Roberto Amado Maestri Menéndez

Roberto Amado Maestri Menéndez, a native of the Havana town of Regla, began his baseball career as a catcher for the Cubanaleco team, which represented the electrical sector in the Amateur Athletic Union tournaments. According to those who saw him play, he was nothing remarkable, and if he could display anything it was an aggressive temperament.

After participating in the 1935 workers' strike, he lost his job at the American-made electrical company and hung up his player's equipment to put on an umpire's uniform that same year in the Amateur Athletic Union tournament. From there he moved to the Army inter-regiment tournament until he signed a contract with the Cuban Professional Baseball League.

One afternoon, while the Habana and Almendares teams were staging a hotly contested match at La Tropical stadium, Amado heard the insistent mockery of a popular Almendares player. The upper half of the third inning had barely begun when he stopped the game and headed toward the dugout. He called out the player by name and surname, and without giving him a chance to say a word, he told him: "I've been listening to you say incorrect things for quite a while now. Remember that those in the stands didn't pay to witness me expelling you, but rather came to see you hit a great home run."

With this accurate action he struck directly at the individual's pride and demonstrated the profound self-control that an umpire must possess.

Less than a year later, Amado Maestri traveled abroad under contract with the Mexican League, and there he became the protagonist of another unprecedented event in the annals of baseball in that country.

On Sunday, June 2, 1946, during a match between the México and Veracruz teams, held at Delta Park in the Capital, Cuban umpire Amado Maestri expelled American Mickey Owens, catcher-manager of México, from the game because he protested a decision at home plate in a disorderly manner.

A crowd of more than 30,000 people observed as the magnate Jorge Pasquel, owner of the México club and president of the League, abandoned his box and came down to the field with the intention of reprimanding the umpire...

In a foreign country, facing a millionaire with unlimited authority, perhaps another would have tried to compromise, to avoid what would otherwise be inevitable. Amado Maestri gave no thought to any of that and placed the dignity of the umpire above all else.

Confronting Pasquel, he expelled him with full awareness that the act would mean the loss of his job. "I will leave the League and Mexico after the game," he told him in an energetic tone, "but you will leave the field right now."

The next day he went to the League offices to collect his fees and returned to Cuba. It should be noted that in his daily work he always stood with his colleagues in labor conflicts that arose at the Electricity Company and maintained an upright stance against Batista's tyranny, following the coup d'état of March 10, 1952.

Also in Cuban baseball, he was the direct actor in an event of transcendent courage. This time it happened at the Nuevo Stadium del Cerro, on November 23, 1952, when a large group of university students, led by José Antonio Echeverría, rushed onto the field carrying a gigantic banner that urged the people to an act called for at the University on November 27.

Almost immediately, numerous police thugs attempted to suppress the brave young people with brutal beatings. Maestri once again put his exceptional courage to the test and by intervening prevented the cruel purpose from being carried out.

After the professional season ended on February 7, 1961, the creation of INDER provided the opportunity to implement a new structure in baseball championships with amateur players from the six provinces. First, the regional championship was organized, a clear preamble to the First National Series, inaugurated on January 14, 1962, with the participation of the Habana, Occidentales, Azucareros, and Orientales teams.

That day, Maestri (home), Rafael de la Paz (first base), Francisco Fernández Cortón (second base), and Enrique Roger García (third base) formed the quartet in charge of dispensing justice and, at the same time, became the pioneers of the subsequent development of Cuban umpiring.

At the age of 53, death surprised him on September 22, 1963, victim of a heart attack. Maestri's physical disappearance meant for baseball the loss of an excellent umpire and for Cuba the loss of an exemplary citizen.