BABE RUTH’S IMPACT ON LATIN AMERICAN BASEBALL AND LATIN AMERICAN BALLPLAYERS: CUBA: A CASE STUDY

By 

Manuel Márquez-Sterling

Professor Emeritus: History

Plymouth State University

University System of New Hampshire 

[This paper was presented at the Conference “Baseball and the ‘Sultan of Swat.’ Babe Ruth at 100.” Held at Hofstra University. 1995] 

I

            In many foreign countries, at some point in time, many American products became synonymous with the United States of America, to name a few, RCA radios and victrolas, the Model “T” Ford, Packard, Cadillac, and Parker pens. Babe Ruth and Baseball can be added to this list, especially for those Latin American countries in which the game of “Beisbol” is played. In fact, for legions of Latin American fans and Latin American players, Babe Ruth was the United States and the United States, Babe Ruth. 

            Such extraordinary identification would presuppose an easy task when trying to determine the Babe’s influence on Latin American Baseball. However, if a brief and casual perusal of foreign magazines and newspapers can make easily evident the impact that the introduction of the Model T Ford had on the transportation modes of a foreign country, the case of Ruth’s influence on Latin American baseball is not the same. His impact however great and pervasive as it was, is not easy to determine. 

            There is no question that for Latin Americans the figure of Babe Ruth was immensely popular. His presence was powerful and, like the image of the Holy Spirit, it was ever present, that is, completely immanent. But when you want to make it concrete to determine the certain effects he had in the development and progress of “Béisbol” and players “South of the Border,” you soon discover that you have to deal with a series of complex and entirely local, or native conditions. This is especially true in the case of Cuba, which I am going to single out in my presentation. In Cuban baseball Babe Ruth’s influence went through two stages. At the beginning it was somehow, and surprisingly enough, resisted. Then, after the Babe had disappeared from the actual playing of the game, in the 40’s and 50’, he was finally accepted, but accepted owing to incidents and certain existing native conditions. 

            It is well known that anyone doing research in this area soon finds that, like the “Negro” Leagues in this country, Latin American records were not always regularly kept. There are many reasons for this. First of all, the chronic political instability in those countries accounted for seasons interrupted or cancelled and records lost. Also one has to consider the local economic conditions. Leagues were poor and did not have the adequate financial resources to keep and preserve the records. In societies where social classes did not offer the fluidity or mobility as those of the United States, Latin American baseball players, which 70 or more years ago tended to come primarily from the poor and the illiterate, were not too highly esteemed beyond the confines of the ball park. Therefore, their accomplishments were considered trivial and only of interest to a segment of the social classes, and surely not worthy of preservation. 

            Facing these conditions I had to scratch here and there and come up with some results which, however, I believe are rather firm and conclusive. Of all of the Latin American countries Cuba, at least until 1959 when that troubled island disappeared behind the curtain of repression and persecution, can boast some of the best conditions in the record keeping area. Because of this, and due to my knowledge of Cuban baseball in all of its facets, and since I was born, raised, and educated there, my presentation will concentrate on Cuba. I believe, nevertheless, that my Cuban findings would generally reflect those of other Latin American countries. One must remember that Baseball was introduced in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and perhaps even in Venezuela, by Cubans and not Americans. [1] 

            In order to ascertain with some specificity Babe Ruth’s possible influence on Cuban baseball, I decided to divide my study in two or three areas. First: Did Ruth have any influence on the size of the Cuban playing fields? Second: Did Ruth’s rise to stardom and his production of homeruns make Cubans follow suit changing the way they played the game, that is, start swinging for the fences? Did more Cubans decide to become baseball players because of Ruth? 

            My tools for the project were as follows: 1. A study of Cuban magazines and newspapers collections from 1908 through 1935, when Ruth retired. 2. A questionnaire that was mailed to 50 players, including, non Cubans, such as Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Venezuelans and Mexicans. 3. A study of Cuban records and playing fields, and 4. My vivid recollections which date from 1938 when my father who, at times, acted as ex-officio Commissioner of Cuban Baseball in the 30’s, took me to see the Saint Louis Cardinals play two Cuban professional teams on one golden October afternoon which will forever remain in my memory. 

            If appearing frequently in the sport pages of newspapers and magazines is an indication of popularity and influence, one has to reach the conclusion that, at least through the early twenties the most admired and watched American player in Cuba was Ty Cobb. Cobb’s name and achievements were regularly highlighted and chronicled. The reason for this may be that the “Georgia Peach” barnstormed in Cuba a couple of times or more, and of course, at least for Cubans, that his racial attitudes were not well known at that time. I can conclusively say that the Ty Cobb style of game, what I would call the “Cobbean Baseball,” was imitated by Cuban players and admired by legions of Cuban fans. Many years later, in the 50’s and 60’s I knew many old Cuban baseball fans who were loyal fans of the Detroit Tigers entirely because of Ty Cobb.

            In spite of Babe Ruth’s great achievements during the 20’s, Cobb’s influence on the style of Cuban baseball continued well into the late 30’s or even the early 40’s. A study of Cuban baseball parks, such as “Almendares” Park, and “La Tropical” Stadium, shows that until 1946 the fences were kept at Herculean distances. No limiting fences, or fences at 375 feet down the foul lines were the rule for many of the parks. In fact, Cubans looked at the short distances of American stadiums with a sense of scorn. For a Cuban, a homerun had to be earned. That is, it could not be cheap, or to the combination of small playing fields and capricious atmospheric conditions. From my research, and from my memories, I remember that Cuban fans were quick to remind anyone that Ruth’s feat of 54 homeruns in 1920, and 59 in 1921, was accomplished in the comfortable confines of the Polo Grounds, where the right field fence was just 257 feet away. 

              It was for these reasons that Babe Ruth’s barnstorming trip to Cuba in 1920, with the New York Giants engendered a tremendous fan interest. Cuban fans filled up to capacity “Almendares” Park whose outfield was a veritable pasture of infinite distances.They wanted to see if the “Bambino” could hit the baseballs out of there, and to show the Americans that their own great black slugger, Cristobal Torriente, could hit them out of that vast field. The Cuban fans were not disappointed. Torriente had three home runs that afternoon while the “Bambino” had none. Ruth flied out on two occasions, and I am told that the outfielders positioned themselves at some 400 feet every time he came up to bat. In an American park he would have hit two homers that day. In “Almendares” Park they were just two long outs. The memory of that game was forever engraved in the Cuban collective baseball mind, and up to the 50’s it was always the subject of nostalgic magazine articles and old timers’ fondest memories. Babe Ruth had been foiled and defeated in what Cubans considered a true baseball field. The conclusion, which I remember hearing from my relatives, who were in attendance that afternoon, was that if the Babe played in Cuba, in Cuban ballparks, his production of home runs would be the same as that of Torriente, or Castillo, or Martin Dihigo, the other great Cuban sluggers. 

            One would expect that Ruth’s achievements with the Yankees during the 20’s and Torriente’s “glorious” afternoon would have had a direct and immediate effect on the size of Cuban outfields. That in order to produce more homeruns Cuban league officials and enterprisers would bring in the distant fences. But the cry of “bring in the fences” was never heard in the Cuban baseball world of those days. A study of Cuban ball parks, and the production of homeruns in the Cuban professional league, shows that from the early 20’s through the 30’s, while the parks remained the same, the number of homeruns did indeed modestly increase. This increment, however, can be directly attributed to a longer schedule and to the abandoning of the dead ball, and not to the desire of going the “Bambino” way. [2] In fact, a definite desire to keep the “Cobbean” style of baseball can be seen in the fact that when the Cuban League moved from “Almendares” Park to “La Tropical,” in the early 40’s, the distances of the foul lines, although now reduced, were kept at a hefty 370 or 365 feet. But even with that small reduction most of the fans did not like it, though. I remember quite a few derogatory remarks by the fans addressed in radio programs or in the newspapers to the league officials who were responsible for the new outfield size. This reduction, however, still cannot be directly attributed to the “Bambino” since by then, in the early 40’s, he had retired and his name and achievements had faded away from the headlines of the Cuban sport pages. 

            The reduction of the outfield sizes in Cuban ballparks was a result of an event which is not directly connected to Babe Ruth and his image of the “Sultan of Swat.” Toward the end of the season of 1945-1946 the Havana Lions, one of the oldest franchises in the Cuban League, signed a young player by the name of Dick Sisler, son of the hall of famer George Sisler. Sisler quickly proceeded to homer nine times in some 15 games. In one occasion, with Sal Maglie, of New York Giants fame, pitching Sisler homered three times in a row and the fans went really crazy. Before too long Sisler became a true idol of the masses who now, as never before, filled to capacity the “La Tropical” stadium. Sisler was a national craze. His picture appeared in all kinds of magazines and publications. [3] 

            The transformation of Cuban baseball from “Cobbean” to “Ruthian,” which in the United States had happened in the 20’s, was about to come to Cuba. A new generation of Cuban fans who had never seen Cobb play had tasted, for the first time, and in a repeated fashion, the sudden and magical power of the long ball. The boys of the “magical wand” had finally arrived in Cuban baseball. 

            Now, at this time, after the Sisler’s craze, Cuban baseball entrepreneurs were convinced that they were at the verge of a new era. In 1946 the owners of the Cuban League faced competition from a rival league. To win over the fans from the aggressive competing circuit, which played in the still spacious field of “La Tropical” Park, the Cuban League moved to a brand new stadium. This was “El Cerro” Stadium, whose shorter fences and dimensions in the outfield were comparable to the average American ballpark. Homeruns soon began to fly and records were quickly broken. For instance, in 1946-1947 and 1949-1950, Roberto Ortiz, a former Washington Senators player, hit 11 and 15 homers respectively. If the Cuban League number of games is multiplied to equal a regular American season Ortiz would have hit 35 or 40 homeruns. It is finally at this time that Cuban baseball had, at long last, embraced the Ruthian style of game. The fans now demanded the long ball and made idols of those who could comply. For instance, a player like Roberto Ortiz became immensely popular, and much like Babe Ruth saw his life the subject of a Cuban feature film. I can assure you that Ortiz’s movie was not much better than the American version of Ruth’s played by William Bendix in the 1940’s. 

            It is my conclusion, therefore, that the influence of Babe Ruth’s game on how Cuban baseball was played went through two stages. From the 20’s to the middle of the 40’s it had little impact and in fact, was even resisted. Cubans held on to the Cobbean survival of the fittest style. In the face of this the historian cannot resist the temptation of detecting here a strange but expected form of subliminal nationalism. Perhaps the Cuban mind identified Ruth’s power with that of the great “Colossus of the North,” the expanding imperialist nation which in 1902 had imposed on little Cuba the Platt’s Amendment to her constitution as a “sine qua non” condition for independence. Let us also remember that Ruth’s heyday was during the administrations of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, who protectionists in foreign trade and, as they did, prone to intervene in Cuban political and economic internal affairs and, consequently, universally distrusted by all Cubans. Cobb, on the other hand, could have represented for the Cubans in the 20’s the little man earning a life the hard way and in the face of enormous difficulties, much as Cuba had to do in the presence of its powerful neighbor and “protector” of the north. 

            By the same token, Cuba’s embracing of Ruthian baseball, from the 40’s on, takes place after the United States had abrogated the Platt’s Amendment to the Cuban Constitution, and the “Good Neighbor” policy had been put into effect by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The United States had ceased to overtly interfere in Cuba’s internal affairs, and Cuba, thanks to the new sugar quota treaties, had a sustained boon, and an economic prosperity seldom experienced before. A new aspiring and acquisitive middle class had appeared, and a new philosophy of getting rich quickly dawned on the country. Scratch, bunt, and punch, was not anymore the way to win and live. Getting rich quickly and spectacularly seemed to reflect more the sudden lightning of the home run in the ballpark. The members of this new Cuban middle class, unlike their parents, were not so suspicious of the “Yanquis” to the north and did embrace everything American, including Ruthian baseball, with “gusto” and passion. 

            Thus, we can conclude that Ruthian baseball entered Cuban baseball in a delayed fashion and only when the social, economic and political conditions were apt and propitious in the country, and that in 1946 our Babe Ruth could be considered Dick Sisler, the man who came at the right time. 

II 

            Concerning the second area of my research, that is, to ascertain the influence that Babe Ruth might have had on Cuba’s youngsters deciding to make baseball a career, I mailed the questionnaire mentioned above to some 50 Latin players. Unfortunately, only a handful were returned. This was not enough to offer a definite and reliable statistical picture. However, I would like to point out that all the respondents were children in the 1930’s, when Cobbean baseball was fading in the United States. It also should be noted that these respondents began to play baseball in the Cuban leagues in the 40’s Their answers are not surprising at all. They seem to confirm the conclusions stated above. These respondents, with the exception of a couple, seem to have been under the spell of Ruth’s image and legend as it projected on the Cuba of the late 30’s and early 40’s. This is succinctly and aptly stated by one of the respondents: “All of us, in our times, tried in one way or another to imitate him [Ruth], especially hitting home runs.” 

            This statement finds a perfect echo in the experiences of an eight or nine years old Cuban child, who growing up in the 30’s had dreams of becoming a baseball player. Life took him somewhere else, far away from the ballparks that he loved so much. Today, more than fifty years later he, however, still vividly remembers the day he received in the mail the Babe’s signed glossy photo. The photo was in response to his paper and pencil letter written in broken English. He will also forever remember many afternoons when he, and his playmates, used to hit rocks with a broomstick, and the one who hit them the farthest was proclaimed “Bebe Ru” for the day. 

FOOTNOTES 

1.      Mexico,which began to play baseball shortly after Cuba, could be an exception to our point of view. While in Cuba there are no players whom the fans called the “Cuban Babe Ruth,” in Mexico there is Hector Espino known as the “Mexican Babe Ruth.” However, it is important to point out that his career developed much after the Babe had disappeared from a position of exerting direct influence. 

2.      From 1900 through 1910 the Cuban League’s schedule was made of an average of 45 games per team. During these years the highest production of homeruns for the league was 19 in 1908. From 1910 through 1920, when the season was shortened to 34 games, 14 homers was the highest number in 1912. In the 20’s, after Ruth’s rise to fame, while the number of games fluctuated between 45 and 50 the production did increase. For instance, 39 in the 1927-28 season, and 45 in the 1928-29 season. As indicated in my paper, these increments were the result of the introduction of a new lively ball which was manufactured in the United States and not in Cuba. The Cuban League was totally dependent on American manufacturers for baseballs and had to use whatever was offered in the market. Therefore, the increase of homers did not reflect a desire to switch to Ruthian baseball. 

3.      It is interesting to note that in 1929 the famous James “Cool Papa” Bell was the first player to hit three homers in a regular season game in Cuba. Bell’s feat, however, failed to produce the impact and excitement of Sisler’s three homers 16 years later. This can be attributed to the fact that during the late 20’s Cuban baseball was going through lean years with small crowds and poor national attention; that Bell hit them in Cienfuegos, far away from Havana; and that the playing field was smaller than those in the capital. Also in our opinion, Bell’s heroics came a little too soon since in 1929, as we have observed, Cuban baseball was still very much Cobbean oriented. 

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Newspapers and Magazines.

“Diario La Marina,” La Habana, Cuba., 1908-1945.

“Carteles,” La Habana, Cuba., 1926-1958.

“Bohemia,” La Habana, Cuba., 1930-1958. 

Books.

Bjarkman, Peter C. “Baseball with a Latin Beat. A History of Latin American Baseball.,”

                                 North Carolina, 1994.

Delgado, Gabino. “Béisbol Cubano, 1878-1955. Records y Estadísticas. La Habana,1955

Oleksak, Michael and Mary. “Beisbol. Latin Americans and the Grand Old Game.” Michigan, 1991.

Torres, Angel. “La Historia del Beisbol Cubano: 1878-1976.” Lons Angeles, 1976. 

Articles.

Montford, Charles. “La Hazaña de Cristobal Torriente: 3 Jonrones en un Juego.”

                                Carteles, (La Habana, 1955). Year 36. Vol 46, pp 78-79. 

Guides.

“The Baseball Encyclopedia.” Eighth Edition, New York, 1990.

Manuel Márquez-Sterling was born in Havana, Cuba. He has lived in the US since 1960. He is Professor Emeritus of History at Plymouth State University. Before becoming a historian he graduated from Havana.....

Prof Manuel Márquez-Sterling also writes occasionally for this great Blog:   Cuba 1952-1959