# Four Former Baseball Players Elected to Cuba's Hall of Fame

**Date:** 12/27/2021

In this sixth induction, the Electoral Group chose outfielder Antonio "Haitiano" González as the player from before 1961, while from the post-1962 era the selection fell on pitcher Rogelio García and also outfielder Armando Capiró.

The Committee of Veterans, for its part, elected Mariano Álvarez, an infielder in both the national series and the strong Liga de Pedro Betancourt with the central España.

Francisco Soriano, president of that Committee, recalled the importance that baseball acquired from the mid-19th century in the territories of La Habana and Matanzas.

Soriano highlighted the contributions of this sport to the struggle for independence against Spanish colonialism and being an exponent of many traits of nationality, reasons why it was declared in 2021 Cultural Heritage of the Nation.

The incorporation ceremony of these former athletes will be next February 6th at the said hall, located in the mythical Palmar de Junco stadium, on whose field on December 27, 1874 what is considered the first official baseball game in Cuba was played.

That Sunday, on the field in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood, the teams of La Habana and Matanzas faced each other, a match that ended 51 "runs" to 9 in favor of the visitors, according to reports from the era.

It was the first game reported by the 19th-century press, accompanied by a "box score" or scoresheet, had an umpire and scorekeeper, who enforced the rules of those years and the teams presented themselves properly uniformed before a good crowd of fans.

Specialists point out that playing for Habana were Emilio Sabourín, a patriot of the War of Independence, who died while detained in Ceuta, Spain; and Esteban Bellán, the first Latino to play in major league baseball in 1871, with the Troy, of New York.

Palmar de Junco today is recognized as the oldest active stadium in the world since, after being home to Matanzas teams in national tournaments, the provincial Baseball Academy is located there.

Since 1977, the headquarters of the Matanzas teams, nicknamed "los Cocodrilos," current national runners-up, is the Victoria de Girón facility.