(ATR) A Cuban defector who turned into the latest breakout star in the Major Leagues unwittingly resurrected Babe Ruth just 100 years after his trip to Havana.
This October 30 marks the 100th anniversary of the "Bambino", fresh off his 54-homer season with the Yankees, making the first of his 10 appearances in Cuban stadiums.
In the most recent World Series that ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers lifting the trophy, Cuban Randy Arozarena carried his club, the Tampa Bay Rays, on his back as he led them on a surprising run to the Series while breaking several individual records.
Arozarena, who is also a Mexican citizen, could represent Mexico in the Tokyo Olympics baseball tournament. Mexico has already qualified to play in baseball's return to the Olympic program... if the pandemic allows it.
Among Arozarena's marks this week was hitting 10 home runs in the postseason. Before this record, the US press reported that the Cuban - who escaped from the island to Mexico in 2015 - and Babe Ruth were the only players in MLB history with the highest frequency of home runs in the playoffs: a home run every 12 at-bats.
And the feat, according to the Around the Rings archive, would coincide with the centenary of Ruth's historic trip to Havana, which would be added to other trips to the Caribbean nation, over the years, by other baseball celebrities such as John McGraw, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson and Ralph Kiner among others.
According to the American and Cuban press of that time, the New York Giants in the autumn of 1920 played a series of matches against Cuban clubs Havana Reds and Almendares Blues in the new Almendares Park, which had been inaugurated only a year earlier.
Ruth was not a member of the New York Giants but was interested in earning $20,000. That had been the offer of the Cuban promoter Abel Linares, so he joined the tour on the island two weeks after it started.
Ruth would participate in 10 of the 20 games of the New York club's exhibition series in Havana with the famed manager McGraw at the helm. In 1913 McGraw had signed the celebrated Olympic champion Jim Thorpe.
Ruth arrived in Havana on Friday, October 29, 1920 from Key West, Florida. He was accompanied by his wife Helen and his personal secretary, John Igoe.
Many fans gathered in La Bahia de La Habana to welcome him. Several were lucky to get an autograph of the legendary player who the press called Baby Dunn, The Sultan of Swat, the Bambino, The Monarch, among the more than 20 nicknames with which they called him.
The Plaza Hotel was waiting for them. A few meters away was Sloppy Joe’s, a temptation in the middle of Prohibition that engulfed the United States, while Jai Alai, also nearby, attracted the Bambino on his first Havana night
Jai Alai, a variation of the Basque pelota, was introduced to Cuba in 1898 from the Basque Country of Spain. And they say that it was in the bets at that Fronton and in the horse races at the Havana racecourse that Babe diluted most of his fees.
THE PERFORMANCE OF BABE RUTH
On the afternoon of October 30, more than 10,000 people gathered at Almendares Park to witness the game between Los Gigantes and Habana... but above all to follow the performance of the Monarch.
Ruth lined up with the Giants in center field and had two hits in three at-bats, including a triple and double, with 2 RBIs in a 4-3 win over Habana.
October 31: Ruth had two hits in four trips, with a strikeout. The Giants won 3-0.
November 3: Ruth went hitless but his team won 7-1.
November 4. In a close clash that New York won 10-8, with each team collecting 14 hits, Ruth went had two hits in three trips to the plate.
November 6: Ruth played first base and pitched in relief, going 0-3 at the plate, in a game that Almendares won 11-4. Cristóbal Torriente hit three home runs and began being called the "Cuban Babe Ruth."
November 7: The Giants won 8-7 as the Babe went 2-3.
November 8: Almendares won 6-5 with the Bambino getting only one hit in four at-bats.
November 12: The game ended in a 3-3 tie, as Ruth went hitless in four trips.
November 14:. New York won 7-3 and Ruth went 1-2.
A 10th game was suspended due to rain but as the Monarch was not at fault, he received the agreed amount.
Different sources agree that Ruth produced in the Cuban capital 10 hits in 29 times at bat including a triple, a double and two home runs for an average of .345.
The "Bambino" agreed to play another two games for $3,000 in Santiago de Cuba, some 900 km (559 miles) east of Havana.
Officially, he would play only one, on November 20, at the Cuba Park grounds. The game was won by Santiago 4-0 with an unknown pitcher, Pablo Guillén, striking out Ruth in the second inning. In the sixth El Monarca retaliated with a double to the center of the field. The defeated pitcher was big-leaguer Patrick Ryan. Some reports consider that Ruth and Ryan were the only Americans playing.
On the 21st, according to the press of the time, it was not an official game but an exhibition of which there is no individual information, only that Santiago de Cuba won again, 5-1.
Ruth spent two more weeks in Havana, until November 28. In 1921 he would return... but without the spikes.