Rogelio García Alonso

Cuban baseball player. He began practicing the sport from an early age, recognized as an excellent right-handed pitcher and strikeout artist.

In the town of Las Ovas, which at that time was nothing more than a picturesque hamlet near the city of Pinar del Río, one of the best pitchers Cuba has ever had was born on September 16, 1955. Rogelio García Alonso came from a peasant background, although his parents became bakers to support a family of four children, equally divided between boys and girls. Later he would have three sons of his own, one of them also a pitcher.

More than once young Rogelito received beatings from guava branches for neglecting his studies and reducing his short life to baseball. Nothing else captured the boy's attention, only baseball.

I remember that cold morning in January 1972, at the Ciudad Deportiva stadium, where the Vegueros team of the XI National Series was training, when old man Pando called us to watch a young man throw some pitches that were making sparks off Jesús Escudero's catcher's mitt. Emilio Salgado had words of praise.

He didn't always want to be a pitcher; he liked to catch and go to the infield position, he had good hitting power, but he was bad with curveballs. Coach José (Cheo) Díaz set his sights on the kid and convinced him to get in the batter's box. Right away he took him to Pando, who incorporated him into the group of young players he would lead to greatness. The boy didn't attend the EIDE or the ESPA. He only attended, in 1971, the Baseball Academy of Pinar del Río. His natural abilities and absolute dedication to training bore early fruit.

His debut in the major leagues was in the XII National Series, under the direction of Francisco J. Martínez de Osaba Goenaga (Catibo), to play with Vegueros throughout his entire career.

In his first three series, he shared the mound with figures of the caliber of Emilio Salgado, Mario Negrete, Jesús Guerra, Rodovaldo Esquivel, and others that only allowed him to pitch in 40 innings. But he was not just another pitcher; little by little he imposed himself, until he gained confidence and an important place in the rotation.

Rogelio's fastball has been one of the fastest. At that time we didn't have official speed guns, but in 1981, in Edmonton, they measured him at 97 and 98 miles per hour. Later, at the 1983 Caracas Pan American Games, he reached 98-99. He dreamed of the prohibitive 100 miles per hour, but only achieved it in training. He carries that burden, confident that if he had been measured throughout his career, he would have surpassed it. He does his calculations when he watches those who today throw at 97 and he threw harder. Sometimes he has compared himself with Pedro Luis Lazo and assures that he was faster. He praises the speed of Roldán Guillén, Braudilio Vinent, and Juan Pérez Pérez.

Rogelio's life is summed up in baseball, where he has given the best of his days, with many satisfactions. But not everything was rosy; two injuries kept him off the mound. Manolo Cortina treated him. I am witness to those torturous sessions to strengthen his throwing arm. They spent months in that noble effort, because from then on his results improved considerably.

Then he decided to add a fork to his supersonic fastballs and a short, but deceptive slider. Once his injuries were overcome, he felt that batters would not pass easily against him and he resorted to this complex breaking pitch. Pando assured him that if he maintained strong, systematic training and threw at full velocity, his arm would feel nothing. And so it was. After that difficult period, he spent eight years terrorizing everyone with that devilish fastball. He combined his intelligence with his new arsenal and became nearly unhittable, to the point of improving his strikeout frequency.

His career coincided with Juanito Castro, whose compatibility has remained as a symbol of a perfect battery. So great was the confidence that on more than one occasion Juanito would give him freedom of choice on his pitches, even in championship-deciding games.

The Villa Claran batter Pedro Jova was his nemesis: "I would swing at everything and I always made good contact, hitting to any part of the field. For me he has been one of the most intelligent batters. I don't think it was just against me, other pitchers say the same thing…" It was not the same with Matanzas slugger Pablo Hernández, who couldn't figure out his pitches.

Rogelio remembers with affection and pride March 1987, when over the course of twenty-one games he pitched two no-hitters. The first day of the month, by shutout, against Camagüeyanos (10-0), at the Cándido González stadium in the land of clay pots. And the second against the eastern Serranos, on the 22nd at Capitán San Luis (3-0).

It was not only in his own country that he achieved outstanding performances against excellent batters. In a World Cup in Canada, he struck out Mark McGwire three times, who would later become the home run record holder in the Major Leagues, and as if that weren't enough, he repeated the dose in Caracas 1983, when he struck out sixteen Americans. He did something similar with Tino Martínez, but not with the tall Frank Thomas, another star in the Majors.

Rogelio carries the burden of allowing two decisive home runs that cost Pinar del Río as many championships. Pedro José Rodríguez hit the first one in 1978 and Agustín Marquetti the other in 1986; both at the Latino; they have their histories. In 1978 Pinar won its first championship with Vegueros, under the command of José Miguel Pineda, but in Vueltabajo we wanted to debut with two championships and win the Selective.

He was the star in a staff full of stars: Julio Romero, Jesús Guerra, Félix Pino, Juan Carlos Oliva, Maximiliano… That season he demonstrated his love for the team when he pitched, just days before the crucial game, suffering from severe kidney colic pain. The doctors, Servio Borges, then National Commissioner, President of the Baseball Federation and manager of the National Team, plus the umpires, and even the team management asked him not to continue pitching, but he stayed in the box. And he won!

Pinar and Las Villas would reach the end of the tournament with an equal number of wins and losses. An extra series was necessary, first to five wins. Since both teams won two games, it had to be decided on neutral ground and the Latino was chosen, which was overflowing with fans. Rogelio allowed three runs, all on home runs, one by Sixto Hernández and another by Héctor Olivera, which made it two to zero. To heighten the tension, Lázaro Cabrera, the Vueltabajo first baseman, hit a two-run home run that tied the game.

Then came the bat of Cheíto Rodríguez, in the midst of a stellar campaign, who hit a ball slightly outside, and in the top of the ninth he connected the decisive blow over the left field fence. Some thought the ball would fall into Fernando Hernández's glove, but it didn't. A game not to be forgotten, fraught with unpopular umpire decisions that provoked strong protests from the green team.

The victory and championship went to Las Villas and Pinar took second place. Eight years later, also at the Cerro stadium, Agustín Marquetti grabbed a pitch that was left high and connected the most publicized home run in the history of Cuban baseball, in seconds everything was decided, Industriales won and became champions. "I wanted to throw him a fastball, but I decided on the fork, which I had working, even though I had pitched nine innings two days before. That's how the ball stayed almost without breaking, at the letters height and Marquetti hit it with all his strength. He has declared that he prepared for that pitch, because I had struck him out many times with it. That's how things go…" Rogelio cried with sports shame. That's how baseball is, that's why we love it so much.

In his era, training for the National Team was up to one hundred players, about twenty pitchers from which six or seven would be selected. When Rogelio arrived, Vinent and Omar Carrero were already assured spots, the other four or five had to earn their place. The one whom Salamanca baptized as The Cyclone of Ovas, in a short time reached a stellar position. Champion for more than a decade on team Cuba, where he achieved 39 victories. He remembers with sadness the loss at the 1976 Colombia World Series, against Puerto Rico, where he had relieved Changa Mederos.

A man of the people, the supersonic pitcher received several offers to leave the country and play for money in the Major Leagues.

García turned out to be the best right-handed pitcher of the 80s. He won several titles as the leading strikeout pitcher in seven series between 1976 and 1988. "The Cyclone of Ovas," as he was known, led the National Series pitchers in total innings pitched (1979-1980), wins (1980-1981), and effectiveness (1980-1981 and 1987-1988), among others.

The Cyclone of Ovas pitched in 16 national series, won 203 games and lost 101, in addition to pitching 2509 strikeouts and finishing with an effectiveness of 2.38 earned run average.

And he was the only pitcher who registered two no-hitters in the aluminum bat era, a feat he achieved in the 1987 selective. The first on March 1 against Camagüeyanos, 10 to 0, and the second on March 22 against Serranos, 3 to 0.

Internationally, he prevailed in the matches that decided three Intercontinental Cups in 1979, 1983, and 1987. In the case of 1979 it was in a round-robin tournament and Cuba took the banner before the schedule was finished, by beating Panama.

Since his retirement as an active pitcher, Rogelio has been the pitching coach for the Pinar del Río team.