Pedro Medina Ayón

Cuban athlete considered by many the best catcher of all time in Cuban baseball. Selected among the 100 best athletes of the 20th Century.

He was born in Guanabacoa, province of Ciudad de La Habana.

He began his baseball career at a very young age on the famous Quintín Bandera field in his own municipality. In the youth categories he became a batter of tremendous power that quickly led him to join the Industriales team as the fourth batter, since number 40 Agustín Marquetti belonged to the Havana selection. That year he would share the catcher position with three other greats of Cuba such as Lázaro Martínez and Ricardo Lazo.

At this time he is working in the Technical Commission of Baseball of Ciudad de la Habana which is based in the Provincial Academy of the capital. He has provided services in some countries such as Italy and Panama.

For Pedro Medina the Industriales team is the myth of Cuban baseball although it is very criticized and coincidentally he feels happy about this new title of National Champions in 2010 led by Germán Mesa.

Sports Career
The following year he would become National Champion with Industriales 1973, a team that also had Rey Vicente Anglada, Julian Villar, among others on its roster. In the 1976-1977 season, the blue masked man wore red by joining the second team of the capital Metropolitanos as a result of a parity that the Commission wanted to make at that time with the three teams that existed in that area, in which he achieved the lead in doubles for a series with 14.

His first home run in national series he hit precisely in that first season in the Tricontinental stadium of Güira de Melena, against the then Occidentales. Also known as the "Hero of Edmonton," Medina was able to capture the media by becoming a batter of great power when men like Armando Capiró and the Slugger of Alquizar already existed.

The year 1986 would be one of the most remembered for number 31 of Industriales, as he would achieve one of the championships that has been talked about the most in the history of Cuban classics, decided in a dramatic finish by the famous home run by Agustín Marquetti in the final of the tenth inning, and where an entire capital audience rushed onto the field enjoying the blue pennant.

On December 15, 1987, the tall catcher hit three home runs in a baseball game at Cristobal Labra stadium on the Island of Youth, another of his great and unforgettable moments was during the Intercontinental Cup in Edmonton, Canada 1981 in which he decided a memorable game against the Japanese Asians and what for many specialists has been one of the most dramatic home runs ever hit in international baseball.

His career came to an end on May 12, 1988 when he wore the colors of the Ciudad de la Habana team from the now defunct Selective Series, and in which his last at-bat he faced cienfueguero pitcher Roberto Almarales and he made him fail with a ground ball to shortstop. The great blue catcher was away from baseball for several years, until by call of the Commission in 1996 he began to manage precisely the Industriales for a period of three years until the 1998 season. In turn Pedro Medina led the blues to a new national title just in his first year, defeating the then invincible Villa Clara, which had just won three consecutive championships with the stellar shortstop Pedro Jova at the helm. After that happy start, the team weakened considerably for reasons that we all know today and some changes of players from Metros to Industriales began to emerge, which had been made previously.

Results
He participated in 17 National Series in which he mostly played with the blue team of the capital.
He participated in 8 Selective Series with Ciudad de la Habana.
Champion of the VIII Pan American Games San Juan 1979, Puerto Rico, Caracas 1983 and Indianapolis 1987.
Champion of the Central American and Caribbean Games of Medellín 1978, Silver in La Habana 1982 and Gold in Santiago de los Caballeros 1986.
World Champion in Italy 1978, Japan 1980, La Habana 1984, and Holland 1986.
Champion of the Intercontinental Cup of Edmonton, Canada 1981.
Champion on two occasions with the Industriales team in the national series.
Elected by the people among the 100 best athletes of the 20th Century.
Statistics
AB: 4913

R: 886

HITS: 1448

AVE: 295

2B: 216

3B: 23

HRS: 221

RBI: 869

SLU: 483

TB: 2373

INN: 9784.1

E: 96

AVE: 987

DP: 229

BR: 445

CR: 331

Medina is the first purely offensive catcher that emerged in the game after the formation of the National Series.

He appeared in the XI edition of 1972 at age 18. He barely had time to warm the bench, because he was called immediately to fight on the front lines for his constant displays of effective hitting.

He was the first masked man in all the history of Cuban baseball to surpass the barrier of 200 home runs and 850 runs batted in.

His offensive differences with Pedro L. Rodríguez were only in terms of power numbers and average. Since, while Pedro Luis exceeded Medina by 39 points in lifetime batting percentage, the second surpassed the first by 28 home runs and 67 runs batted in.

Also, it is true, that both played a different number of tournaments, but the reality is that when the moment came for them to coincide, the two were extraordinary in their work with the bat.

In more than a decade and a half with the capital teams in National Series, Havana, Metropolitanos and Industriales, they constantly disputed the power of their wrists, although of the three aforementioned he permanently wore the blue jersey during his last decade of work in the winter championship.