Footsteps of the «Caballero Oms» in Matanzas.

In the Cuban Professional League, his offensive average is among the best: in 1,820 times at bat he connected 627 hits, for an average of 345, with 373 runs scored, 99 doubles, 35 triples, 21 home runs and 66 stolen bases.

During the season of our National Baseball Series, every time I went to the city of Santa Clara to broadcast the games through Radio 26, I walked from the hotel Santa Clara Libre to the Augusto César Sandino stadium. The first part of the walk included crossing Marta Abreu Park, arriving at the Coppelia, having an ice cream, leaving along the street behind the ice cream parlor and stopping a few meters ahead in front of an old house with a preserved plaque that read: «Here was born on March 13th , 1895, Alejandro Oms Cosme, El Caballero» (Alejandro Oms Cosme, The Gentleman).

This tremendous left-handed hitter is considered one of the best center fielders in the history of our national sport and for many specialists the best in that position in the American Negro Leagues.

On the occasion of the 130th anniversary of his birth, the city of Santa Clara paid tribute to its most famous baseball player by placing a plaque at Sandino Stadium in honor of his career as a player for more than 22 years, both in Cuba and in other countries.

Alejandro «El Caballero» Oms, before starting his career in professional Cuban baseball, played in different local teams in Santa Clara, such as Pastora and Dubarganes, until he joined Tosca.

Precisely, in that team Tosca, name taken from the famous work of Puccini, made its first incursion in the province of Matanzas, on January 22nd, 1920. The presentation of the famous amateur team took place in Calimete, in the field located on the corner of Castañeda Street, in the San Pablo farm, near the local cemetery, according to historian Jesús M. Fernández González.

Along with El Caballero Oms -they called him that because of his exemplary conduct- were his brothers Pablo and Eleuterio and a phenomenal pitcher named Armando Lopez, who painted Calimete’s boys 6-0 in white. Alejandro’s bat was sensational as he hit 4-4, including two doubles and a home run.

During his professional career, El Caballero represented a team named Santa Clara-Matanzas, which had its home club at the Palmar de Junco stadium in Junco stadium, in the 1924-1925 season. The reason for this compound name was due to the low attendance at the Santa Clara stadium, called Boulanger Park, so shortly after the start of the Cuban Professional League tournament, the owner of the team, Abel Linares, decided to transfer the franchise to Matanzas. That season Alejandro Oms won the batting title with 393 batting average (145 times at bat with 57 hits) and the doubles connected title with 13.

Among the pitchers of that team were Matanzas’ José de la Caridad Méndez and Juan Eckelson, as a debutant. Accompanying Oms in theEsteban Montalvo, who, by the way, finished as the leader in home runs with five.In the Cuban Professional League, his offensive average is among the best: in 1,820 at-bats he connected 627 hits, for an average of 345, with 373 runs scored, 99 doubles, 35 triples, 21 home runs and 66 stolen bases. In nine seasons he batted over the 300 mark.

Alejandro Oms Cosme was exalted to the Cuban Professional Baseball Hall in 1944. He died of tuberculosis on November 9th, 1946.

Written by Francisco Soriano.