Gregorio Américo Pérez Valdés

Gregorio was a Cuban baseball player who worked as a pitcher in the National Baseball Series, first with the Camagüey teams and later with Las Tunas, also known as Mano Negra, a nickname given to him by the renowned sports commentator Bobby Salamanca.

He was born in the town of Guayabal, today Amancio Rodríguez in Las Tunas, in the eastern region of Cuba.

He began playing on the town fields in the 1950s, and did so as an outfielder, until he became a pitcher in official events with the Loggers team.

He debuted in the III National Series in 1964-1965 with the Farmers team, representing Camagüey, where he achieved his first results in Cuban baseball on December 26, 1965, during the V National Series, he pitched the inaugural game at Cándido González Stadium in Camagüey, played between the Industrial and Peasant teams, with a victory for the home team, five runs to one.

From the beginning he showed credentials on the mound, with a velocity close to 90 miles per hour, efficient sinkers, among the most dominant in the history of national baseball, and excellent control; he joined the national team in 1970 at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama. Among the batters, he is considered the most difficult pitcher they faced in an era of enormous figures on the mound.

In the 1969-1970 season, during the IX National Baseball Series, he led in games won with 12 victories. Since 1971, due to changes in the political and administrative structure of the country, he was part of teams in the eastern region; Oriente, Mineros, Cafeteros.

In 1972 he toured with a Cuban team in Panama and later with one from the eastern zone to Mexico, playing in Mérida and Yucatán.

In 1974, at the beginning of the baseball season, he pitched a game against Farmers, where he used only 77 pitches. In 1975 he joined the Orientales team, winner of the title in the first Selective Series, under the direction of José "Pepín" Carrillo, in which outfielders Osvaldo Calzada and Jorge Causillo also participated.

In the 1977-1978 series, the first after the new political-administrative division, he represented Las Tunas, reaching 100 games won.

He continued to be an active player until the 1980-1981 season. In the 16 National Series in which he participated, he achieved some of the best effectiveness averages with an average of 2.18 earned runs and 976 strikeouts delivered.

He died on February 15, 2021, at the age of 79 from prostate cancer.

Career Statistics
He officially retired in 1982, dedicating himself to the work of pitching coach, first at Julio Antonio Mella Stadium and later at the José Octavio Bello González training center, in the capital of Las Tunas. He continued in this work until his retirement in 1997, although he did not stop collaborating with the development of baseball in the municipality and in the province. In 1998 he was part of the delegation that accompanied the Cuban baseball team to the game against the Major League Baseball team, Baltimore Orioles, held in that American city. In 2005 he collaborated in sports in Venezuela for 19 months.