Lázaro Vargas Álvarez

San Miguel del Padrón, played his entire life wearing the blue uniform of the Industriales, with which he became a true symbol of the fans.

It seemed he was predestined to be left-handed, since he ate and combed his hair with that hand, but in baseball he was always right-handed for batting and pitching, although by style, his hits went much to right field, down the opposite line.

He had two very unpleasant moments in National Series, when he was banned from joining the Havana team in the 1990 Selective Series, and when he suffered the dangerous injury to his left leg in the final against Villa Clara in 1994. The indecision about sliding or stepping on home plate with his left foot almost ended his career prematurely. The diagnosis of ligament rupture required urgent surgery and had limited prospects for his return to the field.

The incredible recovery took him almost two years, doubted even by the prestigious specialist Rodrigo Álvarez Cambra, for whom the event ranks as the most astonishing of his extensive life as an orthopedist.

For more than 20 years he defended the colors of the Industriales team. From 1982 to 2003, almost continuously, he filled an entire era of Havana baseball, and in all of them he played a fundamental role, except in the last one when his performance declined. He was national champion with Industriales in the series of:

XXV National Baseball Series, 1985-1986
XXXI National Baseball Series, 1991-1992
XXXV National Baseball Series, 1995-1996
XLII National Baseball Series, 2002-2003

After 22 years dressed in blue and wearing the jersey of Cuban baseball's flagship team, Vargas closed his career with impressive numbers:

In the all-time list of revolutionary baseball he ranks fifth in series played with 22 National Series
Seventh in at-bats (7,968) and hits (2,132)
Eighth in times at bat (6,731)
Ninth in bases on balls received (983)
Lifetime average (.317)
Runs scored (1,109)
Doubles (310)
Triples (50)
RBIs (1,064)
Home runs (108)

He finished as the leader in runs scored in the XXV National Baseball Series of 1985-1986, with 48, and also in hits, with 75, and in this latter category he also led the 1983-1984 series, with 102. Likewise, he held the record for consecutive games with a hit, with 31 from 1985 to 1995.

International Competitions

He managed to wear the Equipo Cuba jersey on several occasions, always achieving the title in all of them. In Equipo Cuba he coincided in time and position with Omar Linares, but this did not prevent him from playing regularly in the national team as a designated hitter, first base, and on other occasions in his third base position.

Olympic Games

Barcelona 1992
Atlanta 1996

Intercontinental Cups

Havana 1987
Puerto Rico 1989
Barcelona 1991

At the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, he became the first player in the history of Olympic baseball to achieve a cycle (single, double, triple, and home run) in one game, precisely in the game for the gold medal against Chinese Taipei. In total, Vargas would win the Olympic gold medal twice (Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996).

Pan American Games

Indianapolis 1987
Havana 1991

Central American and Caribbean Games

Santiago de los Caballeros 1986
Ponce 1993

At the international level, his best moment came at the 1988 world event, when he hit the undisputed hit that decided the match against the United States team, a hit that went to the left fielder.

Furthermore, in the Olympics he holds the record of being the first to hit a cycle (single, double, triple, and home run) in the same game, no less than in the Barcelona final against Chinese Taipei.

In general, in that tournament he had 38 at-bats as a designated hitter, scored 11 runs, with 18 hits, for an average of .474, plus 12 RBIs in nine games.

Four years later in Atlanta 1996, playing as first base, he had 35 at-bats, 7 runs scored, 12 hits, .343 average, 4 RBIs, also in nine games.

Being a member of Equipo Cuba, he received on two occasions proposals to defect from the team and play professionally, the first during the 1982 Youth World Championship in Venezuela, and the second at the end of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, when he rejected an offer of 8.5 million dollars[1].

Retirement from Active Sports

After retiring as an active athlete, Vargas worked at the Havana provincial Academy helping first-category baseball players in this province, and made some appearances as a sports commentator alongside Reinaldo Taladrid, fundamentally on radio and on Havana Channel.

Manager

In the LI National Baseball Series, after a long wait for the capital's fans, he was appointed manager of the Industriales team in place of his former teammate Germán Mesa[2]. Regarding the possible risk of being defeated in the National Series, he declared to the press shortly after:

"The only thing I'm afraid of is that the players will have a bad opinion of me. The rest doesn't worry me. After all, if I lose, I will do so with my own decisions, and I will assume all the responsibilities that come from that defeat.