Fidel, Junco’s Palmar and February 6th.

The reopening of the Palmar took place officially with a Cuban Professional League game between the Almendares and Cienfuegos teams on Saturday afternoon, February 6th.

On January 7th, 1959, upon the arrival of the Caravan of Freedom to the city of Matanzas, with the leader of the young Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, at the head, among the most pressing needs to be solved, the people had asked him to rescue the Palmar de Junco, which was in bad conditions.

It was not the first time that the local population came out in defense of its symbolic stadium, venue of what is considered the first official baseball game in Cuba, on December 27th, 1874, between the Havana Baseball Club and Matanzas Baseball Club teams.

Although it was necessary to wait until November 25th of that year 1959 due to the purchase of the facility by the municipal government from the person who appeared as its owner, Mrs. Matilde Moenk Pérez, a few days later, on December 5th, the works began.

For that purpose, Fidel had designated a brigade of the Rebel Army, led by Commander Universo Sánchez, which delivered the work in the first days of February 1960.

The reopening of the Palmar officially took place with a game of the Cuban Professional League between the Almendares and Cienfuegos teams on Saturday, February 6th in the afternoon, since it was not until December 13th, 1961 that the artificial lighting of the park was inaugurated.

The nearly eight thousand fans who paid for their tickets were able to witness a quality show that was decided at the end of the eleventh inning, when Leonardo Cárdenas, the Cienfuegos Elephants’ bullpen, broke a two-run tie by hitting a double with a runner on to leave the Alacranes of Almendares on the field.

It was a tremendous duel between two all-time Cuban pitching glories, right-hander Pedro Ramos, for the southerners and Miguel Cuellar, for the blues, who worked the entire game with such effectiveness that it lasted only two hours and twelve minutes.

That day, for the first time two Matanzas radio stations, Radio Matanzas and Radio Tiempo, broadcast a game of the Cuban Professional League from the local stadium.

These were the line-ups: Almedares, as visitor had Angel Scull, in CF; Tony Taylor, at 2b; Edmundo Amorós, 1b; Carlos Paula, LF and fourth bat; Daniel Morejón, who appeared at 3b; Leopoldo Posada, in RF; Humberto Fernández, SS; Enrique Izquierdo, as catcher and left-handed pitcher Mike Cuéllar. The manager was Oscar Rodríguez, who was replaced in the late innings by Clemente Carreras.

Cienfuegos, home club, played with Don Eaddy, 3b; Tony «Haitiano» González, CF; Román Mejías, LF; Dan Dobbeck, Rf and fourth; Rogelio Álvarez, 1b; Leonardo Cárdenas, SS; Octavio Rojas, 2b; Arturo Suárez, C and Pedro Ramos, pitcher. In the eighth inning, Henry Dotterer came up to bat as a pinch hitter, who failed and spent the rest of the game as catcher.
the rest of the game as catcher. Manager, Antonio Castaño.

Almendares, which had seven hits, had Scull (4-2) and Morejón (5-2) as their best hitters, and Cienfuegos, with ten hits, had Tony González, Román Mejías and Ramos himself, with two hits each. There were no errors in the game.

The Almendares blues were the first to score in episodes two and four; Cienfuegos scored one in the fourth and tied the game in the fifth. The game remained that way until the eleventh inning, when Pueblo Nuevo’s Leonardo Cárdenas hit the decisive double.

Summary: triple, Morejón; doubles, T. González, Dobbeck, Scull; (2) Mejías, Ramos and Cárdenas; sacrifice hits, Suárez, Mejías and Dobbeck; stolen bases, Amorós and Scull; caught stealing, González and Amorós. Double play; Izquierdo to Morejón; Taylor, Fernández to Amorós. Left on base: Almendares six and Cienfuegos eight.

Pedro Ramos, the winner, struck out nine and gave away two bases on balls, while left-hander Cuéllar struck out five and gave up two tickets. Scorer Fico del Castillo and umpires Amado Maestri at home and Roger, on bases, served as scorers.

PALMAR DE JUNCO BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

The date of February 6th was chosen since 2016 by the Management of the Palmar de Junco Hall of Fame, National Monument, to carry out each year the solemn acts of exaltation of the players or officials with sufficient merits to be part of the Immortals’ enclosure.

The proposal of these players or personalities is in charge of the so-called Group of Experts and the Veterans Committee, who present them to the Electoral Commission formed by 15 members, which is in charge of carrying out the voting for which each selected player or official must obtain at least 75 percent of the ballots cast.

This voting is always held on December 27th of each period, as part of the activities to remember that date, but in 1874, when Matanzas and Havana faced each other at the Palmar de Junco stadium, complying with the requirements of referee, scorer, rules in force, each team perfectly uniformed.

The game was well attended by the public and was reported by the local and the capital’s press.

Written by Francisco Soriano.