (Japan Series MVP), Masahiro Tanaka, Gingi Akaminai and veteran Andruw Jones, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles won a Japanese Championship for the first time, beating no other than the legendary Yomiuri Giants in seven games. In the deciding game, the winner was Mima, the loser Toshiya Sugiuchi, and Masahiro Tanaka was sent to the box in the ninth inning to save the game, and thus close his brilliant season. Boston Strong: Boston‘s Red Sox took over the Major League World Series, beating the San Luis‘ Cardinals in six games. Led by the powerful bat David Ortiz ‗Big Papi‘‘ (World Series Most Valuable Player), and inspired by the victims of the terrorist act to the Boston Marathon, the Red Sox won one of the most dramatic and controversial Fall Classics in history: losing a game for a disputed obstruction play in third base by Will Middlebrooks on Allen Craig, winning another game for a pick-off on first base by Koji Ueahara, surprising pinch-runner Kolten Wong. The closing of the last game was in the hands of Wladimir Coco Balentien, new Homerun King in JaUehara himself, who became a mound leader, supporting the pan: Sadaharu Oh couldn‘t keep the single season homerun job of John Lackey, Jon Lester and Félix Dubront. Trevor record forever, and the two last seasons of the Curacao-native Rosenthal won one and saved another one. Wladimir Balentien (including 2012 in which he led all of Japan with 31 homers while missing at least 30 games due to an Freddy Asiel Álvarez shoots no-no: Villa Clara‘s rightinjury) were tips of what could happen if he could play for a handed ace Freddy Asiel Álvarez needs nothing but a chance whole season. The detonator was the scandal around the to totally shine tossing a no-hit-no-run game over the sorry change of the ball for a more live ball, and Balentien started to team of Sancti Spíritus, in one of his first appearances in the hit homeruns nonstop until he got to 60, five more than the 53 National Series. This performance was the only thing that the orange right-handed needed to establish himself as the previous record. best pitcher of the country, recording a Game Score of 93, not Cuba opens all its doors: All of a sudden, Cuba woke up bad. with the news that Cuban sportsmen and women were authorized to sign contracts in foreign leagues, leaving behind one Cuba to the Caribbean Series: After one of the biggest the myths and one of the biggest errors in the history of Cuban dramas in history, Cuba was accepted in the Caribbean Series sports, mainly regarding baseball. Though the policies for the as an invitee. First, the Caribbean Professional Baseball Consignings of contract have not yet been revealed —and a little of federation wanted the Greater of the Antilles to be in the comblurriness surrounds the subject— we must admit that it‘s a petition as a full member, but the United States‘ Office of Forgreat step up in the race for improving the quality of Cuban eign Assets‘ Control didn‘t agree due to the American blockade against the island. Finally, the permits were given for the toursport. nament of Isla Margarita 2014, but the future for later compeAgain Miggy, but Chris Davis messes it up: Miguel Ca- titions is still uncertain. Cuba doesn‘t attend these matches brera won the batting title once more, and he did it in an aw- since more than half a century ago. some way, but this time he fell short of the Triple Crown. This was caused mainly by the passing of the Baktimore Oriols slugging first baseman Chris Davis, who increased his hitting frequency a lot (although he was among the first in the struckTanaka, the invincible: Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles right-hander Masahiro Tanaka filed one of the most dominant years for any pitcher in the history of the world‘s baseball, when he won 24 games without a single defeat in the regular season, reaching up to 28 straight wins adding the last four undefeated outings and 30 counting the two he had on the Play Off before he fell to the Yomiuri Giants. The three records make Guinness Record, and his performance drew the interest of several Major League teams.

PHOTO CREDIT: KYODO

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BY REYNALDO CRUZ

One

year ends and as usual, Baseball Universe is pleased to give to you its 2013 All-Star, taking into account the performances of the players in their respective leagues. For the first time since we release our selections, we‘ve done a voting in which we have involved all our contributors and several of the people who follow us or who support us (bloggers or sports broadcasters). Unfortunately, all the people who were supposed to vote didn‘t, but at least we have the voting of most of our columnist. Some readers might not like some of the selections, but they were the result of a voting broader than last year, something we hope for 2014 will be widespread. There were two write-in votes in Yasiel Puig and Shin Soo Choo.

from this, he led the pitching team of Puerto Rico to the sub-title in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Yadier Molina was without doubt the best of the catchers of the planet in 2013, and in this case, the voting wasn‘t wrong. First base-Chris Davis (Baltimore Orioles/ MLB): There were no doubts in this case either. Chris Davis (nicknamed Crush Davis) shot 53 homers and drove in 138 runs, and was the responsible for Miguel Cabrera not winning the Triple Crown for a second straight year. His numbers were due mostly to a raise of the contact rate.

Second base-Robinson Canó (New York Yankees/MLB), Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox/MLB): Incredibly, this voting ended in a tie , and when it looked that one was going up, the other one received votes to catch up. Canó, the Most Catcher- Yadier Molina (St. Louis Cardinals/ Valuable Player of the World Baseball Classic, had a MLB): Puerto Rican Molina was among the top great season again with the New York Yankees, winhitters of the National League, winning the Silver ning the American League Silver Slugger Award. Slugger Award and the Gold Glove Awards. Apart (Continued on page 11) PHOTO CREDIT: ADAM PRETTY

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

Baseball Universe | 11

season homerun record, leaving the mark of 55, previously held by Sadaharu Oh, shattered in pieces, Meanwhile, Pedroia won the Gold Glove of the shooting 60, and falling short in the fight for the same cicuit, and he was essential in the performance Triple Crown. McCutchen didn‘t lead anything but of Boston Red Sox in its victory in the World Series his Pittsburgh Pirates to the post-season for the first over the San Luis Cardinals. time in more than 20 years; batting .317 with 21 homers, 84 RBIs y 27 stolen bases. Third base-Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers/ MLB): It would have been crazy if Miguel Starting pitcher-Masahiro Tanaka (Tohoku Cabrera hand‘t been included in this All Stars. I Rakuten Golden Eagles/NPB): Well, a 24-0 readmit that if by any stupidity of the destiny he had- cord in regular season, 30 consecutive victories and n‘t been chosen, it would have been very hard for guiding his team to the title are enough of a résumé me to publish it. Miggy took the MVP, the Silver for Tanaka to be selected as the best starting Slugger Award and the Hank Aaron Award, winning pitcher of this All-Star. On the other hand, he also the batting title with .348, and placing second in became in the most sought-after international free homeruns 44 and RBIs 137. However, Cabrera still agent of the MLB. has an ―F‖ in the subject of Play Off, many hope he Relief pitcher-Mariano Rivera (New York accomplishes it next year, when he will migrate to Yankees/MLB): Putting an end to such a brilliant first base. career still having the chance of playing for two Shortstop-Yordán Manduley (Holguín/SNB): more years, were a cause strong enough so Rivera in spite of being taken off the roster to the 2013 was selected as the reliever of this All-Star, even World Baseball Classic, the player from Holguín when some had better numbers than he did. Mo was Yordán Manduley has been the most complete selected as the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star short stop of Cuba for two years, defensively and Game, assuming the role of setup-man and throwoffensively. His talent was evident when he became ing an inning without any problems. an essential element as a reinforcement in Villa Designated hitter-David Ortiz (Boston Red Clara‘s victory in the 52 National Baseball Series. Sox/MLB): So, there weren‘t many doubts in this Best defense player-Andrelton Simmons case either, in spite of some random votes for other (Atlanta Braves/MLB): many of the voters se- candidates, Big Papi Ortiz was chosen. No doubt, lected Yordán Manduley over Andrelton Sim- his excellent season, in which he achieved .309 with mons, but no one can deny that the defense of the 30 homeruns, along with being selected the Most player from Curaçao in the National League this Valuable Player of the World Series, are beyond year was asphyxiating, winning a Gold and a Plati- valid credentials. num Gloves. His numbers were more impressive, in Manager-Terry Francona (Cleveland Indithe traditional statistics, as well as in the sabermeans/MLB): This voting was spread. Despite the tric ones. All in all, Simmons‘s season was qualified strength Will Farrell y Clint Hurdle represented, as one of the best defense seasons in history. Francona was the chosen one, supported by his Outfielders-Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels credentials of Manager of the Year in the National of Anaheim/MLB), Wladimir Balentien League, taking the Cleveland Indians to the post(Yakult Swallows/NPB) y Andrew season, and due to his prestige also as a manager of McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates/MLB): De- all the teams where he has worked. spite there were many votes for other outfielders, We only hope that for 2014 we count on more voters including two write-in votes, these three outfielders and we have a selection that coincides more with ―ran away‖ from the rest. Trout embarrassed the what you, the readers, expect. Sophomore Jinx by compiling .323 with 27 homeruns and 33 stolen bases, leading the National League in runs scored and steals. Coco Balentien, on the other hand, broke the Japanese League single (Coming from page 10)

Baseball Universe | 12

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En route to win five play off off-- games while becoming the finalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; MVP, Freddy Asiel Alvarez drew eyes eyes-popping Game Scores that would have been higher had the pitch count not been in place.

BY REYNALDO CRUZ

Cuban

baseball fans have a thing for numbers. Well, baseball fans have a thing for numbers, no matter their nationality, or their background. Yet, it is precisely Cubans who are constantly hungry stat-wise because their access to statistics is highly limited, and the ones that are available are outrageously incomplete and inaccurate. Many of them have also been affected by the many structures the Cuban Baseball National Series have gone through, so the current single-season records actually stand as long as competition formats stand. There is one record, however, that seems to be destined to last in time: the game score. The game score is a stat that anyone can get to without too much effort. The pitcher starts the game with 50 points, he is added an extra point for each out he takes and two points for each inning completed after the fourth; then, he is added a point for each strikeout and subtracted a point for each base on ball, two for each hit, two for each unearned run and four for each earned run. Who holds the highest game score in the history of (Continued on page 13)

PHOTO CREDIT: KOJI WATANABE/GETTY IMAGES

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 12)

National Series? The question could seem to be launched at random, and it would make statisticians dive into stacks and piles of papers checking box score after box score, looking for the winner of the contest. However, no need to dig up too much, since a name would instantly pop up without too much effort: Faustino Corrales. A southpaw curveballer from Pinar del Río, Corrales tossed a two-hit, 22-strikeout, no-walk complete game shutout against Holguin on December 20th, 2000, recording a Cuban-best game score (GSc) of 105. Fittingly, that is precisely the same amount of points recorded by Kerry Wood, who posted MLB‘s best after a one-hit, 20-strikeout, no-walk complete game shutout, on May 6th, 1998. Faustino‘s outing is indeed the most dominant ever by a pitcher in Cuban baseball, including no-hitters and the only perfecto (tossed by Sancti Spiritus‘ fireballer Maels Rodriguez at 102 points) thrown in National Series. He only allowed five outs caught by his defense, possible singlehandedly winning the game. First made public by Bill James in his Historical Baseball Abstract (1988) and described by himself as a garbage stat, the Game Score is perhaps one of the most useful stats to describe a pitcher‘s performance and to state whether his start had quality or not (over 50 or 55 is considered to be a quality start). It is used to determine a pitcher‘s dominance over opponents in a baseball game. Therefore, we can find a pitcher who tosses a no-hitter or a perfecto wandering on the 70s and the low 80s game-score-wise, whereas a case like the aforementioned Corrales‘s shows an astonishing 105. The reason is plain and simple: strikeouts do count, as do bases on balls and hits. Yet, how useful (or possible) is it to use Game Score in Cuba?

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Take, for example, the case of Freddy Asiel Álvarez, who in five games of the 2013 Play Off of the National Series posted game scores of 85, 82, 71, 78 and 66. All of them were in noncomplete outings. The first three were against Cienfuegos in the semifinals, and his 85-point game was one in which he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Yet, he left one out away from the complete game. His consecutive scoreless innings ended against Matanzas, after 40 2/3 innings, probably conditioned by the fact that he saw himself reaching the pitch limit and tried to get outs on few pitches (two errors were made in that eighth inning and the run was unearned). There is no doubt Álvarez might have reached 90 points in Game Score at least once had it not been for the pitch restriction. At least in the first game, when he left one out away from completing his outing, he could have reached 89 points if he allowed no other baserunner and had struck out the last batter. Pitch count is indeed a hurdle for not only the game score, but also for the complete game, the shutout, the innings pitched, thus influencing in the rest of the stats and making those hurlers that have a good pitch economy more suitable for leading the league in innings or strikeouts. How do we establish a fair pitch count system? That has a lot to do with the management‘s consciousness. 100 pitches are an average, but they are not a straitjacket. It‘s not rocket science: some pitchers show signs of fatigue after the 75th or the 80th delivery, while some inning eaters can get up to 140 throws without much of an effort. That, of course, has a lot to do with a type of pitcher they are. Hard throwers tend to get tired earlier since their effort is bigger while junkballers can throw more and more, thus becoming inning-eaters in the process. Again, umpiring (or lousy umpiring in this case) plays a crucial role in Cuban baseball, since pitchers have to adapt to the different strike zones of the different umpires. Some of them call strikes that are balls for being too inside or too outside, while others see a strike higher than the letters and lower than the knees. That in itself is a problem. Between one start and another from the same pitcher, a team gets to face from one to two different opponents, thus one to two different umpiring crews and up to four or five home plate umpires.

Rather hard. Pitch count limits have made managers pull their starter even as early as the fourth inning if he has tossed 100 pitches, since rules establish that in reaching that threshold the hurler is only allowed to finish up the batter he is facing. As a result, the complete game in Cuba has become a rarity (as has the shutout), and the only thing that might allow a pitcher Adjustments have to be made, and not many pitchers can do stay in the game after his 100th delivery is if he is throwing a that. Therefore, many of them start the game issuing walks or no-hitter or a perfect game. falling behind in the count. Half of them would rebound and So, reaching 90 points in GSc is something really difficult for a find the right path back to control, but some others get lost in Cuban pitcher, and Cuban statisticians and analysts have set confusion and have to be pulled from the game either for being 70 as an amazing GSc and above 80 turns out to be what they shelled or for reaching the 100-pitch plateau as early as the call ―extraterrestrial‖. That, of course, is an overstatement: third or the fourth inning. even Cuban pitchers have reached 90 points in starts in which Also, there is the pitcher‘s thinking. What on earth would they have completed the game, allowed one or two hits and make a hurler put the batter in the 0-2 hole and then start struck out above 11 batters. Nevertheless, these are indeed wasting pitches to the point of serving for two or three fullisolated events since the average Cuban pitcher is forced out of count foul balls and throwing eight or nine pitches in the procthe game shortly after the fifth inning for reaching the 100th ess when five would have done the trick. Repeat the process pitch, with some of them being pulled as early as the third or (Continued on page 14) fourth inning and others managing to stay afloat until the eighth or the ninth.

Baseball Universe | 14 (Coming from page 13)

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coveted titles in baseball, and relievers have come and have their way.

three or four times in a game, and we‘ll have about 12 extra In the meantime, Cuban hurlers have to attempt throwing less pitches. Man, you can throw an inning with a dozen deliveries pitches and try not to waste them as they usually do. They to the plate. should also pitch in the low area of the strike zone while havAre there any curious cases? ing runners on base, and that way they might induce a groundball and get two outs with a single pitch. Probably the best game score ever recorded (in a nine-inning game) is Ron Necciai‘s 27-strikeout one-walk no-hit complete As for statisticians, sabermetricians and analysts… the struggle game, while in the Toledo team of the Appalachian Class D, for continues. They have to keep up their work, and make adjustan outstanding 113, one point away from the perfect game ments to the standards of a good game score on account for score which would imply a perfecto while striking out the side the strict pitch limit in Cuba. Those rules are not close from on every single inning. being changed, as long as team trainers decide that they have to take matters in their own hands (and brains) and start perIn Cuba, iron-armed Jose Antonio Huelga tossed 20 innings of sonalizing pitch counts taking into account the man on the three-run ball while issuing ten walks, allowing ten hits and mound. So, adjustment is the word of the day, fellas. striking out ten for an improbable 112 GSc. That, of course, won‘t happen on today‘s baseball, and at simple glance it really At 105, and matching the looks like an overuse of the pitcher. MLB’s best, the game Coincidentally, last MLB season (2013), Texas Rangers‘ Japanese import Yu Darvish made his first sophomore season start a memorable one, by carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning with two outs, and after being pulled, he failed to complete a shutout, but left another yet impressive trace in the baseball world, by scoring 96 points for the highest-ever game score in a non-complete game.

score posted by Faustino Corrales during his 22 22-strikeout game vs. the team of Holguin stands as the highest ever in Cuba.

And the magic solution is… Well, there is no magic solution. The Cuban training system is broken, as is the managerial system, which is evidenced by them having a pitcher start a game and come out and save yet another one in the same week. In the past two seasons, the ERA leaders of the Cuban League have been relief pitchers. What does that tell us? Simple answer: relievers are abused here to the point that the make the amount of total innings required to qualify for the ERA leadership. No starter holds up enough so as to remain fierce competitors for one of the most

Peculiar Game Scores Set Pitchers OPP Outs INN H R ER K BB Faustino Corrales (PRI) HOL 27 9 2 0 0 22 0 Maels Rodríguez (SSP) LTU 27 9 0 0 0 15 0 José Antonio Huelga (OTL) OCC 60 20 10 3 2 10 10 Kerry Wood (CHC) HOU 27 9 1 0 0 20 0 Yu Darvish (TEX) HOU 26 8,2 1 0 0 14 0 Pitcher OPP Outs INN H R ER K BB 1 CFG 26 8,2 2 0 0 8 3 Freddy Asiel Álvarez (VCL), du2 CFG 25 8,1 4 0 0 8 1 ring the 2013 postseason in 3 CFG 24 8 6 0 0 4 3 which he became the playoff’s 1 MTZ 24 8 4 0 0 5 1 MVP. 2 MTZ 23 7,2 4 1 0 4 1 PHOTO CREDIT: CUBADEBATE FILE

GSc 105 102 112 105 96 GSc 85 82 71 78 66

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MLB Awards World Series Champion Boston Red Sox World Series MVP David Ortiz BOS Roberto Clemente Award Carlos Beltran STL Player of the Year Miguel Cabrera DET Man of the Year Mariano Rivera NYY

PHOTO CREDIT: MATT SLOCUM

American League Awards MVP Miguel Cabrera DET Cy Young Max Scherzer DET RoY Wil Myers TBR Manager Terry Francona CLE Hank Aaron Miguel Cabrera DET American League Standings An asterisk (*) indicates the team was one of its league's wild cards, Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion Rank Team G W L T WPCT GB Central Division 1 Detroit Tigers 162 93 69 0 .574 -.2 Cleveland Indians* 162 92 70 0 .568 1.0 3 Kansas City Royals 162 86 76 0 .531 7.0 4 Minnesota Twins 162 66 96 0 .407 27.0 5 Chicago White Sox 162 63 99 0 .389 30.0 Eastern Division 1 Boston Red Sox 162 97 65 0 .599 -.2 Tampa Bay Rays* 163 92 71 0 .564 5.5 3 Baltimore Orioles 162 85 77 0 .525 12.0 3 New York Yankees 162 85 77 0 .525 12.0 5 Toronto Blue Jays 162 74 88 0 .457 23.0 Western Division 1 Oakland Athletics 162 96 66 0 .593 -.2 Texas Rangers 163 91 72 0 .558 5.5 3 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 162 78 84 0 .481 18.0 4 Seattle Mariners 162 71 91 0 .438 25.0 5 Houston Astros 162 51 111 0 .315 45.0 Statistic R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI SB CS BB IBB HBP K SH SF AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+

Leader Mike Trout Adrian Beltre Manny Machado Brett Gardner Chris Davis Chris Davis Chris Davis Jacoby Ellsbury Jose Altuve Mike Trout David Ortiz Shane Victorino Chris Carter Elvis Andrus Matt Wieters Miguel Cabrera Miguel Cabrera Miguel Cabrera Miguel Cabrera Miguel Cabrera

Team LAA TEX BAL NYY BAL BAL BAL BOS HOU LAA BOS BOS HOU TEX BAL DET DET DET DET DET

Number 109 199 51 10 53 370 138 52 13 110 27 18 212 16 12 0.348 0.442 0.636 1.078 187

Statistic W L PCT APP GS CG SH GF Sv INN BB IBB HBP K ERA WHIP

Gold Gloves This year, for the first time, experts on the statistical measurement of fielding were also consulted, and the "SABR Defensive Index" accounted for 25% of the vote totals. Pos Player Team P R.A. Dickey TOR C Salvador Perez KCR 1B Eric Hosmer KCR 2B Dustin Pedroia BOS 3B Manny Machado BAL SS J.J. Hardy BAL LF Alex Gordon KCR CF Adam Jones BAL RF Shane Victorino BOS Silver Sluggers Pos C 1B 2B 3B SS OF DH

Player Joe Mauer Chris Davis Robinson Cano Miguel Cabrera J.J. Hardy Mike Trout Adam Jones Torii Hunter David Ortiz

Leader Max Scherzer Lucas Harrell Max Scherzer Joel Peralta James Shields Justin Verlander R.A. Dickey David Price Chris Sale Bartolo Colon Justin Masterson Jim Johnson Jim Johnson James Shields Lucas Harrell Roberto Hernandez Justin Masterson Yu Darvish Anibal Sanchez Max Scherzer

Team MIN BAL NYY DET BAL LAA BAL DET BOS Team DET HOU DET TBR KCR DET TOR TBR CWS OAK CLE BAL BAL KCR HOU TBR CLE TEX DET DET

Number 21 17 0.875 80 34 4 5 63 50 228.2 88 8 17 277 2.57 0.970

National League Awards Gold Gloves MVP Andrew McCutchen PIT This year, for the first time, experts on the Cy Young Clayton Kershaw LAD statistical measurement of fielding were RoY Jose Fernandez MIA also consulted, and the "SABR Defensive Index" accounted for 25% of the vote toManager Clint Hurdle PIT tals. Hank Aaron Paul Goldschmidt ARZ Pos Player Team National League Standings P Adam Wainwright STL An asterisk (*) indicates the team was one of its league's wild cards, C Yadier Molina STL Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion 1B Paul Goldschmidt ARZ Rank Team G W L T WPCT GB 2B Brandon Phillips CIN Central Division 3B Nolan Arenado COL 1 St. Louis Cardinals 162 97 65 0 .599 -.SS Andrelton Simmons ATL 2 Pittsburgh Pirates* 162 94 68 0 .580 3.0 LF Carlos Gonzalez COL 3 Cincinnati Reds* 162 90 72 0 .556 7.0 CF Carlos Gomez MIL 4 Milwaukee Brewers 162 74 88 0 .457 23.0 RF Gerardo Parra ARZ 5 Chicago Cubs 162 66 96 0 .407 31.0 Silver Sluggers Eastern Division Pos Player Team 1 Atlanta Braves 162 96 66 0 .593 -.Yadier Molina STL 2 Washington Nationals 162 86 76 0 .531 10.0 C ARZ 3 New York Mets 162 74 88 0 .457 22.0 1B Paul Goldschmidt 2B Matt Carpenter STL 4 Philadelphia Phillies 162 73 89 0 .451 23.0 3B Pedro Alvarez PIT 5 Miami Marlins 162 62 100 0 .383 34.0 SS Ian Desmond WSN Western Division Jay Bruce CIN 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 162 92 70 0 .568 -.OF Andrew McCutchen PIT 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 162 81 81 0 .500 11.0 Michael Cuddyer COL 3 San Diego Padres 162 76 86 0 .469 16.0 Zack Greinke LAD 3 San Francisco Giants 162 76 86 0 .469 16.0 P 5 Colorado Rockies 162 74 88 0 .457 18.0 Statistic Leader Team Number Statistic Leader Team Number R Matt Carpenter STL 126 Adam Wainwright STL W 19 H Matt Carpenter STL 199 Jordan Zimmermann WSN 2B Matt Carpenter STL 55 L Edwin Jackson CHC 18 3B Denard Span WSN 11 PCT Zack Greinke LAD 0.789 Pedro Alvarez PIT APP Brad Ziegler ARZ 78 HR 36 Paul Goldschmidt ARZ GS Adam Wainwright STL 34 TB Paul Goldschmidt ARZ 332 CG Adam Wainwright STL 5 RBI Paul Goldschmidt ARZ 125 Clayton Kershaw LAD COL/NYM SB Eric Young 46 Jordan Zimmermann WSN SH 2 CS Starling Marte PIT 15 Adam Wainwright STL BB Joey Votto CIN 135 GF Steve Cishek MIA 62 Paul Goldschmidt ARZ Sv Craig Kimbrel ATL 50 IBB 19 Joey Votto CIN INN Adam Wainwright STL 241.2 HBP Shin-Soo Choo CIN 26 BB Jeff Locke PIT 84 K Pedro Alvarez PIT 186 IBB Ronald Belisario LAD 10 SH Bronson Arroyo CIN 16 HBP Charlie Morton PIT 16 Adrian Gonzalez LAD K Clayton Kershaw LAD 232 SF 10 Zack Cozart CIN ERA Clayton Kershaw LAD 1.83 AVG Michael Cuddyer COL 0.331 WHIP Clayton Kershaw LAD 0.915 OBP Joey Votto CIN 0.435 SLG Paul Goldschmidt ARZ 0.551 OPS Paul Goldschmidt ARZ 0.952 OPS+ Paul Goldschmidt ARZ 160

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Baseball Universe | 18

2013 Postseason Wild Card Game

Division Series

East. WC1 WC2

Tampa Bay Rays

Cleveland Indians

Boston Red Sox Tampa Bay Rays

League Championship Series

3 1

East.

Boston Red Sox

Cent. West. Cent.

Wild Card Game

WC1

Cincinnati Reds Pittsburgh Pirates

Detroit Tigers

Cent.

Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals

League Championship Series

2 3 Los Angeles DodgWest. ers

Cent. East. West.

Atlanta Braves Los Angeles Dodgers

Detroit Tigers

Division Series

WC WC2

Oakland Athletics

St. Louis Cardinals

2 4

1 3

PHOTO CREDITS: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) CHARLES KRUPA; CHRIS CARLSON/AP; JAE C. HONG/AP; JOHN RAOUX; JEFF ROBERSON/AP; CHARLIE REIDEL/AP

Yearbook 2, 2013|Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s make baseball a more universal game.

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2013 World Series 4-2

Boston Red Sox 97 - 65 in the AL

Game

Score

Date

St. Louis Cardinals 97 - 65 in the NL

Pitchers

Time (ET)

St. Louis Cardinals 1 Boston Red Sox 8

October 23

Adam Wainwright (0-1) Jon Lester (1-0)

8:07 pm

St. Louis Cardinals 4 Boston Red Sox 2

October 24

Michael Wacha (1-0) John Lackey (0-1)

8:07 pm

Boston Red Sox 4 St. Louis Cardinals 5

October 26

Jake Peavy (0-0) Joe Kelly (0-0)

8:07 pm

Boston Red Sox 4 St. Louis Cardinals 2

October 27

Clay Buchholz (0-0) Lance Lynn (0-1)

8:15 pm

Boston Red Sox 3 St. Louis Cardinals 1

October 28

Jon Lester (2-0) Adam Wainwright (0-2)

8:07 pm

St. Louis Cardinals 1 Boston Red Sox 6

October 30

Michael Wacha (1-1) John Lackey (1-1)

8:07 pm

PHOTO CREDIT: MATT SLOCUM

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Baseball Universe | 20

Team

Game 1 @ Fenway Park 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cardinals

Red Sox

WP: Jon Lester (1-0), LP: Adam Wainwright (0-1) Home Runs: STL - Matt Holliday (1); BOS - David Ortiz (1) Attendance: 38,345

Team

Game 2 @ Fenway Park 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cardinals

Red Sox

WP: Michael Wacha (1-0), LP: John Lackey (0-1), SV: Trevor Rosenthal (1) Home Runs: BOS - David Ortiz (2) Attendance: 38,436 PHOTO CREDITS: (TOP) CHRIS LEE/AP/ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH; (BOTTOM) ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH

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Team

Game 3 @ Busch Stadium 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Red Sox

Cardinals

WP: Trevor Rosenthal (1-0), LP: Brandon Workman (0-1) Home Runs: - none Attendance: 47,432

Team

Game 4 @ Busch Stadium 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Red Sox

Cardinals

WP: Felix Doubront (1-0), LP: Lance Lynn (0-1), SV: Koji Uehara (1) Home Runs: BOS - Jonny Gomes (1) Attendance: 47,469

PHOTO CREDITS: (TOP AND BOTTOM) CHRIS LEE/AP/ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH

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Team

Game 5 @ Busch Stadium 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Red Sox

Cardinals

WP: Jon Lester (2-0), LP: Adam Wainwright (0-2), SV: Koji Uehara (2) Home Runs: STL - Matt Holliday (2) Attendance: 47,436

Team

Game 6 @ Fenway Park 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cardinals

Red Sox

WP: John Lackey (1-1), LP: Michael Wacha (1-1) Home Runs: BOS - Stephen Drew (1) Attendance: 38,447

PHOTO CREDITS: (TOP) CHARLIE REIDEL/AP; (BOTTOM) MATT SLOCUM/AP

Yearbook 2, 2013|Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s make baseball a more universal game.

2013 in Japanese Baseball was notable primarily for a couple record-setting performances. Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA for one of the top performances in Nippon Pro Baseball history, setting several records, including wins without a loss, consecutive starts with a win and winning streak. Over in the Central League, Yakult Swallows outfielder Wladimir Balentien set a new NPB record with 60 home runs, breaking the mark of 55 shared by Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera. The fact that NPB had adopted a newer, livelier ball without telling anyone resulted in penalties to the NPB officials responsible for those decisions. On a minor record note, Ryosuke Kikuchi broke the 8-year-old record PHOTO CREDIT: KYODO

Baseball Universe | 23

for assists at 2B with 528 (the old mar was 496, set by Masahiro Araki. Four new players joined the meikyukai with 2,000 hits. Alex Ramirez became the first foreigner to join, followed by Norihiro Nakamura, Motonobu Tanishige (the oldest to that point at 42 yrs, 4 mos) and Tadahito Iguchi. Rakuten won its first Japan Series, topping the Yomiuri Giants in seven games in the 2013 Japan Series. After Tanaka finally took a loss in Game 6 of the Series, lesser light Manabu Mima tossed his second gem of the Series to wrap it up, earning Series MVP honors.

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Baseball Universe | 24

Leaders Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record Batting Central League Statistic

Pacific League

Leader

Team

Number

Team

Number

Tony Blanco

CHU

.333

Yuya Hasegawa

SOF

.341

Wladimir Balentien

YAK

Dai-Kang Yang

NIP

Matt Murton

HAN

178

Yuya Hasegawa

SOF

198

Matt Murton

HAN

Hideto Asamura

SEI

Yoshihiro Maru

HIR

Daichi Suzuki

LOT

Wladimir Balentien

YAK

Michel Abreu

NIP

RBI

Tony Blanco

CHU

136

Hideto Asamura

SEI

110

Yoshihiro Maru

HIR

Dai-Kang Yang

NIP

Takashi Toritani

HAN

104

Andruw Jones

RAK

105

AVG

Leader

Pitching Central League Statistic

Leader

Pacific League

Team

Number

Leader

Team

Number

ERA

Kenta Maeda

HIR

2.10

Masahiro Tanaka

RAK

1.27

Wins

Yasuhiro Ogawa

YAK

Masahiro Tanaka

RAK

Daisuke Miura

DEN

Ryosuke Yagi

YAK

Mitsuo Yoshikawa

NIP

Kentaro Nishimura

YOM

Naoya Masuda

LOT

INN

Randy Messenger

HAN

196 1/3

Chihiro Kaneko

ORI

223 2/3

APP

Kentaro Nishimura

YOM

Naoya Masuda

LOT

Daisuke Miura

DEN

181

Yuri Karakawa

LOT

185

Takayuki Kishi

SEI

Daisuke Miura

DEN

Ryoma Nogami

SEI

Randy Messenger

HAN

183

Chihiro Kaneko

ORI

200

Kazuki Mishima

DEN

Shota Takeda

RAK

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

Baseball Universe | 25

Best Nine The following players were part of the 2013 Best Nine teams. Central League Player

Pacific League Po Team s Player Team

Kenta Maeda

HIR

Shinnosuke Abe

P Masahiro Tanaka

Gold Gloves The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2013. Central League Player

Pacific League Team Pos Player

Team

RAK

Kenta Maeda

HIR

P Masahiro Tanaka

RAK

YOM C Motohiro Shima

RAK

Shinnosuke Abe

YOM

C Motohiro Shima

RAK

Tony Blanco

DEN 1B Hideto Asamura

SEI

José López

YOM 1B Hideto Asamura

SEI

Tsuyoshi Nishioka

HAN 2B Kazuya Fujita

RAK

Ryosuke Kikuchi

HIR

RAK

Shuichi Murata

YOM 3B Casey McGehee

RAK

Shuichi Murata

YOM 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda SOF

Takashi Toritani

HAN SS Daichi Suzuki

LOT

Takashi Toritani

HAN SS Kenta Imamiya

SOF

Hisayoshi Chono

YOM

Sho Nakata

NIP

Hisayoshi Chono

YOM

Dai-Kang Yoh

NIP

Matt Murton

HAN

Yuya Hasegawa

SOF

Sho Aranami

DEN

Yoshio Itoi

ORI

Wladimir Balentien

YAK OF Seiichi Uchikawa

SOF

Yoshihiro Maru

HIR

OF Shogo Akiyama

SEI

DH Michel Abreu Award Most Valuable Player

Rookie of the Year

League Player

NIP Team

Pos

Wladimir Balentien YAK

Masahiro Tanaka

RAK

Yasuhiro Ogawa

YAK

Takahiro Norimoto

RAK

2B Kazuya Fujita

The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:  Yutaka Ono, by the Sportswriters Committee  Yoshiro Sotokoba, by the Sportswriters Committee  Kazuo Fukushima, by the Special Committee

Baseball Universe | 26

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2012-2013 Cuban National League The 2012-2013 Cuban National League season began on November 25, 2012, with the defending champion Ciego de ﾃ」ila club winning 1-0 behind 8 no-hit innings from Vladimir Garcﾃｭa. The league introduced an unusual format due to the 2013 World Baseball Classic (in which Cuba dominated round one but was upset by the Netherlands in round two), with 16 teams playing 45 games apiece before the Classic. Afterwards, the top eight teams were allowed to add 5 players each from the bottom 8 teams and continue on to a second phase. The whole scheme created a lot of confusion. One thing was done to reduce confusion as the league returned to its historical 16-team format with the elimination of the Metropolitanos after having played with 17 teams for a season. The league now had one team per province for the first time. A sad note came in mid-March, when Cuban national team hurler Yadier Pedroso, last year's strikeout leader, died in a car crash shortly after returning from the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

PHOTO CREDIT: AIN

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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Two players reached milestones in early April. Joan Carlos game, with Jorge Alberto Martínez tossing 8 shutout innings Pedroso (no relation to Yadier Pedroso) became the 9th player of four-hit ball in a 4-1 Matanzas win. to 300 career home runs on April 6. Three days later, Ciro Silvino Licea was the 7th hurler to 200 wins. On June 16, though, Matanzas again had to face Alvarez; he finally allowed a run in the 8th after building his record to 40 The finals faced a match-up of Villa Clara and Matanzas, with 2/3 consecutive scoreless postseason innings. Villa Clara won, Villa Clara nearly sweeping to its first title in 18 years. The 4-1. After a rain-out, Villa Clara won the finale, 8-5, thanks to team had been barely over .500 in the first half but had bene- a grand slam from veteran catcher Ariel Pestano in the 6th fited from its reinforcements to cruise from there. In the fi- inning. nals, Freddy Asiel Alvarez shut down Matanzas in the opener, Playoffs running his playoff consecutive scoreless inning streak to 33, breaking Pedro Luis Lazo's Cuban record. The next day, June  Villa Clara 4, Cienfuegos 2 12, Villa Clara won, 8-1, behind 3 homers and fine pitching  Matanzas 4, Sancti Spíritus 3 from Misael Siverio. After two days off, Matanzas won its lone  Villa Clara 4, Matanzas 1 Award Winners The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Ismel Jiménez of Sancti Spiritus. Norge Luis Ruíz of Camagüey was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año). Freddy Asiel Alvarez was named Postseason MVP. Elber Ibarra was named Umpire of the Year, while Ramón Moré took home Manager of the Year. Offensive and Pitching All-Stars were C Lorenzo Quintana (Pinar del Rio), 1B Jose Dariel Abreu (Cienfuegos), 2B José Miguel Fernández (Matanzas), SS Yordan Manduley (HolguínVilla Clara), 3B Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus), OF Alfredo Despaigne (Granma-Pinar del Rio), OF Dayron Varona (Camagüey-Villa Clara), OF Frederich Cepeda (Sancti Spiritus), DH Yosvany Peraza (Pinar del Rio), UT Raúl González (Ciego de Ávila), RHP Joel Suárez (Matanzas), LHP Misael Siverio (Villa Clara) and RP Duniel Ibarra (Cienfuegos). Gold Glove awards went to C Ariel Pestano (Villa Clara), 1B Joan Carlos Pedroso (Las Tunas-Isla de la Juventud), 2B Andy Sarduy (Villa Clara), SS Yordan Manduley (Holguín-Villa Clara), OF Lázaro Rodríguez (Cienfuegos), OF Dayron Varona (Camagüey-Villa Clara), OF Guillermo Heredia Jr. (Matanzas) and P Alberto Bicet (Santiago de Cuba-Ciego de Ávila).

PHOTO CREDIT: CAROLINA VILCHES MONZÓN

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Baseball Universe | 28

2013 Korean Series The 2013 Korean Series was the 31st Korean Series. The Samsung Lions beat the Doosan Bears to become the first team to win three straight titles. Samsung right fielder Han-lee Park was named Korean Series MVP after 5 runs and 5 RBI in the final 3 games to overcome a 1-for-14 start. The Games October 24: Doosan 7, Samsung 2. 3B Seok-min Park got Samsung going with a first-inning homer off Kyeungeun Noh, but Noh allowed only 3 hits and no more runs before leaving in the 7th, by which time Doosan had pulled way ahead. In the second, DH Sung-heon Hong had a one-out single off Seunghwan Yoon; 2B Jae-won Oh walked. C Jae-hoon Choi singled home Hong to tie it. SS Si-hyun Son singled, as did Jong-wook Lee for a 3-1 lead. LF Hyun-soo Kim homered off Yoon to open the 5th. 1B Joon-seok Choi and Hong both singled and 3B Won-seok Lee cracked a 2-run triple for a 6-1 edge. Yoon left with 10 hits and 6 runs in 4 1/3 IP. Son homered off reliever Yong-woon Shin for the Bears' last run. In the bottom of the 8th, Samsung challenged by loading the bases for slugger Hyung-woo Choi but Jae-hoon Jung struck him out. October 25: Bears 5, Lions 1. In the longest postseason game in the KBO to this point (5 hours, 32 minutes, 17 minutes longer than game 6 of the 2006 Korean Series), Doosan won again on the road at Daegu Stadium. Both import starters were superb as American Dustin Nippert pitched 6 shutout innings (3 H, 3 BB, 4 K) for Doosan and Dutchman Rick Vanden Hurk was just as sharp (5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K). The first run didn't come until the 8th when 3B Jae-ho Kim singled in a run with two outs for Doosan. In the bottom of the 8th, 1B Tae -in Chae had a RBI single off Sang-sam Hong. Samsung had a chance to get more runs with two men in scoring position but 2B Tae-wan Kim grounded out against Derek Hankins. Samsung had more chances in extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, they drew three walks with one out to bring up 2012 Korean Series MVP Seung-yeop Lee, the all-time KBO home run king. Myung-jun Yoon got Lee to ground into a force at home, then PH Dong-kyun Woo popped out to short. In the 11th, the Lions again loaded the bases, but backup 2B Myunggu Kang grounded out against Jae-hoon Jung (who would get the win with 1 2/3 shutout innings). Meanwhile, two-time Korean Series MVP Seung-hwan Oh (career playoff ERA of 1.30, no losses coming in) had struck out 8 of 12 for Samsung as they were dominating the extra frames. That all changed in the 13th. Backup 1B Jae-il Oh knocked a first-pitch fastball pitch from Oh out of the park, his first career homer of the postseason. Samsung tried Chang-min Shim to stop further bleeding but it backfired as he gave up 3 unearned runs, with an error by Chae and a two-run single by SS Si-hyun Son the big plays. Chung let one man on in the bottom of the 13th but that was it. October 27: Lions 3, Bears 2. Samsung won its first game of the Series in the unfriendly confines of Jamsil Baseball Stadium. South Korean president Geun-hye Park threw out the first pitch. Samsung went ahead in the 4th against Hee-kwan Yoo. 3B Seok-min Park doubled. Pitching coach Myung-won Chung visited the mound. SS Si-hyun Son made an error on a grounder by LF Hyung-woo Choi, scoring Park. A sacrifice fly

by DH Ji-young Lee made it 2-0. When manager Jin-wook Kim came out of the dugout to argue the sacrifice fly, the Bears were ruled to have made two visits to the mound in an inning, forcing Yoo's early exit. Samsung made it 3-0 in the 7th. RF Han-lee Park reached on an error by 2B Jae-won Oh, advanced on a sacrifice fly, stole third and scored on a wild pitch from Sang-sam Hong. Meanwhile, Won-sam Jang was cruising, blanking Doosan for the first six on only two hits. In the 7th, he faded, giving up a homer to DH Seung-heon Hong. Oh doubled and Jang was replaced by Ji-man An, who gave up a single to Son to score Oh and make it 32, the final score. A surprise was in store in the 9th when Seung-hwan Oh was summoned despite 53 pitches two days earlier. The closer got 1B Joon-seok Choi on a grounder then fanned Seung-heon Hong and C Eui-ji Yang to end it. October 28: Bears 2, Lions 1. The home team finally won a game as Doosan got great pitching to go up 3 games to 1 in the Series. They started quickly off Young-soo Bae. RF Soo-bin Jung laid down a one-out bunt single, LF Hyun-soo Kim walked and DH Joon-seok Choi doubled home Jeong. 1B Jaeil Oh drew a walk, then C Eui-ji Yang hit a sacrifice fly to give Doosan all the runs they would need. Samsung reliever Woochan Cha shut them out for 6 1/3 innings after Bae left in the second but it was a wasted effort. Meanwhile, Jae-woo Lee was excellent, fanning 8 in 5 innings (2 H, 3 BB) for Doosan and Derek Hankins tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings. In the top of the 9th, Samsung finally got on the board, having been held to 3 hits until then. LF Hyung-woo Choi led off with a double off Jae-hoon Jung and 3B Seok-min Park walked. DH Seung-yeop Lee grounded out to fall to 2-for-15 one year after being Series MVP. RF Han-lee Park was intentionally walked to load the bases. 19-year-old SS Hyeon Jeong hit a sacrifice fly to close it to 2-1. That brought up veteran catcher Kab-yong Jin, three times voted the best backstop in the KBO and a two-time Olympian. Reliever Myung-jun Yoon got him to ground to SS Si-hyun Son to end the game, though. October 29: Lions 7, Bears 5. Samsung sent the Series back to their home as their offense woke up, doubling their run total for the Series. 1B Tae-in Chae started it with a two-run first inning homer off Kyung-eun Noh. LF Hyung-woo Choi, DH Seung-yeop Lee, 3B Seok-min Park and 2B Tae-wan Kim connected for four straight singles for a 3-0 lead. DH Joon-seok Choi got Doosan on the board in the second with a homer off Seung-hwan Yoon. Hyung-woo Choi countered with a home run of his own in the top of third for a 4-1 lead. Doosan tied it in the bottom of the third. CF Jong-wook Lee and RF Soo-bin Jung reached and Lee came home on a single from Joon-seok Choi. 1B Jae-il Oh then cracked a 2-run double to knock out Yoon. Things quieted down somewhat after that. In the top of the 5th, Seok-min Park singled in a run; he would go 2 for 2 with 3 walks on the day. In the bottom of the 5th, Joon-seok Choi homered again, this time off Ji-man An to tie it again. Samsung went ahead for good in the top of the 8th against Myung-jun Yoon. C Kab-yong Jin and SS Byoung-gon Jung, the #8 and 9 batters, both singled. CF Hyung-sik Jung bunted them over, then RF Han-lee Park (1 for 14 to that point) delivered the decisive 2-run single. Rick Vanden Hurk (2 IP, 0 R) got the win in a rare relief outing while Seung-hwan Oh got the save. (Continued on page 29)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 28)

October 31: Lions 6, Bears 2. Samsung became the second team to tie a Korean Series after being down 3 games to 1, following the Bears in the 2000 Korean Series. They started off on the wrong foot when RF Soo-bin Jung led off with a homer off Rick Vanden Hurk, the first player to leadoff a Korean Series game with a dinger. Vanden Hurk issued two more walks in the first and was yanked at inning's end due to right biceps pain; 8 Samsung relievers were called on to finish it off, allowing only one run in the next eight innings. The Bears blew opportunities in the second and third. In the top of the second, they loaded the bases against Young-soo Bae but LF Hyun-soo Kim flew out. In the third, they loaded the bases against Woo-chan Cha but C Jae-hoon Choi hit into an inning-ending twin killing. In the bottom of the third, Samsung tied it against Dustin Nippert. C Kab-yong Jin doubled, SS Byoung-gon Jung walked and LF Young-seop Bae brought Jin in. In the top of the fifth, Doosan retook the lead when DH Joonseok Choi homered (he was 3 for 4 for the second straight day) off Cha, but it would be their last run. In the bottom of the 6th, Nippert began struggling. RF Han-lee Park singled and 1B Taein Chae homered to the opposite field for a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the 7th, they got unneeded insurance when Nippert plunked Jin with one out, Young-seop Bae had a two-out single and Han-lee Park hit one over the right field wall for a 3-run blast. Chang-min Shim got the win with 1 1/3 shutout innings while Seung-hwan Oh notched the save. November 1: Lions 7, Bears 3. Samsung became the first team to win a Korean Series after being down 3 games to 1 and the first team to win three straight Korean Series, using a big 6th inning to put things away. Doosan got on the board first. CF Jong-wook Lee led off the game with a double off Won-sam Jang. SS Si-hyun Son bunted him over then LF Hyun-soo Kim singled to right for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the hosts tied it on hits from RF Han-lee Park and 1B Tae-in Chae, a walk to LF Hyung-woo Choi and a sacrifice fly from 3B Seok-min Park, Han-lee Park just beating Hyun-soo Kim's throw home. In the top of the third, the Bears retook the lead, loading the bases as their top three batters (Jong-wook Lee, Si-hyun Son and Hyun-soo Kim) all reached, then C Eui-ji Yang hit a one-out sacrifice fly off Jang. Samsung tied it again in the 5th, fueled by their 2 through 4 batters again. Han-lee Park and Tae-in Chae again singled and Hyung-woo Chai again drew a Hee-kwan Yoo walk (his 5th in 4 1/3 IP in addition to 6 hits allowed). Seok-min Park flew out. Derek Hankins relieved Yoo but his postseason run of success was soon to end. DH Seung-yeop Lee singled to right to score Han-lee Park with the tying run. In the bottom of the 6th, Hankins unraveled altogether. SS Byoung-gon Jeong singled. With one out, Han-lee Park and Tae-in Chae again reached (both would have 3-hit days). Hyung-woo Choi (3 walks today) grounded to 3B Won-seok Lee, who threw home but his throw went high for an error, letting two runs score. Seok-min Park followed with a two-run single to center and 2B Tae-wan Kim added a RBI double for a 5-run frame and a 7-2 lead. Si-hyun Son finished the scoring with a homer off Ji-man An in the 7th

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DUTCH HOOFDKLASSE The 2013 Hoofdklasse is ongoing. Dè Flanegin set a record by appearing in his 692nd game for the same team (Pioniers). Regular Season Standings (Head coach in parantheses)  DOOR Neptunus, 34-8 (Evert-Jan 't Hoen)  Corendon Kinheim, 31-11 (Hans Lemmink)  Vaessen Pioniers, 29-12 (Robert Klaver)  L&D Amsterdam Pirates, 28-13 (Sidney de Jong)  UVV, 17-25 (Ferenc Jongejan)  Mr. Cocker HCAW, 14-27 (Ivan Rodriguez)  Mampaey The Hawks, 11-30 (Martin van Zeist)  ADO, 2-40 (Dave Daniels) Playoffs: Amsterdam, Kinheim eliminated 2013 Holland Series: Pioniers vs. Neptunus Award Winners  MVP: Bas de Jong, Amsterdam  Pitcher of the Year: Rob Cordemans, Amsterdam  Coach of the Year: Hensley Meulens, Dutch national team  Holland Series MVP: Benjamin Dille, Neptunus  Roel de Mon Award: Misja Harcksen  Ron Fraser Award: Max Draijer League Leaders  Average: Bas de Jong, Amsterdam .369  Slugging: Bas de Jong, .524  OBP: Remco Draijer, Kinheim .494  Home Runs: Bryan Engelhardt, Kinheim 6  Runs: René Cremer, Kinheim 44  RBI: Dwayne Kemp, Neptunus 38  Stolen Bases: Roelie Henrique, Amsterdam 20  Doubles: Benjamin Dille, Neptunus 19  Triples: Shaldimar Daantji, Neptunus 6  Total Bases: Bas de Jong, 88  Walks: Gianison Boekhoudt, Neptunus 34  Hits: Bas de Jong, 62  ERA: Kevin Heijstek, Amsterdam 1.03  Wins: Rob Cordemans, Amsterdam 10  Innings: Diegomar Markwell, Neptunus 101 2/3  Games: Rick van de Post, ADO 30  Complete Games: Elton Koeiman, Hawks 8  Saves: Berry van Driel, Neptunus 12  Strikeouts: David Bergman, Kinheim 101  Shutouts: Markwell, 2

Baseball Universe | 30

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BY REYNALDO CRUZ

In eight

seasons in Cuba, Matanzas-born first sacker Michel Abreu hit for .315, with 115 homers, 432 runs batted in and a .523 slugging percentage, to go along with a .427 on-base percentage. More than once, he led or was at the top ten homerun hitter in the Cuban Baseball National Series. After leaving the country and bouncing around the Minors in the New York Mets Farm System, plus excellent seasons in Winter Ball, mainly the Mexican League, where he had a great 2011 (.339 AVG, 21 HR, 82 RBI, .438 OBP, .574 SLG) and 2012 (.317 AVG, 29 HR, 106 RBI, .474 OBP, .678 SLG), he took yet a bigger leap and moved to the land of the Rising Sun to play with the NPB‘s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, with which he led the Pacific League with 31 homers and was named to the Best Nines.

ested in baseball. Before that, I used to play—like many Cubans—on the street, the pickets of soft-pitching or playing taco (a Cuban popular game) with the other kids in my neighborhood. Which coach or coaches do you hold responsible for developing your talent to hit homeruns?

Well, I‟ve had many good coaches since I started my career, starting by “el Indio”, in legendary ballpark Palmar de Junco, which is now a baseball academy. After that, I went to EIDE (Cuban Sports School) and had good coaches such as Santiago, Raul, Luis de Armas, Luis Arce and Baro. In ESPA (a superior Cuban Sports School), I was trained by Mario Domet, Luis Cuba and Manolo. Once I got to the first category, I got to meet Armando Ferrer, Gerardo „Sile‟ Junco, Rigoberto Rosique, who saw my potential as a slugger —as He agreed to give us an interview, which was published in well as Domet and Junco did— when I was at the top cateSpanish in the Universo Béisbol, august issue. gory playing for the team of Matanzas. However, I must Baseball Universe: Do you remember how old you point out that my main coach is my father Romelio Abreu: he were when you got interested in baseball? is following my every at bat, even while I play here in Japan. Michel Abreu: I was 10 years old when I got seriously inter- Who were the players you admired the most? PHOTO CREDIT: SANSPO

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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My favorite player was always Omar Linares, but I also liked Orestes Kindelan, Antonio Pacheco, Victor Mesa, Jose Estrada, Luis Ulacia, German Mesa, Camagüey‟s Leonel Moa and Fernando Sanchez.

I got to the Fighters through my attorney, who made all the contacts for them to give me a chance at a try-out so that they could see me play in person, since they had already seen a promotion video I had previously sent. I got here and I hit around .380 in the Spring Training with four homers and 15 When you got to the National Series, who was a role RBIs. That gave them the confidence to sign me and give me model for you? a chance to play in the league. When I got there, we had a tremendous team, with many In the first games in Japan, you did not fare very players I used to look up to as a kid. I was very happy, but well, but so far you have hit 24 homers with 66 RBIs also shy because they were stars of Cuban baseball, like and are hitting .308. Was it too difficult to adapt to Lazaro Junco, Julio German Fernandez, Jorge Luis Valdes, Japanese pitching? Juan Manrique, Jose Estrada. The latter gave me a lot of support, and so did Vaisel Acosta, David Garcia and Feliz I started hitting low on average, but I was hitting the ball Isasi Jr. I did not try to imitate anyone, but I tried to do my hard, since I got nine homers in the first 20 games. After seebest. ing the pitchers I improved my average and my approach at the plate. You hit a lot of homeruns in Cuba. Which is the one you remember the most in your Series Nacionales Would you like to represent the Cuban team in the career? future? Would you have done it if they had called you for one of the three World Baseball Classics? In my opinion, my most important homerun was when I played with the team of Santiago de Cuba during a Copa Yes, I would love to represent my country if I was given a Revolución, with great players like Kindelan, Pacheco, chance, since a World Baseball Classic showcases the best in Gabriel Pierre, Rey Isaac, Rolando Meriño and managed by the planet on a national team level, and it‟s an experience Higinio Velez. It was the last Play Off game against Pinar del any player would enjoy a lot. Rio and I got a three-run jack off Pedro Luis Lazo in the What are your future goals? eighth inning and the game tied. We won that championship and I made the Cuban team for the first time. The other one I Among the future goals I have, I must include finishing my can remember, I believe it was the first in my career, was career here in Japan, since I feel great with this baseball against Osvaldo Fernandez in Holguin. At that time, he was where there is a lot of quality and very good players both one of the best hurlers in Cuba, and that gave me a lot of con- Japanese and foreign. It is a blessing that I was given the fidence and made me understand that I could hit in Cuban opportunity of playing here since I always knew it was a good baseball, but you don‟t feel it as such until you play. baseball. And outside of Cuba?

Something you would like to accomplish…

Outside of Cuba, in my first year in the US, in Spring Training, I homered in my first time at bat, and I hit another one the next day. That gave me a feeling similar to that I felt in Cuba, and that way I managed to get to Double A with the New York Mets organization. That year I won the AA Batting title and was the team‟s MVP.

I think there are still too many things to do in baseball, because I think you are never pleased with what you accomplish in this game. But I feel content with what I have achieved so far in my career.

With what teams have you felt better in your career? I have felt great with many teams throughout my career, starting with the team of Matanzas where I played seven years and to which I owe a lot. Also, in Santiago de Cuba, when Antonio Pacheco told me: “I will start in the bench because I have problems in my back so you‟ll hit in the Number 3 spot.” On the opening day, Orestes Kindelan also told me: “I was the one who asked Higinio (the manager) to bring you in so you could play first base. You have my full support, Abreu.” That was very important to me: they made me feel like I had played all my life with them. Outside Cuba, I must say I liked the Toros del Este, of the Dominican League, the Mets AA Affiliate, the Sultanes de Monterrey and the NipponHam Fighters, who I play for now, and where there is a tremendous respect and good team chemistry. How did you get to the NPB?

If you hadn’t been a ballplayer, what would you have been? I think that if I had not been a baseball player I would have been a musician, because I love salsa, bachata, reggaeton . I have always been a fan of the Orquesta Reve, my favorite ever. A message for Cuban fans… My message for Cuban fans would be: I feel 100% Cuban, and even though I am not in Cuba, I keep it in my heart. Anywhere I am, I will always keep our red, white and blue flag —which is a part of our identity— as high as I can.

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THE SHORT FLIGHT OF EL PÁJARO, THE CUBAN LEGEND WHO PLAYED HIS ONLY GAME IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES 100 YEARS AGO TODAY ON MAY 16, 1913, REVERED SHORTSTOP ALFREDO CABRERA PLAYED HIS ONE AND ONLY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME AT EBBETS FIELD. HERE‘S HOW A CANARY ISLANDER-TURNED-CUBAN HERO SPENT YEARS EARNING HIS BRIEF CHANCE AT AMERICAN STARDOM — AND WHAT HAPPENED AFTER IT WAS OVER. BY ERIK MALINOWSKI

No one knows anymore what the A in Alfredo A. Cabrera's name stands for. We do know he most likely sailed from the Canary Islands to Cuba around 1900, as a teenager, and almost immediately established himself as a gifted baseball player. He was of medium height, say 5'10" or so, and threw and hit right-handed. Cabrera was not considered a slugger, even in the era before home runs became common, but he had a good batting average and (especially in his younger days) flashed fleetness when needed. The reason Cabrera made any impact at all in baseball, though, was defense. Over a 20-year period, stadium crowds from Havana to Hartford were consistently awed by his fielding wizardry. He was the Ozzie Smith of his day. But Cabrera was not a superstar, nor even a notable personality, to American audiences. It was not until he was 32, after several seasons in the independent leagues of New England and well past his prime, that he finally got a chance to play Major League Baseball. On May 16, 1913, Cabrera made his debut as a shortstop for Ozzie Smith's eventual team, the St. Louis Cardinals. He went hitless in one at-bat, possibly two. Some of the fans in attendance at Ebbets Field to see Cabrera's team take on the Brooklyn Superbas that day might have known that they were

Alfredo Cabrera (top row, second from right) and Almendares won the 1907 Cuban League title over defending champion Fe by one game. IMAGE BY TRANSCENDENTAL GRAPHICS/GETTY IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

seeing one of the outstanding Cuban players of his time, but of course the full significance of the moment would have been impossible for anyone to grasp — no one could have known the enormous role Spanish-speaking players and fans would come to play in the game of baseball, or understood the resonance of one of the first great Hispanic players making his only Major League appearance on the same legendary field where another color barrier would be broken 34 years later. Unlike some of his more fortunate Hispanic contemporaries, who were able to slide for a time around rules against dark-skinned players, Cabrera never got more than one chance in the league. The Cardinals released him, and he went back to Cuba. In baseball parlance, such a brief tenure in the majors is known as a cup of coffee, but Cabrera didn't even really get that. He had the mug knocked out of his hands mid-sip. He got a taste, sure, but that he never played another game in baseball's top tier (and that it took him so long to do so in the first place) can in part be attributed to the racism that ruled the day. Cabrera was born into an era where the darker color of his skin dictated where and when he'd be allowed to play ball, if at all. Less sinister, but equally foreign to modern fans used to the monolithic institution of Major League Baseball, was how decentralized and chaotic the game was at the time. Cabrera is not the only potential legend of early baseball who's been forgotten because it took him too long to find his way to the one league that's endured and come to define the sport. Cabrera has been forgotten in America, that is, where the newspapers referred to him as "Al," "Señor," or even the bastardized sur-nickname of "Cabbage." But in Cuba, where he was revered for decades, Cabrera was called something different, a name that, to the fans of the legendary Almendares squads for which he played and later managed, conveyed the fluidity and grace he brought to the sport: El Pájaro, The Bird. It became his identity, as a foreigner adopted and embraced by a new homeland thousands of miles from his ancestral birthplace across (Continued on page 33)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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by 1859, nearly 40,000 of them had already immigrated to Cuba. Those numbers continued to rise each year, with the Atlantic Ocean in the Canary Islands. He'd flown in roughly two-thirds of the immigrants being young men looking for work on plantations. This is most likely why from afar. Cabrera would've sailed to Cuba when he did. (Coming from page 32)

When Cabrera was a young man, Cuba was grappling with newfound independence. As he grew old, the nation slipped into the throes of Communism. Through it all, Cabrera lived in baseball. He bore witness to a changing world, one he helped create, where Cuban ballplayers were recognized as equals with their American counterparts. Over the last century, men like Jose Canseco, Tony Perez, Luis Tiant, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, Aroldis Chapman, and more than 160 other native Cubans have followed Cabrera and his fellow pioneers to the big leagues, many of them with enduring success. But history has largely forgotten Cabrera, the adopted Cuban who played as well and did as much as any of his brethren to pave the path those future stars followed. He was a witness to history, a hero to many, and unfortunate proof that you can do and say all the right things yet never achieve the greatness commensurate with your talents. "Cabrera is a dark man, very brown, but has the most Irish face you ever saw. … He is not a Spaniard … nor a Portuguese ... This strange unit of a departed people is a guanche, or aborigine, of the Canary Islands." — Cincinnati Times-Star, Feb. 25, 1913 The first official game of the Cuban League was played in Havana on Dec. 29, 1878. The Almendares Blues lost to the Habana Reds, 21-20, that day despite bursting out to an early 10-1 lead. Fifteen more seasons of losing followed before Almendares, in 1894, finally won its first championship. By that time, Almendares Park in Havana — despite the team's inconsistent performance — had become the central hub for all Cuban League games, and the club appeared poised for bigger glory. Almendares didn't get the chance to repeat as champion, as the Cuban War for Independence broke out the following year. On May 19, 1895, the game between Almendares and Habana, the only clubs that were left playing in a strife-filled season, had to be stopped in the fourth inning on account of rain, and the locals were not pleased. That same day, a 42-year-old Cuban poetturned-revolutionary named Jose Martí was shot and killed by Spanish forces in the Battle of Dos Rios, out on the southeast portion of the island. The fan riots that followed the rainout, coupled with the escalating military conflict after Martí's death, compelled league honchos to end the season for good, and no champion was declared. Nearly four years would pass before organized baseball returned to Havana. Two years after that, a 19year-old Alfredo Cabrera made his debut for Almendares. Cuba's increasing (and increasingly ambitious) population was one of the triggers of its insurrection against the Spanish. And the biggest reason for Cuba's growth was the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. Its inhabitants were called guanches, and

Another cause of the Cuban Revolution, of course, was the lurking influence of the United States. The explosion and subsequent sinking of the U.S.S. Maine off Cuban waters in early 1898 led to American military intervention, effectively finishing the conflict by year's end. Though neither the Spanish government nor loyalists in Cuba had any involvement in the Maine's demise, American jingoism and the strategic irritant of having a Spanish colony 90 miles away from the U.S. coast made involvement all but mandatory. The Treaty of Paris eventually formalized Cuba's national independence, and baseball (under the eye of provisional American forces) returned to Almendares Park two months after it was signed. The two countries were connected by geopolitics, but also by a mutual national sport. In fact, in February 1901, Cabrera would make his Cuban debut under the eye of an American. Manager Billy Earle was a 33-year-old former catcher from Philadelphia who'd played for five American teams in the 1890s before leaving the majors at 26. (He didn't exactly retire so much as he was excommunicated for acting like a weirdo. A self -proclaimed spiritual healer, Earle was forced out of MLB, as one account later described it, because of "the belief that he was a hypnotist with the power of 'the evil eye.'" Broke — he also had a gambling habit — and unable to hold a job as a college coach, he was hired to manage the Almendares Blues.) Cabrera played in all 18 games that season and was a fan favorite from the beginning. Midway through the 1903 season, the Cuban cultural magazine El Figaro asked thousands of fans who they considered Cuba's best baseball player. The overwhelming choice was Cabrera, who'd already become a regular on a team of national stars that played exhibitions with visiting American teams during the winter offseason. By 1905, Cabrera was playing shortstop — a move to better leverage his innate gift for fielding — and Almendares claimed its second-ever championship despite fielding a roster of only 12 men. The team also adopted a new nickname: Alacranes (Scorpions). Having solely been known as the Blues theretofore, this was an immediate upgrade, and a complementary slogan soon became a common refrain rising from the Almendares Park stands, especially once Cabrera led the team to four more titles over the next six seasons: ¡El que le gane al Almendares se muere! "He who defeats Almendares, dies." The Scorpions were at the pinnacle of Cuban baseball, Alfredo Cabrera was the Scorpions' star, and the Americans had their eyes on him. "These two men [Alfredo Cabrera and Armando Marsans] are the stars of the Almendares team, the Cuban champions, and there is little doubt they will make good in fast company in (Continued on page 34)

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(Coming from page 33)

the States." — La Lucha, Dec. 2, 1906

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invalid since Ramsey was not with this sanctioned team when they signed. The Holyoke club fought on the Cubans' behalf with U.S. baseball organizations, and the ensuing battle went through three levels of hearings. In June 1907, The New York Times reported the final decision of the National Baseball Commission in Cincinnati: Cabrera and Marsans had to play for Ramsey's team in Scranton. But the two men never reported, and Scranton management released them from any contractual obligations after the season. While all these shenanigans were happening stateside, Cabrera was leading Almendares to yet another Cuban championship.

In the fall of 1906, H.D. "Hank" Ramsey decided to bring Alfredo Cabrera to America. As the promoter traveling with the "All-Americans," a ragtag bunch of adequate-ifunimpressive pros, Ramsey saw firsthand what baseball gifts the 25-year-old shortstop possessed. The AllAmericans played 14 games against a series of Cuban teams and finished with a 7-7 record — but lost to Almendares in five of six games. It was Cabrera and one of his teammates, pitcher Armando Marsans, who piqued RamHis stock rose even further in 1908, as Almendares comsey's attention. pleted the greatest single season in Cuban League history, going 37-8 and winning another title. Cabrera and MarOn Dec. 26, before sailing back to New York, Ramsey sigsans signed with the New Britain club of the Connecticut ned both men to contracts that would pay them $125 a League in early April, shortly after the Cuban League seamonth once they arrived in America the following May. son had wrapped. New Britain also signed two more CuThe agreement was soon complicated, though, when ban stars, Luis Padron and Rafael Almeida, and the quarRamsey revealed they would be playing for a team he tet went to the States to became the first group of Cuban would be managing in the Atlantic League, which was League players to play sanctioned minor league baseball outside the purview of organized American baseball. Plain the northeast. ying for such an unaccredited "outlaw" club could risk whatever future Cabrera and Marsans had in Major League Baseball — akin to a union worker crossing a picket Fans in New Britain were downright giddy over the new line — so they instead signed a second set of contracts imports. One newspaper trumpeted Cabrera as a with the Holyoke (Massachusetts) Paperweights, a club in "whirlwind player," and his arrival was reported as imminent in early May. The other players came over in short the accredited Connecticut League. order, but Cabrera would be the last of the four to arrive in America. He was extremely wary, given the troubles The situation became even more bizarre and convoluted he'd gone through to sign with an American team, but when Ramsey informed the two ballplayers that he had (Continued on page 35) accepted a job managing a more legit team in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and wanted them to honor the first contract. Cabrera and Marsans considered their initial contracts

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 34)

also because of the immediate backlash his compatriots endured upon their arrival. "These men are strictly white and must not be confounded with the colored players," the New Britain Herald felt it necessary to say. "If it were not so, they would not be allowed to play in the league and the manager has been very careful to inquire into this before signing them. They are really Spaniards in sense of blood descent." Some managers and owners in the Connecticut League were not so assuaged and talked openly about banning the players. A special league meeting in mid-July was to settle the matter for good, but on July 24, 1908, The Springfield Republican reported that the issue had been permanently tabled and that no restrictions would be placed on the players. Apparently league organizers were simply too embarrassed to talk about race. "It is ticklish business to bring up racial talk — a fact which the directors recognize," the article read. "Of course, there is an understanding that negroes will not be hired to play in organized leagues, and sentiment is strongly against the black man in league baseball."

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While some competing owners kept filing protests, charging that the players' ethnicity made them ineligible, the umpires were a more immediate concern. Barely two weeks after Cabrera's arrival, the Herald ran a screed lambasting the league's umpiring crew and accusing them of willful malpractice. "It is charged that the umpires, aided and abetted, secretly, by some of the misguided owners and managers, are following a well-laid plot to deprive the Cubans of their superior batting averages," the article said. "Shame on the managers who countenance these tactics. There are no words too contemptuous to apply to the umpires who are their willing tools."

Nonetheless, Cabrera finished out the season, playing 65 games in New Britain and fighting through "a bad attack of charley horse" in September, according to The New London Day. He returned to Cuba in time for the annual exhibition series against the Americans, some of which was played in Key West for the first time. But not even South Florida, with its growing Hispanic population and geographical proximity to Cuba, was immune to gross displays of racism. One player was allegedly denied admission into the country when the immigration officer took his features to be Chinese, and if another account is to be believed, the mayor of Key West himself, one Dr. With this quiet capitulation, the four players soon became Joseph Fogarty, threw rocks at and heckled a Cuban pita smash sensation. Though Cabrera did not arrive until cher. July, and only after numerous personal pleas from the club's owner, his impact was immediate. On July 6, 1908, By the 1909 season, Cabrera's second with New Britain, he suited up as New Britain's newest infielder and "played the owner protests had ceased and umpires were calling a smashing game at short and pulled off one stop that games with an increasing fairness. He played 115 games earned his salary right there," according to the next day's and batted .276 with seven home runs and a team-leading New Britain Herald. "He has a smooth-working wing and 22 stolen bases. Similarly solid seasons with New Britain at the bat he was not a bit timid." The following day, Cain 1910 and 1911 — coupled with two more Cuban League brera scored on a game-winning home run in the bottom titles with Almendares during the winter — made Cabrera of the ninth by Luis Padron. a target of Major League Baseball scouts. The Connecticut Fans stormed the field in deliLeague had the best independent minor league talent in rium. the northeast. But though his raw speed, defensive flair, and occasional power kept fans wowed in two nations, Cabrera officially attained hero Cabrera's age was starting to show. Years of hard travel status on August 3. New Bri- had worn on him, and any chance he had to play Major tain was playing at home League Baseball was fading fast. against league rival Meriden, and the game was tied at 1-1 in "The mayor was the official sponsor for the the bottom of the 13th inning. opening and received a hearty welcome, but The game was about to be Cabbage was the George Washington of the stopped due to darkness when afternoon. He was first to hit, first to score, Cabrera stepped up to bat. "He first to make a home run, and who will not slammed the ball between sesay he was first in the hearts of the baseball cond and third," according to men." — Hartford Courant, April 30, 1910 the Hartford Courant. The ball then "took a vicious bound" as it caromed past one defender When Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida, Cabrera's Cabrera‟s 1909 baseball and onto the left field grass. former teammates with Almendares, debuted as pinchcard Cabrera raced around first and hitters for the Cincinnati Reds on July 4, 1911, it was not headed for second base, at because Reds management wanted to be seen as trailblawhich point the Meriden shortstop "made a wild throw of zers. It was business. Struggling near the bottom of the the horsehide." The ball sailed clear to the other side of National League standings, Reds executives thought the the field and into the crowd. Cabrera raced home with the novelty would help sell tickets. Cabrera continued to winning score, and the fans "threw up their hats and filed watch from afar, from Connecticut and Cuba, patiently out on the field." It was, the newspaper declared, "the waiting his own chance. best exhibition of the national sport seen on the local diaCabrera's prolonged exclusion from MLB was as sad as it mond." (Continued on page 36)

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April 5, 1913: The first game ever played at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, five weeks before Alfredo Cabrera’s debut.

some things truly never change — Murphy relocated the squad to nearby Waterbury, not after but during the 1912 season.

The result was a disaster. Waterbury became the embarrassment of the Connecticut League thanks to injuries, prolonged vacations by players, suspensions, and generally shoddy play. The nadir came during a loss to Hartford in August. WATERBURY TEAM IS SHOT TO PIECES, read a headline inside the Hartford Courant. "A few New Britain fans who came up to see the game … shook their heads sadly when they compared the team and the great organization that proudly wore the New Britain (Coming from page 35) colors at the start of the season." Hartford won, 16-3, and the writer joked that "at one time it was thought that Jim was unsurprising. His skin was simply too dark to be con- Murphy would have to put on a uniform." sidered acceptable by a majority of players and fans. The caricatures perpetuated against Hispanics at the time weMurphy sold the team after the season — but because of re breathtaking in both their offensiveness and their baseball's arcane rights clauses, Cabrera's player rights openness. A front-page editorial cartoon in the May 9, were somehow excluded from the sale. Under pressure 1912, edition of the Cincinnati Times-Star depicted Rafafrom local baseball officials, Murphy sold El Pájaro to the el Almeida wearing an exaggerated sombrero-style hat minor league Indianapolis Indians in January 1913 for with a machete sheathed in a woven belt, a pipe dangling $1,500. The newspapers treated his sale as if a great civic from his mouth, and a stalk of sugarcane slung over his leader were heading into retirement. "Cabrera was regarleft shoulder. If this was how players that were deemed ded as the best shortstop in the Connecticut League," said "white enough" to play ball were treated in the open, Cathe Courant, which described the way the bellhops at the brera, with a darker complexion, barely stood a chance. Waterbury hotel in which he lived "waited upon him as if he was a monarch." Of all the most frustrating aspects of baseball's stubborn refusal to integrate the worst might be the inherently arCabrera never made it to Indianapolis and instead ended bitrary nature of the entire exercise. There was nothing up playing for a team in Springfield, Massachusetts, wheofficially written into any baseball rule that forbade nonre he was when the big leagues finally came calling. In St. whites from playing. Playing non-whites was just sometLouis, Miller Huggins' first year as St. Louis' playerhing that simply wasn't done, and determining who was manager was not going well. Huggins would famously go "not white" was also up to each individual team executive on to win three World Series, managing perhaps the most and scout to decide on a case-by-case basis. And no one famous team in baseball history — the 1927 Yankees — was required to tell a player why they hadn't been signed, but this was his first time in charge of a roster, and the of course. So they might never know whether they'd been Cardinals were near the bottom of the National League. A excluded because of their ability or because of their genes. scout named Tom Connery, who'd been an assistant coach in the Connecticut League, probably recommended Cabrera's rights were sold in August 1911 to the Boston Cabrera, perhaps thinking he could help goose ticket sales Rustlers, a dreadful MLB team with little to lose. One lo- for the slumping team. Connery would've had no problem cal paper started calling him "Boston Cabbage" and said if getting Huggins' blessing, since Huggins had played for Cabrera made it to the Rustlers by season's end that the Cincinnati Reds when they ventured to Cuba in late "there is no doubt but what he will give [Al] Bridwell a 1908 for an exhibition series. Huggins had even broke up strong run for the shortstop position." The Toledo News- an Almendares no-hitter in the ninth inning of one game Bee said a source regarded Cabrera as "a better player with a slow-rolling infield single between first and second than Marsans or Almeida because he had brains" — but base. for whatever reason, maybe race, maybe not, Cabrera never played for Boston and his rights stayed with New BriAn account of Cabrera's only MLB game exists because he tain. had the good fortune to play against the Brooklyn Superbas at Ebbets Field — and The New York Times was on it. In January 1912, the Hartford Courant reported that Phi- Cabrera is not mentioned by name in the paper's recap of ladelphia had also shown interest in the shortstop and the game, and his inclusion in the box score is merely nothat Brooklyn team owner Charles Ebbets "wanted to take ted as "Cab'ra," a common casualty of the era's constant Cabrera on the spring training trip." However, New Bri- agate-type abbreviations. But he did play shortstop and tain team owner James Murphy needed a star because he bat at least once, making an out. While every other known was angling to move the team to a new city. After a long secondary source lists Cabrera as having batted twice witsquabble over New Britain's allegedly inferior ballpark — (Continued on page 37) IMAGE BY BAIN NEWS SERVICE/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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Oct. 26, 1946, to much fanfare and a record crowd of some 31,000 people, Cabrera was there as head groundshout a hit, he is listed in this box score as having batted keeper. just once, a fact that might indicate he was a late-game substitute and not a starter. Brooklyn won 6-5. (Superbas That was how an entirely new generation of Cuban baowner Charlie Ebbets, who had once sought to bring Ca- seball fans regarded Cabrera in his later years: as the brera to spring training, was in attendance that day to older gentleman who kept Cuba's most prestigious ball host 5,000 local school kids, prompting the Times to note field in tip-top condition and kept an eye on Mocho, the that "juvenile enthusiasm proved the undoing of the Car- rascally stray dog who lived under the stadium stands, dinals.") chasing foul balls on occasion. The lasting image of Ca(Coming from page 36)

In an hour and 52 minutes, the big-league career of Alfredo Cabrera, Major League Baseball's first Spanishborn player, had come and gone. "The work of Cabrera at shortstop was one of the other bright features of the contest. He robbed the Finnegans of three hits, two of them line drives which looked good for safe bingos and few short stops in the business would have been able to knock them down." — Hartford Courant, Aug. 16, 1910 There's no record of why the Cardinals cut Cabrera; perhaps Cabrera‟s 1910 baseball they changed their mind about card his potential PR value. He returned to the Springfield Ponies and finished out the 1913 season as their everyday second baseman. He played two more lackluster years there, sailing back for the Cuban League season in between, but was finished with American baseball after 1915. At that point, Cabrera returned to Cuba for good and was immediately installed as Almendares' player-manager. On the strength of some phenomenal pitching, Cabrera managed the team to the Cuban League title, winning by two and a half games over Habana, his old nemesis. He played three more uneventful years before retiring. His final season in 1920 was for a haphazard collection of players known as América. It was like Jordan playing for the Wizards, as Cabrera's old club Almendares earned yet another championship while América played only 28 games and won two. In retirement, Cabrera essentially became a goodwill ambassador for Almendares. He occasionally umpired games and even made a triumphant return as the Almendares manager for the 1925-26 season. (He won another championship, just beating out, once again, Habana.) He was 44 by then, but baseball cards from the era make him appear 20 years older, with forehead wrinkles more pronounced and a face worn by time. The thin mustache, so familiar in his younger days, is long gone, but his smile remains bright. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942. Since this was before baseball's bigbucks era, though — and since Cuba was less prosperous than the United States in any case — simply hanging around as a revered old-timer wasn't a plausible way to make a living. So when Havana's Gran Estadio opened on

brera was, as described by one Cuban baseball historian, that of "a tallish, gaunt figure in a denim uniform, with a cigar stuck in the middle of his mouth and a rake in his gnarled hands. … Pájaro Cabrera was the true guardian of the sacred turf."

"A slim, reddish brown man, with a face that bears the stamp of weariness of the ages — the face of a patient member of a conquered people." — Cincinnati Times-Star, Aug. 22, 1911 On Feb. 8, 1961, Almendares lost the final game played in Cuban League history. A victory would've secured the 26th championship in team history, but the organization still finished with the best all-time winning percentage (.539) of any Cuban League team. Political pressure from the Castro regime had made baseball an untenable activity, and all professional league sports in Cuba were banned later that year. The Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame Cabrera‟s 1926-27 baseball card stopped electing new members and no longer exists in any official form. To this day, nearly 200 native Cubans have played Major League Baseball. Only three more Spaniards followed Cabrera to the big leagues, but 27% of all MLB players today are of Hispanic descent. In 1964, Alfredo A. Cabrera died at the age of 84 in Batabanó, a 35-mile drive down the Autopista La Habana from Cuba's capital city. The exact day of his death is not known. Taken from Buzz Feed (www.buzzfeed.com) Published on May 16, 2013

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Origins of the Pitching Rotation —BY FRANK VACCARO— This article was published in the Fall 2011 Baseball Research Journal.

of professional baseball history. Consider the graph of each pitching cycle as a percentage of all games, 1871–1935. (See Figure 1.)

Claims pop up with frequency that this team or that invented the pitching rotation. These find life in our modern media and attract proponents. Thanks to David Smith, Tom Ruane, and scores of volunteer researchers, we have Retrosheet, and there are methods to determine rotation patterns and fact-check such comments as one spoken by New York Mets announcer Keith Hernandez during a recent televised major league game. Hernandez asserted the 1969 world champion Mets were the first team to use a five-man pitching rotation. Here‘s how to check that. Let each game be assigned a number that ends a count of consecutive games featuring a different starting pitcher. This number is the rotation number (ROT) for that game. The string of ROT numbers that accompany a team‘s season game logs indicates the level of rotation use. These you can sum and average for a team, a player, a season, a month, a league, or a decade.

Strikingly delineated are the different pitching rotation eras. Upticks in two-man usage in 1879 and 1880 led to six years of prevalent use. From 1887 to 1897 the three-man won the day, and from 1898 to 1924, a period of twentyseven years, the four-man won the plurality despite never exceeding forty-six percent of all starts. In 2010, the fiveThe 1969 Mets‘ season ROT is the mean average of the man was used in over 80 percent of all starts for the first time in history. Let‘s take a look at each pitching rotation team‘s 158 rotation numbers. Until a team‘s rotation is esand its own history. tablished, do not count the first few games of a season: the Mets‘ first four games are not counted. The Mets played THE ONE-MAN their games using five different pitching rotation cycles and these span from two-man use to seven-man cycles. The For any non-SABR members who might be reading this, it Mets‘ quantity of starts in each rotation category distributes should be pointed out that from its origins, baseball was as follows across that spectrum: 3, 10, 44, 76, 21, and 4. The played by nine men on a team. A tenth man could fill in at season ROT for the 1969 New York Mets is therefore 4.72. any of the nine positions—including pitcher—should one of the starters have a hangover, a funeral to attend, or a court Now take a look at the ROT spectrum for the Tigers: 1, 9, date. Yet in this single-pitcher era you‘ll be hard pressed to 43, 74, 20, and 5. Detroit’s ROT is higher: 4.78. If you think find any sore arms. The general exertion for a pitcher in I‘m splitting hairs to debunk Mr. Hernandez‘ claim, consi- this era was compatible to a modern, medium paced, softball pitcher. In 1926, Sporting News columnist Jack Sherider this: the numbers are from the 1925 Tigers. dan might have been harsh when he called it ―quoit pitThere is a lot more going on in the history and evolution of ching—underhand tossing with the straight arm.‖ pitching rotations than generally acknowledged in contemporary accounts. Everything we think we know about days ROT figures stay constant and don‘t exceed 1.14 in the Naof rest and pitching rotations had already been attempted tional Association years, but days-of-rest changes are draby major league managers by 1925. I can‘t suggest that evematic. Days-of-rest has never been satisfyingly calculated rything we know about pitching rotations was accepted by because virtually all pitchers, at one time or another, sit out major league managers in 1925, but it had been attempted. a few starts. Upon their return, player and team days-ofNineteen- twenty-five happens to be a watershed year: the rest are skewed off chart. Buffalo in 1885 has the lowest five-man cycle, used in 38 percent of all games, finally ROT figures in the majors yet ranks high in days-of-rest eclipsed the four-man cycle, used in 34 percent of all gabecause pitcher Pete Conway sat 79 days before his August mes. From that year until Wilbur Wood‘s knee injury, the 10 start. unnoticed sea changes in pitching rotation usage concerned the dangers of the three-man and the impossibility of the six-man. Since 1970 we‘ve seen the painful, slow demise of Conway‘s long hiatus had nothing to do with the pitching the four-man cycle—even when an off-day provides an ex- rotation, but the well-intentioned statistician is pressured tra day of rest. In 2010, 450 games were played with a four- to include it. Another 1885 pitcher—The Only Nolan—was man ROT: the lowest major league total since 1895, so the rested over 50 days; dozens more were ―rested‖ over 10 sea change continues. days. Brilliant standing work on this subject is by John Rickert, Associate Professor of Mathematics at the RoseIf you want to know the origins of the pitching rotation—of the two-man and the three-man and of each successive Hulman Institute of Technology. Posted January 2008 on strategy—you have to root around the first sixty-five years

(Continued on page 39)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 38)

SABR-L, Rickert‘s data— calculated by ignoring actual days -of-rest of 11 or more—shows MLB pitchers resting an average of four days per start as early as 1900. ROT data provides a unique back-door solution to the days of rest problem. A five-man rotation means pitchers sit out four games between each start. If we know the average calendar days necessary to play four games, we have our days -of-rest formula. For teams use: (ROT-1) + (team off days/ games) where ―games,‖ as mentioned above, doesn‘t include those few that start a season. Since this method does not credit Conway with 79 days-of-rest in his aforementioned start, and since it can be argued that those 79 days must be counted, ROT generated days-of-rest should be referred to as ―Manager‘s Effective,‖ or meDOR. Here‘s how ROT and meDOR graph for the first 65 years of professional baseball history. (See Figure 2.)

Note how meDOR‘s track about 0.89 behind ROT‘s after 1905. That’s because 1905 was the first year off-days accounted for nearly 11 percent of the schedule, the figure used today by MLB. As it turns out, National Association days-of-rest was more reasonable than many would think. In 1871 the average team played a schedule of 28 championship games in 147 calendar days. That‘s 4.2 off-days for every game and an ROT of 1.03, numbers that produce a first season meDOR of 4.28—higher than any season since. In 1880, for the first time, there were more games played during a season than there were off-days, and this trend, combined with an apparent rise of fast ball pitching in 1877, were likely the driving forces in the origin of pitching rotations. THE TWO-MAN Origin: 1879 Springfield (MA) NA, Robert Ferguson, manager and captain. First Team: 1881 Chicago NL, Adrian “Cap” Anson, manager and captain. Cherokee Fisher is spelled as a starter with both Baltimore in 1872 and Hartford in 1874, but these incidents are spotty and probably reflect an overall unreliability on Fisher‘s part. In 1875 Robert Ferguson took over the Hartfords and, with Lipman Pike as the captain, sometimes alternated veteran Candy Cummings with rookie Tommy Bond in the second half; Boston‘s lead was too big to overcome.

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-arm fastball pitching and saw a number of teams hand 20 percent of their starts to secondary pitchers. Utica‘s 1878 ―Joyful Nine‖ under James Gifford finished in third place by alternating two outfielders: Blondie Purcell and Nick Alcott, for a 1.47 season ROT, the highest to that point by a team that finished over .500. On August 20 of that year, Springfield‘s Larry Corcoran walked out of the pitching box in a game against Worcester with a sore elbow. Fred Goldsmith was signed from the London, Ontario ―Tecumsehs‖ to fill the gap. In 1879 the two made Springfield the first team to score a 1.50 ROT. Manager Robert Ferguson became ill in June but his replacement, Lipman Pike, kept the two pitchers alternating. In the NL, George Wright managed and captained Providence to the 1879 pennant with an interesting 1.33 secondhalf ROT, with Bobby Mathews being used to give John Ward extra days of rest. In the National Association, Springfield disbanded September 6, ten days after their last regular season game. Corcoran and Goldsmith were signed by the Chicago Nationals within a month. Chicago‘s leader—Adrian ―Cap‖ Anson—would win the pennant in 1880 but Chicago‘s ROT score was 1.41—marginally better than the Buffalos‘ 1.35. More regular Corcoran and Goldsmith alternation in 1881 gave Anson the second of three straight pennants and a never-before-seen ROT of 1.89. Identifying the 1881 Chicagos as the first team to use the pitching rotation is probably not news to SABR membership. Jim Mutrie assembled the strictest two-man pitching rotations. His pennant winning 1884 AA Metropolitans used it in 87 percent of their games, a mark topped only by his 1886 New York Nationals, who used it 93 percent of the time. This included one stretch where Tim Keefe and Mickey Welch alternated for a record 44 consecutive games. THE THREE-MAN Origin: 1881 Mets, Eastern Championship Assn., Jim Mutrie, manager. First Team: 1887 St Louis AA, Charles Comiskey, manager and captain. The three-man came into use when season schedules incrementally expanded, putting pressure on two-man staffs. It pops up in 1881 when Jim Mutrie‘s semi-independent Metropolitans became the first team to schedule 150 games. Jack Neagle worked as the third pitcher to two muttonchopped Irishmen, the one-armed Hugh Daily and John Doyle. Major league schedules at that time called for only 84 games. In 1883 the three-man entered the NL as an option for second division teams with untested pitching prospects, and to this day, out-of-contention clubs will often add a pitcher to their rotations at the end of the season. In 2010, both Baltimore and Toronto used six-man September rotations. As noted by Rickert, six-man use actually spiked in 1998 as more teams were out of contention than in any other season. This had the effect of bringing meDOR for both leagues to over four days of rest per pitcher for the first time in history.

The American Association upped its schedule to 140 games But it was the advent of the International Association in in 1886, removing 17 off-days from each team‘s schedule. (Continued on page 40) 1877 that brought real change. This league condoned higher

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Comparing 1885 to 1886, Association days-of-rest dropped from 440 to 309 while three-man cycles doubled from 223 to 447. Three AA teams come close to its first committed use this season. St. Louis and Brooklyn almost pull it off, but both use the two-man for extended periods. Harry Stovey‘s Athletics have, due to injuries, five pitchers in and out of a staggering amount of three-man cycles: 58 percent. Stovey, however, spent chunks of the season trying to work an archaic 2323 rotation. This meant Al Atkinson worked the ―2‘s‖ on one day of rest while two pitchers took turns working the ―3‘s‖ with three days of rest. In 1887, Charles Comiskey‘s flag-winning St. Louis Browns, Harry Wright‘s contending Phillies, and Horace Phillips‘s ―Pittsburgs‖ all played over 50 percent of their schedules with three man rotations, and the contending champion Browns stand out. They had the earliest Spring commitment to the three-man and the necessary depth to make it work. Teams of that era with strong pitchers like Bob Caruthers and Dave Foutz universally forced them into twoman tandems. Bizarre circumstances in mid-August led to three weeks of one- and two-man use: Dave Foutz dislocated his thumb, Nat Hudson‘s mother died, and Bob Caruthers got food poisoning. That‘s when Silver King won three consecutive starts in three consecutive days, something no pitcher has done since. But the kind of consensus that swept the two-man into acceptance didn‘t happen with the three-man: both 1888 World Series participants, the Giants and the Browns, were last in three-man use in their respective leagues. Frank Selee‘s 1890 Boston Nationals were the most committed team to the three-man agenda, a decision no doubt spurred by Boston‘s failed use of the one-man rotation in September of 1889. The 1890 Bostons featured John Clarkson, Kid Nichols, and Charlie Getzein, and nearly overtook the Brooklyns with three weeks to play. Brooklyn, led by smart Bill McGunnigle, won the pennant when rainouts helped the team get away with a two-man rotation during the season‘s final weeks.

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and Charles ―Lady‖ Baldwin. Watkins combined Casey and Baldwin with Detroit‘s existing pitchers, George Wiedman and Charles Getzien, to create the first four-man staff to rotate ten consecutive games. Detroit‘s record was 11–34: they went on to win 9 of 10. Alas, Watkins discarded the rotation and used hunches to pick from his pool of pitchers the rest of the season. On May 17, 1886, Robert Ferguson debuted as manager of the Metropolitan Association team. He turned a two-man staff into a three-man and, in the final games of a September home stand, leaned primarily on a four-man rotation. The team won 7 of 10 forcing Baltimore into the cellar. The following year, in 1887, Ferguson had to open the season without staff lynchpin Jack Lynch. Ferguson used a 2323 in the early going: Al Mays was the strong arm while pikers Ed Cushman and John Shaffer alternated on three games of rest. When Lynch finally joined the team on May 20, Ferguson switched to the four-man, but it was too late. The Metropolitans were in last place and Ferguson was fired ten days later. The problem with implementing a four- or five-man rotation in the nineteenth century was insufficient pitching depth. Many teams, like Ferguson‘s Metropolitans, just presented awful pitchers as the fourth or fifth starters. To put it in a modern context, nineteenth century managers who dabbled with rotation use actually believed Duane Kuiper, on ten days of rest, could beat Steve Carlton on three days of rest. Yet early teams not only discarded pitchers after failure—they discarded the entire rotation idea. A graph of league adjusted ROT and team winning percentage for 1871–1935, the first 1,016 teams of major league history, displays no reward of success for teams who pushed the envelope of longer rotation use. (See Figure 3.)

The 1892 Louisvilles‘ stretch of 39 consecutive games using a strict three-man seems to be a record that will not be broken. The three man continued to be a tool of the major league manager until 1969. Leo Durocher‘s Cubs used it 36 times that year—twice the frequency of the 1964 Phillies— and Chicago came down harder and sooner. Nineteen-sixty -nine didn‘t usher in the five-man rotation as many have come to believe. It proved, once and for all, the fallacy of winning with a three-man. THE FOUR-MAN Origin: 1885 Detroit Nationals, Bill Watkins, manager. First Team: 1901 Boston Nationals, Frank Selee, manager. On June 14, 1885, Bill Watkins, manager of first-place Indianapolis of the Western League, made a deal with lastplace Detroit of the National League. Watkins would abandon Indy and the Western League and sign to manage Detroit, bringing along with him a gaggle of Western League players. Among those were left-handed pitchers Dan Casey

Captain Ed Swartwood‘s 1887 Brooklyn Association team, owner-managed by Charlie Byrne, enacted the first real effort to honor three days of rest for each pitcher. This goal was met in 76 percent of their schedule by tacking on fourth starters for fifty games. Brooklyn became the first team to crack the 3.00 ROT; their 3.26 ROT was actually higher than the 1908 White Sox. A poor season finish led to an apparent abandonment of the policy the following year. If only they had checked their own 1887 game logs: a 1–2 (.333) record in 1 ROT starts; an 8–13 (.381) record in 2 ROT starts; a 22–32 (.407) record in 3 ROT starts; and a 20 (Continued on page 41)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 40)

–23 (.465) record in 4 ROT starts. Over the next thirteen years, thirteen teams incrementally advanced four-man use (See Figure 4). These trail-blazers included the 1888 Indianapolis Nationals, the 1889 Chicagos, the 1892 Phillies, and the 1896 Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles, managed by Ned Hanlon and captained by Wilbert Robinson, were the first team to surpass a 4.00 ROT score (4.04); the first team to avoid using the same starting pitcher twice in any three-game stretch; and the first pennant winner to use a plurality of four-man starts (42 percent). Expanded roster sizes during the 1901 AL-NL war provided the impetus managers needed to give the four-man due consideration. That year three teams made serious bids to be first in this category. The Philadelphia Phillies, captained by Ed Delahanty and managed by team director Bill Shettsline, used the four-man 78 percent of the time from April 29 to August 20: Red Donohue, Al Orth, Bill Duggleby, and Doc White. Hugh Jennings took over the captaincy mid-year and used the five-man 29 times late in the season in what appears to be ―double-header patching‖—a temporary rotation increase by one starter so that days-of-rest for regular rotation members remains constant. The Phillies were a surprise second-place finisher.

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every four times an ace bumps up, he adds a start to his season. On the Fourth of July, 1901, manager Frank Selee began a strict four-man rotation to help save the Boston Nationals in what would be the last of his 12 seasons at the team‘s helm. Boston had used a fuzzy four-man in the early going. From the nation‘s birthday on, Selee enacted a 90 percent four-man with Vic Willis, Kid Nichols, Bill Dineen, and Togie Pittinger. Selee patched doubleheaders in June with fifth starter Bob Lawson, but got lucky at the end of the season: off-days helped keep the four-man going through most twin bills. Boston is the first team to use the four-man in 20 consecutive games and at one point used it in 43 of 45 games—a pace unapproached by the 1971 Orioles. Boston finished the season with four-man use in a record 101 games, or 73 percent of their season. Selee deserves a medal for finishing at .500 but he was dispatched out of town without regret. Brooklyn put together a four-man staff worthy of mention early in 1902, but subsequently the form went into hibernation for 16 years. During this time managers, apparently, used tea leaves and magic dice to pick a pitcher for a day‘s game. For long stretches, Rube Marquard couldn‘t pitch on Fridays; Doc White couldn‘t pitch in Washington, and Herb Pennock couldn‘t pitch against Cleveland. Ed Barrow‘s Red Sox resurrected the rotation idea in 1918 with a solid fourman that took the pennant. Their Fall Classic opponents, the Cubs, had the best four-man usage in the senior loop, making the 1918 Series the first between the top two fourman rotations from each league. It seems major league managers took notice. Seven teams during 1918 switched to four-man use mid-season. THE FIVE-MAN Origin: 1889 Chicago Nationals, Adrian “Cap” Anson, manager and captain. First Team: 1928 Chicago Cubs, Joe McCarthy, manager. On July 9, 1882, at Louisville, the St. Louis Browns presented recently signed Morrie Critchley in the box. It was the first time in big league history that five different starting pitchers were used in five games. But this was no pitching staff strategy; captain Ned Cuthbert‘s top pitchers were injured and the team was in a panic.

The Baltimore Orioles, from June 20 to August 20, ran a four-man 84 percent of the time. Manager John McGraw likely deferred the handling of his pitchers to team captain and friend, Wilbert Robinson. The four- man was adopted in June when ace Joe McGinnity lost a few starts and the team dipped under .500. Jerry Nops joined McGinnity, Harry Howell, and Frank Foreman until injuries and con- Similar stories mark the next five scattered incidents of troversy destabilized the team and the rotation in a Sep- fifth-pitcher use. In 1886, the Cincinnati Red Stockings accounted for eight five-man turns in one season as they tember free fall. grasped for the right three-man staff. These fumbling midseason periods of pitcher tryouts just don‘t qualify as candiYou‘ll notice I referred to McGinnity as the ―ace‖ of Balti- date dawns of the five-man rotation. more. ROT calculated for individual pitchers provides a quantitative definition for an often frivolous appellation. Managers bump up aces by a game or push back fifth and The first team to stock its bullpen with five quality arms sixth starters. You‘ll recall some aces pitch the game before and use them in an effort to contend was Cap Anson‘s 1889 the All-Star break, and then the game after—Dan Haren Chicago Nationals. Anson‘s 1889 team peppered its scheduand Justin Verlander did that this year. These managerial le with 15 sparse occasions of five-man use, 11 percent of moves accumulate over a full season and impact individual their schedule, a record mark nearly doubling Cincy‗s 1886 pitcher ROTs. McGinnity had the lowest ROT of use. This included four consecutive five-man turns as the Baltimore‘s 1901 regular pitchers: 2.86. That‘s 0.36 below team jostled in the early May pennant race pack. The team (Continued on page 42) the team ROT and indicative of a pitcher bumped up one game about 20 times. Interestingly, in a four-man rotation,

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Baseball Universe | 42 (Coming from page 41)

man.

Fifteen years after the 1889 Chicagos, fuzziness was the word of the day. Strict rotation patterns for any rotation numbers vanish, as mentioned, until 1918. It was the dark ages of pitching. Pattern testing teams for rotation use during these years is like looking at 272 Rorschach tests: The Between 1889 and 1930, 71 teams incrementally advanced 1911 Pirates... four-man? The 1909 Yankees... positively five-man use across a swath of rotation sensitive statistics. For a few of these teams, five-man use is noticeably more medieval. than incremental. The 1896 Baltimore Orioles, already a Rotation use in broad spans of seasons can be identified noted participant in four-man development, were the first and measured by using Purity Scores. Purity Scores measuto play over 20 percent of their schedule with five-man cy- re the tendency of managers to stick to a rotation over concles. They presented a record setting five-man/three-man secutive games. Take a look at the daily ROT numbers for ratio of 0.8 (31 to 38). This is a key statistic as noted by Fi- t h e 1909 Yankees in August: gure 1: most league-wide, post-1905, advances in the five- 5645674545456745675654567. Now take a look at the man are accompanied by a similar retreat of the three-man. 2010 San Francisco Giants, also in August: Prior to 1896, the best five-man/three-man ratio was 0.2 by 5555555555555555555555555555. Subtract day-to-day the 1895 Louisvilles (13 to 46). changes in ROT, count the resulting zeros, and average the set a new ROT record with a 3.33 mark, even though Anson gave up five-man cycles after July 20. He adopted threeman with Bill Hutchison making 14 starts as the ―2‖ of the 2323 rotation.

Buck Ewing‘s 1898 Cincinnati Reds dropped the three-man and relied on the five-man in August to help them hold first place. But given more regular work, Bill Damman and Bill Hill won only three of 10 games, and Boston, using a fourman, breezed into first place for good. Ewing oversaw the team‘s record-setting use of 40 five-man cycles (26 percent), and five-to-three ratio 1.1 (40 to 37). They were the first team to have more five-man cycles than three-man cycles. Then the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and 1900 Brooklyns reached a new mark in consecutive game five-man use: eight. Cleveland strung them up after Labor Day en route to a 20–134 record; Brooklyn did it in July en route to the pennant. Baseball was still years away from the first five-man rotation. Interestingly, in 1900 Pittsburgh hosted Boston in a key four-game series ending the Fourth of July in which both teams produced five-man rotations. Pittsburgh swept, stayed above .500, and contended to September when they switched again to the five-man. On September 22, Fred Clarke broke this pattern and pitched Jack Chesbro on two days rest against sixth-place St. Louis. Chesbro was hammered and Pittsburgh lost a chance to pull to a half game behind the Dodgers. Six teams, including the minor league AL Clevelands, tried their hand with the five-man in 1900. But it was a fad; a way to get through the short term after which lower rotations would resume. The 1901 Phillies became the first team to use the five-man for 10 consecutive games and Ned Hanlon‘s 1902 Brooklyns—the ―Superbas‖—upped that record by one and disdained the three-man enough to produce a five-to-three ratio of 3.7 (48 to 13). Patsy Donovan‘s 1903 Cardinals were the first team to have the five-man as their most common rotation number, even though they only used it in one-third of their games. ExBaltimore Oriole Joe Kelley‘s 1904 Reds were the first team with two different five-man streaks at least 10 games long. This appears to be double-header patching. In 1905 the New York Giants opened the season with a five-man. That‘s when John McGraw built the big lead which carried them to the pennant. But June 10 he reduced Hooks Wiltse‗s role and finished the year with what you might call a fuzzy four-

resulting positive numbers. Divide the quantity of zeros by games, and divide again by the average of the positive numbers to get the Purity Score. The season Purity Score for the 1909 Yankees is 13 percent. The season Purity Score for the 2010 San Francisco Giants’ is 94 percent. These two marks are, respectively, the lowest and highest in major league history.

The 1902 to 1917 era has the lowest purity scores in baseball history. Helter-skelter patterns describe each team‘s rotation use. Clouds of five-man use increase from 12 percent to nearly 30 percent in this period—all managers gravitating to five-man use as if pushing on a Ouija board. Tendencies for ROT pop up here and there: Connie Mack, with a few notable exceptions, had the league lowest ROT. Fitness-conscious Hugo Bezdek, in a short career, often ranked high. The most interesting use of the five man during this period was by Patsy Donovan‘s 1907 Brooklyns and Bill Carrigan‘s champion Boston Red Sox of 1915. That year both Boston and Detroit dabbled in late-summer fiveman use. Boston made Detroit the second one-hundred game winner not to go to the post-season. The re-adoption of rotation use, and the abandonment of voodoo pitcher selection in 1918, put the evolution of the five-man rotation back on track. Wilbert Robinson‘s 1920 Brooklyns were the first pennant winners to lead in ROT and five-man use. They also set a record with a five-tothree ratio of 7.9 (63 to 8). When the 1922 World Series became the first between two league leaders in five-man use, the stage was set for the development of the five-man pitching rotation. Between 1923 and 1933, seven teams stand out as possibly having the first five-man rotation. Six of those teams show higher five-man use than the 1969 Mets, the seventh switched to six-man use when bad weather created 31 doubleheaders. (See Table 1.) From 1922 to 1927, the New York Yankees led the AL in five -man use every year, sometimes by large margins. That‘s a testament to the depth that characterizes the Yankee franchise to this day. Their reliance on four-man use and reluctance to patch doubleheaders with sixth pitchers makes (Continued on page 43)

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

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(Coming from page 42)

including three in the first half of 2011.

them just a little archaic. Their advanced use of ROT over consecutive pennants gives them something in common with the Chicagos of the 1880s, and the Baltimores of the 1890s.

On August 9, 2011, Milwaukee‘s Chris Narveson cut his pitching thumb with scissors while lacing up his glove, ending the Brewers‘ mega5 at 84 games. This left the team 12 shy of the record held by the 1995 Braves. It went unreported.

Joe McCarthy‘s 1928 Cubs display a staggering 5-to-3 ratio of 38.0, the greatest leap in any five-man measure for any major league team. This shattered the 8.6 ratio of the 1927 Tigers. McCarthy‘s seemingly complete rejection of the three-man means his team, easily, is the first whose pitcher use could have been accomplished in our twenty-first century without raising eyebrows—significantly set apart from the Yankee teams of the day. Using ROT values to identify aces, Sheriff Blake leads the 1928 Cubs with a 4.59 ROT over Pat Malone‘s 4.80 ROT. But Malone is saddled with 17 relief stints, so many that a calculated meDOR for him is virtually meaningless. This is a common plight for top pitchers in the 1928–1931 period. It is better explained in a history of relief pitcher use, and better explains the high batting averages of the 1930s. These Cubs, by the way, are the first to play a majority of their games with a five-man cycle. Heinie Wagner‘s 1930 Red Sox opened the year with a near perfect five-man ―rotation scheme‖ for the first 20 percent of the season. This countered baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis‘s decree that starting pitchers not be announced until game time, a measure adopted to thwart gamblers. The Boston Herald didn’t seem to notice the rotation until four weeks into the season. On May 12 they wrote: ―The Big Five of the Sox... a pitching oligarchy of power and guile.‖ The Red Sox dropped the idea June 3 when they pitched Jack Russell on two days of rest. Boston had a 13–29 record and slouched deep in last place. They are the only team in this collection unable to contend. Gabby Street‘s 1931 St. Louis Cardinal world champions had fewer five-man turns than the 1969 Mets, but, as mentioned, had more doubleheaders: 31 to 22. They countered this with massive, record-setting six-man use, a pattern also used by the 1932 Yankees. Eighty percent of the 1931 Cards‘ schedule was played with a ROT of 5 or more, a huge increase over the 71 percent attained by McCarthy‘s 1929 Cubs, and compatible with an average team from 1997. The 1932 and 1933 Cubs—a tribute to Grimm and Rogers Hornsby—advance the cause of the five-man and are subsequently followed by Joe McCarthy‘s Yankees of the 1930s. Unperceived by all, especially the 1969 Cubs, the 1928 Cubs had let the horse out of the barn. Pitching rotation strategy is still unreported and tides of rotation strategy ebb to this day. The unreported strategy— or lack of strategy—of the new millennium is the mega5. Created by Bobby Cox in 1995, somewhat displayed by Joe Torre‘s 1998 Yankees, and attempted by both 2002 World Series participants, Anaheim and San Francisco, the mega5 is a complete elimination of the four-man option for an ace—even after an off-day. With advanced grounds-keeping to minimize doubleheaders, teams can string together upwards of 50 consecutive games with 100 percent pure fiveman work. Since then, 28 teams have put together mega5‘s

FRANK VACCARO is a longtime SABR member and Teamsters Local 812 shop steward for Pepsi-Cola (KBI) in Northern Queens, New York. He lives in Long Island City with his wife Maria and their cat Furgood. NOTES 1.

All information on game starting pitchers and ROT spreadsheets are sourced from Retrosheet. Accessed 12 August 2011. 2. Mark Liptak, ―Interview with Wilbur Wood,‖ Baseball-Almanac.com, accessed 30 August 2011, www.baseball-almanac.com/players/ wilbur_wood_interview.shtml. 3. The Sporting News, 10 June 1926, 4. 4. John Rickert, email to SABR-L Listserv. Archives, post 072962, 12 January 2008. 5. The Sporting Life, 22 October 1884, 3. 6. Springfield (MA) Daily Republican, 21 August 1878. 7. Chicago Inter Ocean, 4 October 1879. 8. Cleveland Plain Dealer, 17 August 1887 9. Dennis Purdy, Kiss ‘Em Goodbye, (Bristol, CT: ESPN Publishing, 2010), 117. 10. Jack Kavanagh and Norman Macht, Uncle Robbie, (Cleveland: SABR, 1999) 51. 11. Sporting Life, 17 April 27, 1901, 6. 12. Chicago Tribune, 23 September 1901. Stan McNeal, ―Scissors mishap will shelve Brewers‘ Chris Narveson,‖ Sporting News Online, accessed 1 September 2011, http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2011-08-10/ scissors-mishap-will-shelve-brewers-chris-narveson.

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MIKE TROUT, THE MVP RACE AND A HALL OF FAME CAREER IN THE

MAKING WRITTEN BY REYNALDO CRUZ

Angelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;

outfielder Mike Trout would have been the 2012 American League MVP had it not been because of Miguel Cabrera and his incredible Triple Crown. In a season where the Venezuelan third sacker of the Detroit Tigers did what had not been done since 1967, Trout posted an eyespopping Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 10.9 (as per Baseball-Reference), and won the Rookie of the Year Award and the Silver Slugger Award without much trouble, though some people believe that he was also worthy of the Gold Glove Award, had he not been robbed off it.

PHOTO CREDIT: ALEX GALLARDO/AP

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

Then, in 2013, when everyone thought there might be a significant regression in his numbers, or that the sophomore jinx would engulf him and make him fall down the pit, the youngster posted a slightly smaller 9.2 WAR, and even though his power and speed totals —meaning homers and stolen bases— dropped a little bit, his stats in general proved that there had been some serious evolution in the way Trout plays the game and mainly in his approach at the plate.

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get chosen by the writers if Miggy continues to hit balls out of the park and being almost impossible to get out.

It‘s no secret for anyone that Cabrera‘s Detroit Tigers have made it to the World Series (2012) and the ALCS (2013), while Trout‘s Angels have not reached the postseason in his two years with the team, but it has had less to do with either player‘s performance (although truth to tell, they have both given their respective teams more victories than any other Trout hit 30 dingers in his rookie season and also stole a Ma- player in the active roster). Yet, the contributions made by the jor-League-leading 49 bases, while also placing himself at the latter are more influential for the Halos than those made by top of baseball with 129 runs scored. He hit .326 with 27 dou- the Venezuelan native to the Tigers. bles, eight triples, a .399 on-base percentage and a slugging To add more wood into an already heated up debate, Trout hit percentage of .564, which summed up for a .963 OPS and an for the cycle this year, and to maybe show how evident his American League Leading 168 OPS+. Only Miguel Cabrera‘s tools are, he hit an infield single on a grounder (in which his monster numbers could deprive the native of Vineland, New running speed was more than crucial) and a towering homeJersey, from an MVP season in his Rookie-of-the-Year camrun in the aforementioned game. paign. It is no secret that Cabrera deserved the MVP, and that had What is more impressive is the fact that following that, the there been a player worthy of it, who would have gotten it easMillville Meteor put the Sophomore Jinx to sleep with yet anily and maybe unanimously had he played in the Senior Circuit other MVP-runner-up year. His batting average dropped three or even if he had posted less significant numbers, it would points (to .323), his homerun total fell three shorter (27) from have been Trout. the previous year, he scored 20 less runs (109) and stole 16 less bases (33). However, those numbers in itself are still un- However, even though Miggy shows regression this year believable, and would have granted him a Rookie of the Year (something very unlikely, given his imminent migration to and a second place in the MVP voting had it been his first year first base, thus taking some defensive responsibility off his in the Show. His regression in scoring did not keep him from shoulders), it will be more than difficult for the Millville Metopping the Junior Circuit while his 39 doubles were certainly teor to keep up with his amazing numbers. A junior jinx? Not quite. But his freshman and sophomore years have been so better than those of his freshman year. impressive, so dominant and so unbelievable, that the only The best of Trout‘s evolution was indeed plate discipline, as he rational thing would be for them to go down, and for him to struck out less (136 times compared to 139 in 2012) in far slow down. more plate appearances (716 against 639) while also almost doubling his walk total from 67 to a league-leading 110, which A batting average in the .280s, plus about 20 homers, 70 RBIs translated into a .432 OBP and a .988 OPS for ‗13. The Halos and some 25 stolen bases would be a very good year for any had a more mature Mike Trout, a more effective hitter who player (with a 5.7 WAR). But alas, it would be clearly an off drove in more runs and reached base more often, while also year for Mike Trout, and his first two seasons are what voters, bettering his offensive WAR to 10.0 in 2013, against 8.8 in ‘12. analysts and fans will be measuring him for. His only choice? Only his defense showed signs of slowing down, since he was He has to continue doing what he has been doing so far: hitmore a liability (sabermetrically speaking, that is) with a -0.9 ting, running, fielding and trying to make his team win. defensive WAR in 2013, compared to a high 2.1 in his rookie Mike Trout is arguably the best all-around player in baseball, year. with his five tools and his instinct (for some, the unknown and Although sabermetric numbers show a slightly worse Trout underrated sixth tool); and his two runner-up visits to the with the glove in 2013, traditional statistics back him up, as MVP candidacy show little of what he is really capable of. His a .994 fielding percentage tops .988, although zero defensive not getting the MVP might seem unfair to some, who consider assists are by no means better than three, nor is a range factor there should be a Willie Mays Award for the best all-around of 2.47 better than 2.52. Yet, his amount of outs recorded as an player in each league or in all of baseball. It would have been outfielder surged from third in 2012 (340) to second in ‘13 his, had there been one available in ‗12 and ‘13. (359), and his fielding percentage in centerfield in his second A slight glimpse at his year-to-year evolution shows that there year (.996) bettered his rookie season (.993). remains a lot to be seen about this player, and that surprises Sabermetricians today would vote for him in the MVP ballot await the baseball world for years to come: at 22 years old (he cast by the Baseball Writers‘ Association of America turns 23 next August), with two years being runner-up of the (BBWAA). The real story is that even though sabermetrics has MVP race, the future looks very bright for him. If Trout were taken a great deal of importance in today‘s baseball, tradi- to continue putting these numbers or being somewhere in the tional statistics like batting average, homeruns, RBIs are by far neighborhood for a good 15 years, he is ensured himself a heavier than OBP, WAR or Runs Created, let alone getting a plaque in Cooperstown, a little bit later than Miguel Cabrera‘s Triple Crown, or being robbed of it for an injury and a mon- induction speech. strous homerun hitter. Therefore, it will be hard for Trout to

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Cuban Baseball vs. MLB

Who Will Take the Blame? Written by Reynaldo Cruz

The

thwack! of the bat hitting the ball, the lights, the colors… the world of baseball seems to be putting up a big smile to Cuban ballplayers abroad. Whether it is Cespedes winning the All-Star Game Homerun Derby, Chapman with over twenty saves, Puig stealing the show in no other city than Los Angeles, Kendrys still proving his worth, Viciedo and Alexei in the White Sox… the Cuban names seem to be ringing in the Big Show today more than ever, while many Cubans from the island are eager to know what is happening and create myths around their stars.

Yoenis Cespedes‘s All-Star Game Homerun Derby victory, the moment could not be more proper to address the subject (although it has always been proper to address the subject). Obviously, political issues (undeniably strong) are wielded by Cubans from both sides of the Strait of Florida, who tend to blame each other all the time, and in the middle of it all, it is all about external factors of even more weight.

My intention today is to expose in the most neutral way some of the elements that prevent Cuban players today from going to the Major Leagues, others that encourage the almost massive brawn drain and show possible solutions to both subDuring later years —I think that since I started blogging jects, not so far from reality. about baseball— I have seen how people debate between the idea of whether it is the Cuban Government‘s fault that the It is no secret to anyone that for a Cuban ballplayer to go to Island‘s players don‘t perform in MLB level, or the INDER — the Majors (MLB) he first has to meet certain requirements the Cuban Baseball National Commission in this case— set by the MLB itself due to the US policy of sanctions against Cuba, mainly the Cuban Assets‘ Control Regulations should rethink their philosophies in this aspect. (CACR) which establishes, among others, that ―no U.S. baseToday, after the defections of Industriales‘ righthanded ball organization is allowed to engage in any transactions pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne in Paris and Villa Clara‘s with Cuba unless it requests a specific license.‖(1), meaning southpaw Misael Siverio in Des Moines, apart from the althat no club could start contractual relations with Cuban most imminent signings of Artemisa‘s hurler Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez and Guantanamo‘s Dalier Hinojosa, along with the (Continued on page 47) success displayed by Yasiel Puig in the last few months and PHOTO CREDIT: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game. (Coming from page 46)

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tion, as is clearly stated here:

residents (meaning, of course, the players).

―MLB teams necessarily ceased all activities in Cuba, and by the end of the 1980s the number of Cuban players in the The political stage —mainly the US economic sanctions on league had dwindled to a handful.‖ (4) Cuba— between both nations is with no doubt the main reason why Cuban ballplayers cannot even attempt to play in the Of course, Cuba did not allow them to sign either, since proBigs. fessional baseball was —and still is, just on a minor scale— completely vilified, and seen more as a pest than as what it Shortly after January 1st, 1959, the State Department prohibreally is: a show industry, the same as Hollywood (Cubans ited US players from coming to Cuba and play the profesconsume a lot of US-made movies), Broadway or the sional season, claiming fear for their safety. That was justiGrammy Awards. fied with an incident that took place between the Rochester Red Wings and the Havana Sugar Kings (aka Havana Cu- This position of both nations, stretching and pulling, has bans), when, after shooting into the air, celebrating the first provoked a hostility scenario in one of the elements that link July 26th since the triumph of the Revolution: them the most: baseball. ―Rochester third base coach frank Verdi and Havana shortstop Leo Cádenas both suffer minor flesh wounds during the infamous incident, causing Red Wings manager Cot Deal to pull his team from the field and retreat to downtown hotel.‖ (2)

Later on, friendly series between the two nations started surfacing, featuring Cuba‘s main baseball squad and the USA Collegiate Team, which was in the end the team representing them in all international events, since professionalism was banned from the competitions sanctioned by the different international federations. This seemed to open a bridge between both countries, until the friendly series were abruptly severed because of a new administration in the US National Federation (USA Baseball) —the series were fortunately resumed in 2012.

The relocation, responding to pressures from the Eisenhower Administration, provoked measures such as the banning of professional play in Cuba, something that could have happened anyway, but it would make us think were we to read an interview to Fidel Castro during his visit to the UN, on April 22nd, 1959 —which is included in the book Con las bases lle- Before that slap in the face, in 1991, Rene Arocha decided to nas (With the bases loaded) by Felix Julio Alfonso— states leave the country and was followed by others like Rey Orthat: doñez, two guys named Osvaldo Fernandez (a southpaw from Havana and a righty from Holguin), Livan Hernandez, ―… Cubans don‘t want the Cuban Sugar Kings to leave Cuba. Orlando ―El Duque‖ Hernandez, and closer to our date Jose We want them to stay in Cuba and I tell you more, we want to Ariel Contreras, Kendrys Morales, Alexei Ramirez, Yunel make a Major League team. I‘ll tell you something else. We Escobar, Yuniesky Betancourt, Dayan Viciedo, Yoenis Ceshave interest in sports, because of sport itself, and because it pedes, Yasiel Puig, Adeiny Hechavarria, Aroldis Chapman… is a way of luring tourism, since we have one of the most the list can turn into an endless one if we also count those beautiful places in the world and we hope to turn this beautiwho have left and never made it to the Show or not lasted ful island of ours in a paradise for international tourism, and long up there… and others who have gotten lost in time, that would be a way of helping us solve the small economic memory and have followed non-baseball-related paths. difficulties. (…) This is one of the reasons why we are interested in the Sugar Kings and, besides, we are determined to Right now, the Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining prove that we have good baseball players.‖ (3) Agreement (MLB-CBA) for the 2012-2016 period, sets that international signing bonuses are restricted unless the player Actually, a possible window remained open for professional is at least 23 years old and has played in a league recognized baseball not to be entirely banned, and mainly for the Sugar by the Commissioner‘s Office for at least five seasons. In the Kings‘s franchise to stay in Havana. Few can forget that the case of Cubans, another element surfaces: slogan that team had by those years was ―Un paso más, y llegamos‖ (One more step, and we‘re there), referring to the ―During the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 signing periods, Cuclub‘s possible jump to the Big Show. ban players who are at least 23 years of age and have played as a professional in a Cuban professional league for a miniYet, whether the Sugar Kings would have managed to reach mum of three seasons will be covered by this exemption. In and remain in the Majors, it‘s a whole different story. all signing periods following the 2013-2014 signing period, Once professional play was banned in Cuba, any allusion, Cuban players only will be exempt if they are 23 years of age approach or reference (even mentioning) to professional and have played as a professional in a Cuban professional baseball became a crime or a sin, a tabooed subject, and then league for a minimum of five seasons.‖ (5) the Cuban side of things began to have its share of responsiSo, it won‘t be ―Veni vidi vici‖ for them, since it would be bility. ―advisable‖ that before ―defecting‖, ―leave the country‖, But we cannot forget that no Cuban ballplayer with residence ―betray‖ or whatever name they give to the choice they make, in the Island, or with non-hostile relations with its govern(Continued on page 48) ment, can sign a contract with any Major League organiza-

Baseball Universe | 48 (Coming from page 47)

they should wait for getting to a certain age, or certain experience in Series Nacionales (obviously considered as professional by the Commissioner‘s Office). The scenario couldn‘t be better to then tear down barriers and allow the exit of Cuban ballplayers to other leagues.

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Only a Cuban with National Series participation has been authorized to sign with a team from, say, the Japanese League: Omar Linares. When that happened, many saw a possible solution to the problem, but it hasn‘t been until nearly ten years later that a very shy step has been taken in that direction.

We cannot be blind. Almost all (for not saying ALL) Cuban players, even though they say nothing, even though the make no decision about it, even though they don‘t give a sign, dream with playing in the Major Leagues, or at least think: ―Will I be good enough?‖ ―Will I have what it takes?‖ And those doubts and questioning increase when they see one not half as good excelling in the Show… forget money, forget luxury: it is a matter of potential, of the game itself, of fully enjoying what they like and exploiting their talent to the top Besides, they have all measured themselves against the best level. of their world, they leave the country and make contracts abroad, they also record abroad and even make co- So, Cuba as a nation should not be looking for more faults or productions with artists from other nations. So, athletes are guilty ones, but to fix its mistakes, because they have been in a very clear disadvantage (when it comes to personal am- made, and no one can deny that. They should open the gates, bitions) when they are in an environment in which they get and those who want to go, should go, with no hard feelings, to interact with those of the world of the arts. with no hatred… and when they want to come back, the doors shall be open again because the nation will want to welcome On the other hand, many many times players with better its sons. And then, the problem will be a different one: will performance than many who get to make the team the player have the permission of the State Department or remain in Cuba, and sometimes, even after making the Office of Foreign Assets‘ Control (OFAC) to come to the National Team, they are condemned to an Cuba? Well, then it won‘t be ―our problem‖. ―eternal bench‖, a reason that drives some of them to a degree of disappointment that they take another Many of those players have already returned to way, and end up being called ―traitors‖ when the Cuba such as Jose Contreras, Rey Ordoñez, actual traitors are those who drove them into that or Yunieski Betancourt. decision in the first place. We have some names in The most interesting thing is that this case, such as Michel Abreu, Alexander Guerrero, despite the trauma caused by beJose Julio Ruiz, Jorge Padron, Dariel Alvarez… this list ing away from their families, and is much larger and more subjectivity-filled. sway from their homeland, So, the main solution —of which some steps have been they succeed in the shown with the signing of Alfredo Despaigne by the Piratas most difficult de Campeche— would be to allow them to be hired in and demandwhatever league wants to sign them (including the MLB, ing baseball why not?) and wait. Can‘t we just hope that if singers of the tour Cuba after touring Europe our athletes would want world—we to come and play part or the entire National Series after cannot hide playing their professional season? that under the rug, in Of course, the aforementioned restrictions by the MLB are m a n y indeed a hurdle in this process, but we still have the Nippon cases the Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization, or desire of even the Venezuelan Professional League and the Mexican testing themLeague, where Despaigne is paying and where Michel selves against the Enriquez and Yordanis Samon also saw some action. Somebest of the world is thing else that should be avoided is signing players who are stronger than in the twilight of their careers, or some others ―who are no money. As a matter interest of the National Commission‖, instead, the opporof fact, in some tunity should be given to all of those who have played at cases they have not least five seasons and are at least 25, so that they are changed, for instance, not in risk of leaving a bad image of Cuban Baseball Jose Ariel Contreras, abroad, or waste their time and that of those hiring (Continued on page 49) them. To begin with the part that concerns Cuba, we first must analyze that players (just like any other athlete in Cuba) are part of a group of people who have a public face. So, they move in the same circle as musicians and artists, people who live out of their talent as well, but fortunately for them, they have had the opportunity of receiving great economic life quality upgrades thanks to that.

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Yearbook 2, 2013|Let‘s make baseball a more universal game.

Baseball Universe | 49

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by granting an interview to the blog El Colimador, expressed that the difference between the Contreras that left and the one who got back was none: ―… ten years older, away from here, without my fans and my people, but all the same. I was happy to see how everywhere I got people said to me: ‗but you‘re still the same‘, and that fills me with pride, with energy to keep going, to take the mound, because as everyone knows I was out of the season last year due to an elbow injury.‖ (6) So, we have no reason to think that players who leave are going to change, because it was proven by Contreras himself. And sometimes even the political argument is conditioned to simply trying to find a better opportunity, although some of them prefer to say nothing but ―we came here to play ball‖. plishments of Yasiel Puig during his rookie season in the MLB‖… I believe, after all, that they are as Cuban as a CoMaybe another interesting example could be that of Rey Orhíba, the Havana Club or the Malecón de la Habana (Havana doñez, who said to OnCuba (via La Chiringa de Cuba) Seawall). It would be a way to break our own and selfthat he decided to stay because: imposed ―color barrier‖. ―I was 20 years old by then, and I wanted to look for someReferences:__________ thing else, to prove how far my quality allowed me to go or if it was possible (for me) to succeed in the Major Leagues.‖ (7) (1) Rachel D. Solomon, Cuban Baseball Players, The Unlucky We could have a dozen more examples, but it‘s not the intenOnes: United States-Cuban Professional Baseball Relations tion, although it could be the point. We don‘t want ballplayShould Be An Integral Part of the United States-Cuban Reers to stop being part of history because they left the counlationship, 10 J. INT’L BUS. & L.. 153, 156 (2011) try… and particularly I don‘t want them to leave the country Ruckner, Mark, and Bjarkman, Peter C., Smoke: The Rothe way they do, but I would love it if they could do it how (2) mance and Lore of Cuban Baseball, Sports Illustrated, 1999, they want and when they want if that is their wish. p. 17 Their success in the Bigs would be then less affected by subjective issues like being far from their families, or the fact of (3) Resumen de un viaje, La Habana, Editorial Lex, 1960, pp. having to wait several years to go back to their homeland. 112-113 They could come back when they want to (as long as it depended only on Cuba, because the State Department would (4) Frankel, Matthew J., Note, Major League Problems: Basethen put its own hurdles), and they would be welcomed here, ball’s Broken System of Cuban Defection as they welcome the Charanga Habanera (a popular music (5) MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement 2012-2016 band) after touring around the world. I believe that this way it wouldn‘t be so sad to admit that Mi- (6) guel E. Masjuan is right when referring to Yoenis Cespedes‘s success in the All-Star Game Homerun Derby he says that: ―I would have really loved to see, live —not in those audiovis(7) ual packages that are so profusely commercialized in Havana— that Homerun Derby, but I‘m sure that those images will show up in none of the versions of the telecast show Béisbol Internacional (International Baseball). The produc(8) ers will overlook this event, as it has been with so many others, due to the terms mentioned in the first paragraph that determine —or at least try to— what is and what is not in the (9) media agenda; what should or should not be discussed in the public agenda.‖ (8) It is my opinion, as a matter of fact, that then there would be nothing (or no mistake) to admit. We could simply say: ―We are proud of Yoenis Cespedes, a Cuban that has managed to win the Homerun Derby‖, or ―We find pride in the accom-

PHOTO CREDIT: CHRIS WILLIAMS/ICON/SMI

Álvarez, Carlos M., Contreras: En contra de Cuba no juego (Entrevista completa); El Colimador, http:// elcolimador.cubava.cu Álvarez, Carlos M., Un Rey en La Habana (entrevista al estelarísimo Rey Ordoñez ); La Chiringa de Cuba, http:// chiringadecuba.com Masjuán, Miguel E., Yoenis Céspedes y la negación del olvido; La Chiringa de Cuba, http://chiringadecuba.com The Color Barrier was the segregation and discrimination barrier existing in the Major Leagues until April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson took the field wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey. This allusion is made to clarify that there is a high degree of misinformation or taboo towards everything smelling of Cuban ballplayer performing abroad.

Baseball Universe Let’s make baseball a more universal game. Address: Calle 3, #16 Altos, entre 2 y 4 Reparto José Díaz (Palomo) Holguín, Holguín, Cuba CP 80100

Telephone:(024/0124) 424 538 E-mail: universobeisbol@yahoo.com Web: http://universobeisbol.wordpress.com

someone who has copied all the magazines comes back the next month, looking for the next issue. That way, my minished by many people in the Cuban press, some friends, we will continue doing this work, trying our doors have been opened for the project of UB, which best to make monthly issue after monthly issue come to was even mentioned as a magazine in a comment posted the cyberspace or get into the streets via flash drives. on an ESPN blog. The comment in question will be pubThat said, we hope that you find pleasure in reading this lished in the February issue of UB, which will be remagazine, by far not as good as its predecessor, but just leased in a few days. as filled with passion, devotion and hard work. One of the first things we would have to admit is preSincerely yours cisely the fact that for the time being, there has been no Reynaldo Cruz redesign of the magazine, in any of the two languages. founder and chief editor of Universo Béisbol For over a full year, we have kept the same view and (Parent publication) even it has not drawn too much criticism, we are fully (Coming from page 2)

aware of the fact that a change needs to be made. Other challenges lay ahead, though: UB is currently approaching its fourth anniversary, while also coming close to our 50th issue, which will definitely have to be a special one (we launched two Special Editions on February and March last year because of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The blog we are housed in is also subject to changes, but those will not come any time sooner, since those changes require payments that cannot be made unless the person paying for them is not in Cuba. As much as we have tried to make this project grow, we are still a few steps ahead compared to last year, but thousands of steps behind where we should be by now. But well, I guess that‟s how things are, and I have to admit that even with help, this is a very hard work to do… and a VERY difficult hobby to keep. That is what keeps us moving, as well as the feedback we are currently having from readers (that aspect has shown serious improvement), who do not hesitate either encouraging or criticizing. The best part comes when someone calls you out and tells you: “Hey, I just read what you published!” or when PHOTO CREDIT: ELSA GARRISON/POOL/AP