Alfredo is a 2nd generation Cuban-American who knows many
things. If there is a question you have ever wanted answered, now you
can Ask Alfredo.
This week, Malcolm in Middle Of Nowhere, New York writes a short story: In honor of baseball's return and wanting to properly educate my children in their love of the Pearl of the Antilles, we have purchased for our 7 year old a book entitled, "Free Baseball".
It is a historical fiction story about a boy whose father risked his baseball career in Cuba to send his son and wife to the United States.
So my humble question for Alfredo is: What is the history of baseball in Cuba, and where has their passion for baseball come from?
Malcolm, you have hit the proverbial home run of queries. You knocked this one out of the ballpark. This question is a...er, slam dunk.
Alfredo can see that your love of books has translated into obvious wisdom, for many people assume that baseball is a game that began in the United States. But, my little Anglo friend, like many great things in this country, baseball came here on a small floating vessel.
The history of baseball in Cuba predates Columbus' arrival in 1492. As a matter of fact, when Columbus landed in Cuba an island-wide competition was under way between the two Indian tribes: the JAN-quis of Oriente in the east and the DOT-chers from Pinar Del Rio in the western part of Cuba.
The Janqui’s and Dotcher’s history were closely intertwined because they used to live and play in neighboring villages. But many years earlier, the Dotcher’s tribal chief decided to move them far away to the west coast and the competition became very fierce afterwards. (There was another tribe called the "medias rojas" or Red Stockings but only the people from that village really cared about them.)
So, when Columbus landed his three ships the Queen Mary, The Queen Mary 3, and Reef-er Madness (as they were known by their crews), he parted the palm fronds and came upon a game already in progress. Everyone was so focused on the game that Columbus later wrote in his journal "it seemed that the whole World was Serious". Years later the World Serious (or Series) would come to define baseball’s top competition.
Any-waysssss... the Indians (who Alfredo knows from history weren't really Indians from India but it is SO inconvenient to call them anything else because Native seems so inappropriate and people-who-were-already-residing-in-said-location-and-were-soon-to-be-conquered was already taken by the real Indians from India) played with tree branches for bats and coconuts for.......coconuts. The bases were easily marked by piles of gold and silver that were so much in abundance in Cuba back then. We all know that the dirty Spaniards stole all of those precious metals from their baseball field leaving them to sew palm fronds together and stuff them with hay for bases. Which is why to behave in a thieving, no-good way today is to “debase” yourself.
After a player rounded the bases by hitting the coconut very far away he (or she, because in Cuba baseball was a bilingual game) was allowed to take home a large gold plate as a reward. Yes, (groan) that is where we get the name Home Plate. The word “inning” has no basis in Cuban history. It is a stupid word.
In Cuba, true story, getting a hit that lands you on second base is called a “two-base”. Getting to third on a single hit is called a “three-base”. These words, for the sake of cultural accuracy, are pronounced more or less “toobay” and “treebay”.
Alfredo asked Alfredo’s father “Papa’, what did we call a single back in the homeland?”
But Alfredo’s father, he did not remember the name for it. Alfredo’s Papa’ said that there was probably no name for a single hit in Cuba because if your hit only got you to first base, you were probably not Cuban.
There are many other underpinnings of the great game of baseball that are rooted in Cuban history:
- Cracker Jacks were actually called “Jacobo’s Crackers” for the Cuban bakery owner who sold them outside the gate.
- The distance from the home plate to the fence line at center field is 390 feet, one foot for every year that Cubans suffered under Spanish rule.
- The tradition baseball players have of scratching themselves and spitting on the ground is for whenever they think of Fidel Castro. (They think of him a lot).
Alfredo congratulates you on your excellent question. It allowed Alfredo to get away from all the networks asking Alfredo to discuss the Barack, the Hilary, or the John McCain. But Alfredo says no! I am weary for the talking of the Barack, the Hilary, or the John McCain. Besides, Alfredo is working on the top secret plan to duplicate the preserved DNA of the Ronnie Reagan. When he comes back, he leads us in a chant of “Cuba SI, Castro DEAD!” Chant with me, my friends!
Leave your questions and minor league contract offers for Alfredo in the comments.
Comments