First game of National Series at Palmar de Junco.

Although little has been said about this game, for the followers of baseball in the territory it has the significance of being the one that started that January 16th, 1962 our National Series in Matanzas and also, in such a symbolic place as the Palmar de Junco, National Monument.
On Sunday, January 14th, 1962, more than one hundred baseball players from all over the country started the First National Baseball Series at the Cerro Stadium, today known as Latinoamericano.
That day, 25,251 spectators passed through the turnstiles of the capital’s stadium to witness the doubleheader between the four founding teams: Azucareros against Orientales, in the first inning, and in the closing game, Habana against Occidentales.
The eastern champion, Azucareros, overcame the strong selection of its zone six runs by zero, with Jorge Santín on the mound and in the second game, Occidentales defeated in eleven innings, three runs to one, Havana, with an outstanding performance by Manuel «Amorós» Hernández, who struck out 17 opponents.
The historic Palmar de Junco stadium hosted the match between the Occidentales and Orientales teams on Tuesday 16th at 9:00 pm, two dates after the superb inauguration and as expected there was a full house, since more than six thousand fans paid for their tickets.
Orientales presented a lineup with Andrés Telemaco, 3B; Díaz de Quesada, SS; Julio Portilla, 1B; Daniel Hernández, LF and fourth bat; Enrique Ramírez, RF; Pedro L. Sánchez, CF; Ramón Hechavarría, R; Martín Ferrer, 2B and left-handed Emilio Vargas as starting pitcher.
Occidentales took Antonio Jiménez, CF; Urbano González, 3B; Pedro Chávez, RF; Tomás Soto as fourth batter and 1B; Erwin Walter, LF; Pedro Carvajal, 2B; Raúl Ortega, SS; Bárbaro Rosales, R and Antonio Rubio, pitcher.
The western side, with a ten-strikeout offense, an airtight defense and great work by the capital’s right-hander Antonio «Chucho» Rubio, came out on top with a six-nil score in the two hours and 36 minutes that the game lasted.
The most outstanding at bat were Erwin Walter, 4-3 with one run scored and one run batted in and Papo Carvajal, also 4-3, but with two runs batted in; Antonio «Ñico» Jiménez hit a triple and drove in 2 and Tomás Soto, 3-1, which was a double; Pedro Chávez was 2-1, with two tickets and 2 runs scored and Urbano was 4-1 with one run scored. The other run was scored by Bárbaro Rosales, product of an error by the eastern defense.
The winners scored their runs, one in the first, two in the second and one in the third, fifth and eighth innings, respectively.
«Chucho» Rubio showed excellent control in the nine chapters he pitched, struck out eleven, allowed only three hits and gave away two tickets, one in the eighth and one in the ninth.
For the defeated team, in addition to the starter and loser, Emilio Vargas, the relievers were Ónix Martínez, Manuel Alarcón and Héctor Llanes. The starters were Sebastián Danel, Julio Bécquer, César Torres, Bernardo Uset and Felipe Rodríguez.
Although little has been said about this game, for the followers of baseball in the territory it has the significance of being the one that started that January 16th, 1962 our National Series in Matanzas and also, in such a symbolic place as the Palmar de Junco, National Monument.
Written by Francisco Soriano.