«Sagüita» Hernández, for a real National Baseball Series.

The province of Matanzas had two of the strongest baseball leagues in the country between 1944 and 1961: the Pedro Betancourt League and the Jovellanos League, popularly known as the «Sagüita» Hernández League.

While the Amateur Athletic Union was of an exclusivist nature, the two matanceros competitions did not allow racial discrimination, which made them stronger. Something similar happened in the leagues of Centrales Azucareros, Interprovincial de Las Villas, Popular de Oriente or the Armed Forces, among the most mentioned.

They were independent tournaments, not a true national championship as it happens nowadays in our country.

About the Pedro Betancourt League we recently finished a book with the history of those competitions, still awaiting printing, and we are currently working on what can be called a synthesis of the Jovellanos Tournament, created by Alberto Marcial Hernández Gómez, «Sagüita», an outstanding figure of Cuban professional baseball in the 30s and 40s of the last century, a native of this municipality of Matanzas.

In search of data on this Jovellanos Winter Amateur Baseball League, its official name, we found on an international site dedicated to the announcement of auctions, the first page of a letter sent by its president Alberto Hernández Gómez to his counterpart of the Cuban National Amateur Baseball League, Mr. Evaristo González, dated
October 17th, 1957.

The letter refers to the invitation to the Organization, presided by Gonzalez, to participate in a national eliminatory contest in which all the Leagues of the country would be involved, divided into two zones: Western and Eastern, something that had not happened until that moment, except for the eliminatory to integrate the Cuban team to the First Pan-American Games of Buenos Aires.
First Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951.

«Sagüita» Hernández.

The letter states:
Dear Sir:

I, the undersigned, Alberto Hernández Gómez, in my capacity as president of the Jovellanos Winter Amateur Baseball League, have the pleasure to address you so that the champion team, or in its absence a selection of your worthy organization, may participate in the amateur baseball eliminatory events that will take place in the first fortnight of January, next.

I have taken the liberty of addressing you, I repeat, since I have been designated organizer of the Sporting event, with a vote of confidence on the part of the Pedro Betancourt, Las Villas and Jovellanos Leagues.

The «Meridional» League composed of Pedro Betancourt, the Jovellanos League; another Western League, composed of the Popular League of Cuba, the Quivicàn League, the Inter Armed Forces League and the National Amateur Baseball League of Cuba.

And the team that wins the «Southern» League events would compete for the National Amateur Championship of Cuba against the team that wins the elimination of the eastern part.

Said teams could be a selection of the best players of the League or the Champion Club.

On the initial sheet of the letter appears the essence of the message. It is assumed that the letter continued, since the farewell is not visible.

As much as we investigated, there was no affirmative answer to the invitation for the contest proposed by the Jovellanense sports leader and what could have been, rightly, a formidable idea to look for a true national champion, disappeared.

Written by Francisco Soriano.