Lourdes Gourriel Delgado

Cuban baseball player known as The Man of the Big Moments, right-handed batter over 180 centimeters tall and weighing 198 pounds. He won two batting titles and retired among the top 20 of all time in average, home runs, doubles, hits, total bases, and runs batted in.

A glory of Cuban sports who played for Cuba's national team, winning the MVP title twice. Perhaps he was better in the international arena than in domestic tournaments. He later became a successful manager. He has also become known for the achievements of his children, Yulieski Gourriel, Yunieski Gourriel, and Lourdes Gourriel Jr. He is also the brother of Luís Enrique Gourriel, the nephew of José R. Delgado, and the cousin of Yoannys Delgado.

He was born in the town of Meneses, municipality of Yaguajay, in Sancti Spíritus.

He began playing in the XVI National Baseball Series in the 1976-1977 season while still a youth, becoming Rookie of the Year for the Azucareros team. In 1978-1979, he batted 12 doubles to tie with Armando Capiró and Jorge Beltrán for the National Baseball Series leadership.

He debuted with the Cuban national team in 1979, batting .294 in that year's Intercontinental Cup. In the XIX National Baseball Series 1979-1980, he had 77 hits, and in that year's World Championship, he averaged .452 to help Cuba achieve the gold medal by winning the final game against the United States team.

He batted .297 in the 1981 Baseball Intercontinental Cup. In the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games, he batted .217 and tied for the lead in runs batted in (6 runs) with Pedro José Rodríguez. He batted .429 with a notable 4 doubles in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup and joined Eric Fox and Víctor Mesa in the All-Star outfield of the tournament. He batted .526 in the 1983 Pan American Games.

During the 1984 World Championship, he batted .309, .356 slugging and .636, scored 12 runs and drove in 16 to tie with Barry Bonds for the lead. He also led in doubles with 7. In the 1985 Intercontinental Cup, he batted .414. Subsequently, he batted .524 in the 1986 Central American and Caribbean Games.

In the 1986 World Championship, the left fielder batted .357 with .500 SLG and scored 12 runs. In 1987, he batted .321 in the Pan American Games and .327 in the Intercontinental Cup. In the Cuban Baseball Selective Series of 1988, he batted .430 to win the batting title.

He dazzled in 1988 at the World Baseball Cup. He batted .500 with .579 and 1.000 slugging. He also connected two very important home runs. In the last game of the qualifying stage, he hit a home run in the ninth inning with two on base and one out against a great United States team that was winning 9-6. Later, in the final, he hit a home run to tie the game in the 9th inning against Jim Abbott to ruin the United States' hopes of taking the cup home. That year he made the All-Star team along with Luis Giraldo Casanova and Tsutsui Daisuke in the outfield.

In the 1989 Intercontinental Cup, he was again an All-Star, after achieving .435 average and .913 SLG. In the final against Japan, he drove in four of Cuba's 8 runs. He was 5th in the tournament in average and won the MVP award in the tournament.

He batted .429 in the XVI Central American and Caribbean Games in 1990, Mexico. In 1990 at the World Baseball Cup, Gourriel batted for an average of .463 with .522 and .902 slugging, a result that contributed to obtaining the Gold Medal. In that tournament he scored 12 runs and drove in 19 in just 10 games. He tied with Antonio Pacheco in third place in home runs hit (4), behind Orestes Kindelán Olivares and Omar Linares. He played in Cuba in the 1990 Goodwill Games where the Cuba team won gold.

During 1991 in the Pan American Games, the 34-year-old veteran averaged .419 and tied with Oreste Kindelán and Chris Roberts for the lead with four home runs.

In the 1992 Olympic Games, he batted .400 with .439 and .692 slugging with 9 runs and 10 runs batted in in nine games as batter #5 and first base for the Cubans earning the Gold Medal, including three hits against Taiwan in the final.

In the 1993 Intercontinental Cup, Gourriel batted .390/.391/.683 as the designated hitter for the champions. He tied with Linares at 4th with 16 runs batted in and tied for fourth with three home runs. He was the tournament All-Star DH, earning five of the Stars nods in the last five major international tournaments he had played (excluding the Olympic Games, which did not name an All-Star). In the 1993 Central American Games, he batted .444 and led with 12 hits.

He continued hitting in the 1993-1994 period, winning a National Series batting crown of .395 and also leading in doubles (19). He was named National Series Most Valuable Player. In the World Baseball Cup, the 37-year-old stayed at the top of his game, winning MVP honors after batting .429/.488/.881 with 4 home runs, 15 RBI and 18 runs in 10 games.

He led the Cup in runs batted in, tied for the lead in triples (2), tied for third place in hits, and tied for fifth in home runs. He was elected as designated hitter of the All-Stars for his sixth All-Star selection in his last six major tournaments in the world and earned an All-Star team.

In the XXXIV National Baseball Series 1994-1995, Gourriel led with 18 intentional walks. He spent his last summer with the national team, batting .464 to lead in the Pan American Games and went 0 for 1 in the 1995 Intercontinental Cup.

For his sports career, he was selected by the people among the 100 best Cuban athletes of the twentieth century.

After retiring as a player, Gourriel became a manager. He led the Centrales team to a title in the 2003 Super League. He was one of the coaches for Team Cuba for the 2005 World Baseball Cup and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Sancti Spíritus

Gourriel led the Sancti Spíritus baseball team for 7 seasons (2000-2001 to 2006-2007) and then spent two years on a mission in Nicaragua. Upon his return, he returned to his old Cuban squad in 2009-2010 and managed a record of 63-27, being the best in the league during the qualifying stage. Later they fell in the playoffs 4 games to 1 against the Industriales (league champions that year).
Indios del Bóer

After seventeen years since last setting foot on Nicaraguan soil, Lourdes Gourriel Delgado arrived in 2008 to direct that nation's flagship team, Indios del Bóer, of the Professional League.

This occurred following negotiations between José Ramón Fernández, Vice President of Cuba's Council of Ministers and President of the Cuban Olympic Committee, and Bayardo Arce, president of the Bóer board.

The team to be managed was not only the national champion but also, according to a historical reference of the country, the greatest winner in Nicaraguan baseball, the newspaper El Nuevo Diario emphasized: "The Bóer is a strong synonym for Nicaragua. After the singing of the National Anthem, we must always exclaim: Long live the Bóer!"

Upon taking over the reins of the Bóer, Lourdes became the first Cuban manager to assume command in professional baseball. His words said it all: "I found out from the INDER director of the province. At first I was surprised, I didn't expect it, even other contracts were being discussed, but I received the news with great pride and optimism. I know that people will not talk about Gourriel but about Cuba and that is what I represent."

In that campaign, Gourriel confirmed the prestige of Cuban baseball by leading the Indios del Bóer back to the top of Nicaraguan baseball.

Overall, Gourriel had batted .323 with .414 and .506 slugging in the National Baseball Series. In the 2003-2004 season, he ranked 6th of all time in intentional walks with 155, 6th in doubles (190), 7th in batting average, 9th in total bases (3,171), 10th in doubles (326), 11th in hits (2,036), 12th in runs scored (1,122), and 16th in home runs (247).

Furthermore, he had even better performance in international tournaments, with 2 MVP awards and participated in about six All-Star Games.

Not all families of fathers and sons become great stars in baseball, and this is the case with Lourdes Gurriel Sr., who was very great in Cuban baseball, and his son Yuliesky, who shined in Cuba and now does so in the Major Leagues.

Then comes Lourdes Jr. (Yunito), with the potential to become a star figure in the MLB.

The other brother, the older one, who also played in 16 Cuban National Series, Yuniesky, does not have the numbers of the others, but stands out as a good baseball coach and currently has an Academy in Miami.

Lourdes Gurriel became famous not only for his timely hits and formidable offense that made him one of the best hitters in Cuban baseball history, but also for the extraordinary work of his children who have made the Gurriel surname something sublime for baseball on the Island.