The First Recorded Baseball Game in Cuba

On December 27, 1874, the Habana Baseball Club defeated Matanzas 51 to 9 in the first recorded organized baseball game in Cuba, played at a field called Palmar de Junco in the province of Matanzas. The game was called after seven innings because of darkness, though the lopsided score suggests it could have been called for mercy.

The game featured two of Cuban baseball's earliest pioneers. Esteban Bellan, who had played for the Troy Haymakers of the National Association in 1871, homered twice and anchored the Habana lineup. Emilio Sabourin scored eight runs and would go on to become a central figure in organizing Cuban baseball, eventually dying in a Spanish prison during Cuba's war for independence.

Baseball had arrived in Cuba through students returning from American universities and through American sailors who visited Cuban ports. The sport took root faster and deeper in Cuba than in any other country outside the United States. Within two decades, Cuba had organized leagues, intense rivalries, and a baseball culture that became inseparable from the island's identity.

Palmar de Junco still stands today, widely considered one of the oldest active baseball stadiums in the world. It has been maintained as a historical site, and Cuban baseball authorities mark December 27 as the birthday of the country's national pastime.

The connection between Cuban and American baseball would produce hundreds of major leaguers over the following century, from Adolfo Luque to Minnie Minoso to Tony Perez, along with a parallel tradition of winter leagues, barnstorming, and talent that flowed in both directions across the Florida Straits.