The young policeman was guarding the Santa Clara site where Che Guevara led the attack on an armored train designed to defeat Fidel. Gerado's tone was quiet, almost conspiratorial: "Don't tell anyone, I really shouldn't say this around here," he whispered. "But my favorite team is the Industriales in Havana." Members of our delegation went to a major league game at the Latin American Stadium where the Metropolitanos played the Industriales (both are Havana teams). The Metropolitanos won with a score of 11-1, but it's the Industriales who are going to Cuba's World Series.
Baseball and revolutionary politics have always mixed in Cuba. In 1878, Cuba's first professional baseball league was organized by Emilio Sabourin, who advocated independence from Spain. Sabourin provided financial support to Jose Marti and other Cuban revolutionaries. Breaking the color barrier long before the U.S. did, Cuban baseball was multi-racial, as Ty Cobb found out. By 1910, Cobb and the Detroit Tigers were traveling to Cuba in the off-season to face local teams including the Havana Reds. The Reds featured African-American players including John Henry Lloyd, Grant "Home Run" Johnson, and Bruce Petway.
In 1923, 16 year-old Martin Dihigo began his baseball career in Cuba. Denied the ability to play on American major league teams, he barnstormed throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Cuba for twenty years. He moved to Mexico in the 1950's, where he met Ernesto "Che" Guevara just before Che, Fidel, and their supporters sailed on the Granma to begin the Cuban revolution. Dihigo donated funds to the group, just as Sabourin had backed Marti. Dihigo, known as "El Maestro," returned to his homeland in 1960 at Fidel's request to head the Ministry of Sports. Martin Dihigo is the only player ever to be inducted into four Baseball Halls of Fame: U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba.
