Anselmo Martínez Among the Good Matanzas Left-Handed Pitchers

Since the start of the National Series in 1962, the province of Matanzas presented a left-handed pitcher of tremendous quality, a native of the Versalles neighborhood in the city of Matanzas, named Manuel Enrique Hernández Tamayo, nicknamed «Amorós.»

It was «Amorós» Hernández who was the great pitching sensation from the mound of the Occidentales, the first national champion of the so-called revolutionary baseball. The Matanzas native led complete games with 7; wins, 6; innings pitched, 78.2; and strikeouts, 94.

Years later appeared one of the great pitchers of Cuban baseball — I refer to Jorge Luis Valdés Berriel, who left great performances not only with the province’s teams; he also remained for some seasons as the most outstanding in the national teams.

After these two extraordinary talents of Cuban pitching, Matanzas had the fortune to count on other throwers of the so-called wrong arm (left), among whom stood out Carlos Mesa, Anselmo Martínez, Lázaro Garro, Roberto Álvarez, José Cantero, Ariel Tápanes, up to the present with Yoannis Yera and why not Naikel Cruz.

In his last outing, Yera achieved his 125th victory in National Series.

Of the second group mentioned, I want to refer to Anselmo Martínez González, a native of Jagüey Grande, who although he did not reach one hundred victories in our tournaments, made great contributions to the successes of Citricultores during the 1980s, mainly his streak of zeros in the 1983 campaign, which had it not been for the tournament ending, would have surpassed the Cuban record belonging to Pinar del Río’s Maximiliano Gutiérrez in 1978, which remains at 46 and one-third, in which he pitched five consecutive shutouts — the same amount achieved by the left-hander from the southern Matanzas municipality.

That was a tremendous campaign for Anselmo. On January 22, 1983, he worked at the Central España Republicana stadium and defeated Granma with a score of 1 run to zero; on the 26th of that same month he returned to the Victoria de Girón stadium and lost to Guantánamo six to four. It is after that defeat that the streak of five consecutive shutouts began.

On January 30 at the Cándido González park he blanked Camagüey, nine to zero; on February 3, at the Calixto García, he defeated Holguín three to zero; on the 8th of that same month, here at the Victoria de Girón, he defeated Isla de la Juventud three to zero; on February 12 he returned with nine zeros against Las Tunas with an identical score to the previous one; and on February 16, the last day of the tournament, he pitched a shutout against Cienfuegos, with a score of six to zero.

That National Series he pitched six shutouts, five consecutive, to equal the national record.

The most striking thing is that in March, at the start of the Selective Series of that year, he pitched nine zeros against Camagüey. A very meritorious performance by Anselmo.

The left-hander from Jagüey worked in eleven National Series in which he won 87 games and lost 80, with 17 shutouts, an earned run average of 2.94. He struck out 869 and issued 580 walks; moreover, he had a great technique for surprising runners at first base.

Anselmo Martínez was part of the national team in 1983 that attended the Intercontinental Cup held in Belgium, along with fellow Matanzas players Jorge Luis Valdés, Fernando Sánchez, and Leonardo Goire.