U.S. Embargo On Cuba Hurt The Wrong People

In 1960, the U.S. embargo on Cuba probably seemed like a good idea. They had Russian missiles pointed at the U.S. (of course, the U.S. had missiles in Turkey pointed at Russia but let's not get bogged down here) and Kennedy had everyone freaked out that communists were preparing to take us all out. They could barely feed themselves but they were on the verge of world domination? Sure John, sure.

Aside from ensuring a nation of people would be forced to live in abject poverty for now more than 50 years, the embargo also robbed many talented Cuban-born baseball players from ever being able to ply their craft against the best of the best. Major League Baseball has had it's share of All-Star caliber Cuban players. Who knows how many have never made it off the island.

Starting Pitchers

"Lefty" Tiant (1920's-1930's) - Former Negro League All-Star and father of Boston Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant. Struck out Babe Ruth while winning 2 exhibition games between Negro League and MLB All-Stars. Rumored to have invented the Screwball pitch. Played parts of 17 seasons in the Negro Leagues before returning to Cuba.

Luis Tiant (1964-1982) - 3-time All-Star and all around bad ass on the mound. Won 229 career games including 2 more in the 1975 World Series. In 1968, Tiant set the modern AL record for Earned Run Average (1.60). Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk once said Tiant, "If I could have one guy on the mound in a big game, it'd be Luis Tiant."

Dolf Luque (1914-1935) - Won 197 career games over 20 seasons with the Reds, Giants, Robins, and Braves, including one season of 27 wins in 1923. Helped the Reds and Giants to World Series Championships in 1919 and 1933.

Mike Cuellar (1959-1977) - 1969 AL Cy Young Award Winner. Won at least 20 games 4 different times, 185 wins for his career. 4-time All-Star was part of arguably the greatest 4-man pitching rotation in baseball history, when in 1970 he, Jim Palmer and Dave McNally each won at least 20 games.

Livan Hernandez (1996-current) - Considered one of the better clutch pitchers of the last 25 years. As a rookie, led the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series title, winning 2 games. 166 career victories while leading the league in innings pitched 3 consecutive years.

Relief Pitchers

Camilo Pasqual (1954-1971) - 174 career wins over parts of 18 major league seasons. Led the league in strikeouts, complete games and shutouts 3 separate times. 5-time All-Star.

Orlando Hernandez (1998-2007) - Livan's older brother, "El Duque" unfortunately arrived in the majors several years too late. Pitched most of his career in Cuba and is widely viewed as one of the top 3 Cuban pitchers of all time. Won 41 games in his first 3 seasons pitching for the New York Yankees and compiled a lifetime 9-3 record with an ERA of just 2.55 in 7 career playoff series.

Jose Contreras (2003-current) - Another pitcher forced to pitch much of his prime in Cuba. Contreras was an All-Star in 2003 and helped the Chicago White Sox to the 2005 World Championship.

Sandy Consuegra (1950-1957) - Pitched 8 seasons (mostly as a long reliever) for 4 teams. Led the AL in winning percentage in 1954, also making the All-Star team that season.

Diego Segui (1962-1977) - Played 15 years for 6 different teams, including the AL Champion Oakland A's in 1975. Led the AL in ERA (2.56) in 1970.

Danys Baez (2001-current) - 114 career saves including 41 for Tampa Bay in 2005, a year in which he also made the All-Star team.

Catcher

Joe Azcue (1960-1972) - Played 11 seasons for 6 different teams, making the 1968 All-Star team with the Cleveland Indians. For his career, Azcue threw out 45% of all attempted base stealers.

Mike Gonzalez (1912-1931) - Largely a backup, Gonzalez played 1042 career games over parts of 17 seasons. An excellent defensive catcher who threw out 46% of all attempted base stealers for his career.

First Base

Rafael Palmeiro (1986-2005) - A 4-time All-Star, Palmeiro is one of the greatest hitters in MLB history. Raffy retired with the Hall of Famer-caliber numbers of 3020 hits, 569 home runs, and 1835 runs batted in.

Second Base

Tony Taylor (1958-1976) - 1960 All-Star with the Chicago Cubs, Taylor had 2007 hits and 234 steals over the course of his 19-year career.

Cookie Rojas (1962-1977) - Awesome range at second base, Rojas led the league in fielding % 3 times. Rojas was a 5-time All-Star.

Third Base

Tony Perez (1964-1986) - Currently the only Cuban player in the Hall of Fame, Perez is remembered for being one of the finest run producers (1653 career rbi) of his era. The 7-time All-Star played in 4 World Series, helping the Reds to a championship in 1975.

Zoilo Versalles (1959-1971) - 2-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner won the AL MVP Award in 1965 when he led the league in runs, doubles, triples and total bases.

Short Stop

Bert Campaneris (1964-1983) - In addition to being a wizard with the glove, Campaneris could flat out fly on the base paths, leading the league in steals 6 times, retiring with 649 for his career. Won 3 world titles while a member of the Oakland A's.

Leo Cardenas (1960-1975) - The smooth-fielding short stop was a Gold Glove winner in 1965. Cardenas also made 5 All-Star teams and had 1725 career hits.

Left Field

Tony Oliva (1962-1976) - The 1964 Rookie of the Year isn't often thought of when people think of the greatest hitters of all time. This is a huge oversight as from 1964-71, Oliva was a dominant as any player in baseball, averaging 22 home runs and 90 rbi, while leading the AL in hitting 3 times. During that same stretch, Oliva was voted to 8 consecutive All-Star teams.

Tony Gonzalez (1960-1971) - A quality all-around player with a great glove (led all outfielders in fielding % 4 times), Gonzalez hit .286 for his career, including a .357 batting average in his only playoff appearance in 1969.

Center Field

Minnie Minoso (1949-1964/1976/1980) - A 7-time All-Star, Minoso started his career in the Negro Leagues playing for the New York Cubans. Led the AL three different times in triples and stolen bases, in addition to winning 3 Gold Gloves.

Right Field

Jose Canseco (1985-2001) - When his head was right, the 6-time All-Star was one of the scariest combination of power and speed baseball has ever seen. Canseco won the 1986 AL Rookie of the Year award, then won the 1988 AL MVP, becoming the first player in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season. Injuries forced Canseco to miss roughly 5 full seasons of his 17-year career, yet he still retired with 462 home runs and 1407 runs batted in.

Jose Cardenal (1963-1980) - A lifetime .275 hitter, Cardenal had 1913 hits and 333 doubles over the course of his career.

Farewell to a baseball legend

Former Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers manager, Sparky Anderson, passed away today due to complications brought on by dementia. The Hall of Famer managed 26 seasons in Major League Baseball, his teams winning 2194 games, 5 pennants and 3 World Series Championships.

I met Sparky Anderson once back in August of the 1989 season. During the years of 1987 to 1991, I was an autograph hound and looked for every opportunity to get the signatures of all the team's players that came to town. Back during the old Arlington Stadium days, the visiting players and coaches stayed in the hotel right across the way, walking distance from a side entrance into the ballpark. Some of the bigger names of that era (staring hard in your direction, Mr. Canseco), would do everything in their power to avoid dealing with a kid looking for a signature, even going so far as to get a ride from the front entrance of the hotel to the previously mentioned stadium side entrance, no more than 100 feet away. Sparky Anderson, though a legendary manager of three World Championship teams, was anything but unapproachable.


By 1989, Detroit had fallen on hard times, no longer the powerhouse it had been for a lengthy stretch of the mid-eighties. While many All-star caliber players such as Alan Trammell, Matt Nokes and Jack Morris were stuck in the middle of awful seasons, Sparky Anderson remained a constant steadying force for the lowly Tigers. Despite his rather gruff exterior, Anderson was in actuality a kindhearted baseball lifer, a man with great respect for the game. As I was getting the autograph of Gary Ward, a former Ranger and one of my favorite players as a kid, I noticed Sparky and a few of his coaches walking towards me. After thanking Ward for his autograph, I walked up next to Sparky and asked if I could trouble him for his autograph. He stopped, handed some papers he had in his hands to one of his coaches, and signed a baseball card I had pulled from a folder I kept. After handing the card back to me, I thanked him and prepared to walk away but before I could do so, he stopped me, asking what other autographs I had in the folder. Milwaukee had been in town as part of the previous home stand so I opened the pages and showed him the signatures of such Brewer greats as B.J. Surhoff, Paul Molitor and Dan Plesac. He looked at the Molitor card and said, "He can really hit the ball, can't he?" I agreed, saying he was my second favorite Brewers player. Sparky then asked who my favorite was, answering his own question with, "Yount?" "No," I answered, "Teddy Higuera." He laughed, saying Teddy had made his teams look bad several times over the previous seasons. I told him he'd done the same against my Rangers. He laughed and said, "Well then, I guess we just need to get together and figure out a way to hit that guy." With that, he told me to enjoy the game and set off for the stadium.

That night, I watched Nolan Ryan dominate the Tigers, striking out 13 while notching his 13th win of the season. And though I was thrilled to see the great Ryan Express pitch a gem, I couldn't help but think about Sparky Anderson and the kindness he'd shown me earlier in the day. While I have never been a fan of the Detroit Tigers and undoubtedly never will be, meeting George Lee "Sparky" Anderson will forever remain as one of my most cherished baseball moments.