Beisbol

I attended the 1st game of a double-header between Industriales de La Habana (the Yankees of Cuban ball) vs Bayamo Granma Alazanes on Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana. Entry price for a tourist was $3 which would allow you to sit wherever you wanted — just show the ticket stub to anyone and they will make room for you. We also witnessed the Baracoa team’s batting practice at the Estadio Manuel Fuentes Borges a few days earlier — Baracoa plays in a league of teams from smaller towns throughout the state of Guantanamo — the catcher for the team is ranked #5 for the national team (see below).

In the 1860s, baseball was introduced to Cuba by American sailors on trading vessels that ported in the country and by Cubans who studied in the U.S. and returned tools of the game, like bats and balls. Cubans quickly adopted the sport and leagues started all over the island. Now beisbol is a national passion. The Cuban League’s regular season is called the Serie Nacional (National Series) and consists of a 90-game schedule played between November and May. The 16-team circuit includes clubs in all provincial capitals and 2 teams in Havana. The Serie Nacional is composed of four divisions. In Group A the teams are the Industriales (Havana), the Metropolitanos (Havana), Pinar del Río, and Isla de la Juventud; in Group B are Havana Province, Villa Clara, Camagüey, and Guantánamo; in Group C are Granma, Holguín, Las Tunas, and Ciego de Ávila; and in Group D are Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos, and Matanzas. Video of the Industriales vs Granma game in Havana: