Five Years After the Death of Andrés Ayón Brown
Andrés Ayón Brown was an outstanding baseball pitcher who shone in the Minor Leagues of the United States, in Cuba, and mainly in Mexico, where his name appears in the brother country’s Select Hall of Fame.
He was born in the Cerro neighborhood of the capital on October 22, 1936, and died in the same Havana area on October 24, 2021, a victim of a heart attack while performing organizational duties in the Martí Movement related to the history of baseball.
Ayón, after his retirement from professional baseball in Mexico, came to manage the Industriales team for three years in our National Series — in the 1982-1983 campaigns (fourth place with 31 wins and 16 losses); from 1983 to 1984 (second place with a balance of 45 victories and 25 defeats); and in the 1984-1985 tournament (where he occupied sixth place with 44 and 31).
From a young age he became linked to sport in his Cerro neighborhood, coming to be part of the Cuba team, Youth World Champion in 1956.
From that category he jumped to professionalism until his retirement at 42 years of age, reaching more than 234 victories as a pitcher with 148 losses.
In the Cuban Professional League he came to work with the Almendares and Marianao teams, teams with which he participated in two Caribbean Series. In total, in Cuban championships he obtained 21 wins and eleven losses.
He was part of the Cubans Sugar Kings team, champion of the Minor Leagues’ Little World Series in 1959, although his best performances occurred in the Mexican League over 14 seasons in which he won 169 games and lost 98, with an earned run average of 3.15, 942 strikeouts, and 21 shutouts.
On Aztec soil he pitched two no-hit, no-run games, one of them perfect against the Sultanes de Monterrey, working from the Saltillo mound on June 30, 1972; the first occurred on June 25, 1966. For his performance in that country he was exalted to the Hall of Fame in 1997.
Andrés Ayón Brown won with Almendares the last professional game held at our Palmar de Junco stadium, when he defeated Pedro Ramos of Cienfuegos in a great duel.
In the Palmar de Junco Hall of Fame, a bronze plaque was placed in his memory for his outstanding performances in the sport of bats and strikes, both in Cuba and abroad.
