During the time when Cubans were defecting like an open bag of M&M’s, Frederich Cepeda stayed in Cuba. Not because he was not good enough to play in the major leagues. More so because he was a bit too aged for what major league teams were looking for in a baseball player. It appears he has aged like fine wine. He may be one of the best hitters the major league teams never signed. The former outfielder who now spends more of his time at designated hitter became the first Cuban player in the history of the Nacional Series to accumulate 2,000 hits, 300 homeruns and 400 doubles according to the WBSC website, though Baseball Reference still shows him falling short of those numbers (1901, 292 and 371). The 39 year old started his career in 1997 playing for the Sancti Spiritus Gallos. He is still playing for them now. They are currently in second place in the Cuban League. There is a lot of history in his game, something he can tell youngsters once he retires. An Olympic gold and silver medal achieved in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008). One year of playing the game in the NPB in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants (2014), though he only hit .163 in 129 at bats. Participation in World Cups and World Baseball Classics. The game of baseball has taken him to all corners of the world. And he has come back as a champion in many of those events, taking home eight gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze. Yulieski and Lourdes Gurriel played with him for Sancti Spiritus. Yulieski is four years younger than Cepeda, but has still had success in the major leagues, including a World Series ring with the Houston Astros, something he never accomplished in Cuba. The Sancti Spiritus Gallos have yet to win a championship with Cepeda playing on the team. The only championship they have won was in 1979. Perhaps the 2020/21 season will give him a Cuban championship with Sancti Spiritus.

The former Olympic gold medalist became the only player with at least 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 400 doubles. Frederich CEPEDA became the only player in the history of the Cuban National Baseball League (Serie Nacional) to reach 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 400 doubles. The 39-year old veteran slugger told the Prensa Latina Agency that he feels "proud of still playing baseball." Frederich Cepeda made his debut in the Serie Nacional in 1997 for Sancti Spiritus and still represents the team, currently in second place during the 60th edition of the league. He helped Cuba win Olympic gold (Athens 2004) and silver (Beijing 2008) medals. He also contributed to two IBAF Baseball World Cups (2003 and 2005), two IBAF Intercontinental Cups (2002, 2006), two Pan American Games (2003 and 2007). He was on the roster that played the WBSC Premier12 2019. He also helped Cuba finish second in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 and made the World Baseball Classic 2009 All-Star Team. During a 24-year career, Cepeda also played for the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Yomiuri Giants in 2015 and for the Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League.

Where to begin? It has been two excellent weeks of baseball since our last post - that includes the festivities for the 34th All-Star Game and a new offensive record in Cuban Baseball history. Regarding the standings, a lot has changed in the 2020 Cuban regular season. The Matanzas Cocodrilos (29-18) continue leading the 60th NS, followed now by Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos - only one game behind. Three other teams are “in business” for the 2020 postseason: two-time champion Granma, four-time champion Pinar del Río, and 2018 champion Las Tunas, the latter with a streak of five consecutive wins. Sancti Spíritus is ranked seventh, but the biggest disappointment right now is Camagüey. The Toros were swept by Cienfuegos over the weekend and they have lost eight of the last ten games, descending to the always difficult 8th place. The top-8 teams are followed by four other contenders: Industriales (25-22), the surprising Mayabeque (24-23), Villa Clara (21-22), and Holguín (22-25), all of them with still chances to make it to the postseason when we approach the last 25 games of the season. The 2020 All-Star Game The 2020 All-Star Game was the 34th National Series ASG. After three suspensions due to weather conditions, the game was hosted by Santiago de Cuba and was played at Guillermón Moncada Stadium on Tuesday, November 10, with the Future Stars Team prevailing over the Present Stars Team, 8-6. All-Star Game box score For first time in National Series ASG history (1963-2020), the traditional East and West teams were replaced by Future Stars (U25) and Present All-Stars (25 year and older) teams. Here is how it all happened. Santiago Torres named MVP The Future Stars were behind 6-5 in the eight, when PH Iván Prieto tied the game with a solo homer against Noelvis Entenza, and then 25-year-old Torres put his team ahead with another solo homer off reliever Joel Mojena. Torres went 2-for-3 in the game, also adding an important RBI in the seventh, to bring his team closer 6-5. Both starters failed Youngster Yosimar Cousín (Future) and veteran Lázaro Blanco (Present) had rough starts, and either of them could not get three outs. Cousin had a disastrous first inning – three hits and a walk -, as he allowed Billy Correa Grand Slam for the shortest outing of his career. Correa’s homer was historic because it was the first Grand Slam in National Series ASG history. On the other hand, Blanco recorded only two outs allowing three runs on four hits and a walk. In the fourth, the Present Team added two more runs extending their lead 6-3, but in the seventh Present Team’s reliever Erlis Casanova gave up three hits and two runs, allowing the Future Team to start a comeback in the game. Future Team bullpen seals the victory There is no doubt that Torres performance was key in the game, but we need to add that the Future Team’s bullpen also shined, shutting down the Present Team to seal the victory. The young arms of Yankiel Mauri (Sancti Spíritus), Renner Rivero (Matanzas), rookie Laidel Torres (Artemisa), Yunior Tur (Santiago de Cuba), and Andy Rodríguez (Industriales) combined for five-scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks and striking out six. Rookie Laidel Torres’ scoreless seventh inning gave him the win. Torres walked one batter but managed to face the minimum to keep the score 6-5, giving his team the opportunity to comeback an inning later. Andy Rodríguez took the save completing 1 1/3 innings, striking out three, including Rafael Viñales and Yoelkis Guibert in the ninth, to end the game. Other activities Cuba’s special All-Star Weekend festivities include not only the classic ASG but a display of on-field skills - pruebas de habilidades - in which star league players compete in contests involving base-running, infield and outfield throwing accuracy, and long-distance throwing strength. Sunday’s game also featured the traditional home run hitting contest. These were the winners: Home to First Base Time: José Luis Gutiérrez (Santiago de Cuba) 3:43 seconds. Home to Home Time: José Luis Gutiérrez (Santiago de Cuba) 13:95 seconds. Catcher’s throw to second: Richel López (Cienfuegos). Double Play competition: SS-Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Ávila), 2B- Jorge Enrique Alomá (Industriales), and Lisbán Correa (Industriales) – 1.95 seconds to complete a 6-4-4-3 double play. HR Derby: Pinar’s outfielder Yasser Julio González (40 HR) broke Yasmani Tomás’ record (38) set in 2013 1. Yasser Julio González (Pinar del Río) – 40 HRs First Round: 25 Second Round: 15 2. Luis González (Camagüey) – 33 HRs First Round: 20 Second Round: 13 Highlights of the Week (s): 42-Game Hitting Streak: Cienfuegos César Prieto is the new Rey del Hit During this past weekend, Cienfuegos 21-year-old second baseman César Prieto broke Rey Isaac’s record of 37-game hitting streak. The Cienfuegos Elefantes played the Camagüey Toros in a doubleheader on Saturday, November 21. Prieto attempted to break the Isaac’s record for the longest single-season NS hitting streak against the Toros in the first game. The game, rescheduled from September 24 and where Prieto was 0-for-2, saw the infielder in his first at bat – officially third – and in a 2-2 count, singled to right field against LHP reliever Rodolfo Sorís, to go down in history as the new record holder with 40 games. In the second game, Prieto doubled off RHP Frank Madan in his initial at-bat to run the streak to 41 games. On Sunday, November 22 Prieto extended the record to 42 games, with single to center field vs. Yusney Saborit in the fifth inning. Prieto started the streak on September 19 with an infield hit in the fifth inning against Las Tunas LHP Yudiel Rodríguez. Santiago’s outfielder Rey Isaac held the previous 37-games record since 1994. Isaac’s 1994 streak was cut short on December 17, 1994 by Industriales and future Yankee’ sensation RHP Orlando “Duque” Hernández. 9,741 days later, Prieto announced to the world he was the new Cuban record holder. Matanzas’ Noelvis Entenza throws second "no-hitter" of 2020 NS season For the 2nd time in franchise history, a Matanzas pitcher has thrown a no-hitter. This time was RHP Noelvis Entenza taking down the Granma Alazanes in a 3-0 victory in seven innings. It was the first career no-hitter for 35-year-old Entenza. It was only the second Matanzas no-no since Jorge Martínez on January 29, 2009 against Industriales at Latinoamericano Stadium. The most recent no-hitter was delivered this season by RHP Arnaldo Rodríguez of Ciego de Ávila on October 29. There was one no-hitter last season. In a game played at Mártires de Barbados Stadium and in a controversial decision, Entenza was credited with the no-no after what most people considered was a scoring error by the official scorer of the game. It happened during the sixth inning of the game, when with a runner on, Osvaldo Abreu' groundball to center field was stopped by Matanzas' shorstop Sandy Menocal, who had no clear possibility of out in any bases. The official scorer initially credited Abreu with a hit, but it was pressured to change it to an error. Just judge yourself by watching the user's - Jorge Quesada - video shared on his Facebook page. The decision was upheld and Entenza completed his "heroic" feat an inning later. Entenza walked three and hit one batter during his 7 innings of work. The veteran righthander was not brilliant, but using his slow speed pitches became an enigma for Granma’s hitters. He faced 25 hitters and only struck out two. Matanzas scored one run in the third inning and two more in the fifth to seal the victory. Overall, it was the 59th no-hitter in National Series history since the league started back in 1962, and probably the most controversial since December 8, 1992, when Ernesto Guevara Ramos pitched No-hitter #36 against Industriales...and guess what, in the same Mártires de Barbados Stadium. Some Feats During the Past Two Weeks Sat 11/21: César Prieto broke Rey Issac’s record of 37-game hitting streak reaching 40 against Camagüey. Sat 11/21: Santiago de Cuba beat Artemisa by the mercy rule in five innings, 18-0. Sun 11/15: Las Tunas' infielder Danel Castro hit his 229th career home run passing Ciego's outfielder Yoelvis Fiss in the 28th historic place in NS. Tue 11/10: Lisbán Correa of Industriales but playing for the Present Stars Team, hit the first Grand Slam in All-Star Game history. Correa homered off RHP Yosimar Cousín in the first inning during an 8-6 loss against the Future Stars Team. Tue 11/10: Holguín catcher Iván Prieto homered off RHP Noelvis Entenza during his first ever All-Star at bat. By doing so, Prieto became the first ever catcher to homer in a National Series ASG during his first at bat. Wed 11/4: Matanzas’ veteran RHP Noelvis Entenza tossed the 59th no-no in National Series history. Entenza completed his feat against Granma in a 3-0 win at Mártires de Barbados Stadium in Granma. Player of the Week (November 14-19): Carlos Juan Viera, Las Tunas Leñadores After striking out 10 and allowing no runs in the 16 innings he threw last week, Las Tunas’ righthander Carlos Juan Viera was selected the Player of the Week on Monday. Viera twirled a seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts against the leader Matanzas on November 14, in an 8-0 win. Five days later, on November 19, Viera threw his third career shutout against Cienfuegos, allowing four hits and striking out 6 in a 6-0 win. Viera's work was key in Las Tunas' five-game winning streak. Player of the Week (October 31-November 5): Yankiel Mauri, Sancti Spíritus Gallos The 60th National Series selection from Oct 31 to Nov 5 was right-hander reliever Yankiel Mauri from the Sancti Spíritus Gallos. Two great performances over the week helped him claim the Player of the Week honor on Monday (Oct 9). Mauri wrapped the week by completing 5 1/3 scoreless innings with three hits and no walks. Mauri was recognized for his two appearances, collecting two wins. Season’s Leaders Batting Batting Average: César Prieto (Cienfuegos) .412 Home Runs: Lisbán Correa (Industriales) 18 Runs Batted In: Dennis Laza (Mayabeque) 54 Stolen Bases: Yuniesky Larduet (Las Tunas) 16 Runs: César Prieto (Cienfuegos) 50 On-Base Percentage: Frederich Cepeda (Sancti Spíritus) .574 Pitching Earned Run Average: Yankiel Mauri (Sancti Spíritus) 1.29 Strikeouts: Frank Madan (Camagüey) 62 Wins: Carlos Font (Santiago de Cuba) & Yankiel Mauri (Sancti Spíritus) 8 Saves: David Mena (Matanzas) 11 Upcoming Series (Nov 24-26) 1 pm (ET) – Victoria de Girón Stadium – Pinar del Río @ Sancti Spíritus 10 am (ET) – José R. Cepero Stadium – Artemisa @ Ciego de Ávila 10 am (ET) – Cándido González Stadium – Isla de la Juventud @ Camagüey 1 pm (ET) – Julio A. Mella Stadium – Industriales @ Las Tunas 1 pm (ET) – Calixto García Stadium – Cienfuegos @ Holguín 1 pm (ET) – Mártires de Barbados Stadium – Villa Clara @ Granma 1 pm (ET) – Guillermón Moncada Stadium – Mayabeque @ Santiago de Cuba 1 pm (ET) – Nguyen van Troi Stadium – Matanzas @ Guantánamo Upcoming Series (Nov 28-29) 2 pm (ET) – José A. Huelga Stadium – Artemisa @ Sancti Spíritus 2 pm (ET) – José R. Cepero Stadium – Pinar del Río @ Ciego de Ávila 2 pm (ET) – Cándido González Stadium – Industriales @ Camagüey 2 pm (ET) – Julio A. Mella Stadium – Isla de la Juventud @ Las Tunas 2 pm (ET) – Calixto García Stadium – Villa Clara @ Holguín 2 pm (ET) – Mártires de Barbados Stadium – Cienfuegos @ Granma 2 pm (ET) – Guillermón Moncada Stadium – Matanzas @ Santiago de Cuba 2 pm (ET) – Nguyen van Troi Stadium – Mayabeque @ Guantánamo (Photos Santiago Torres, Yasser Julio González & César Prieto/Roberto Morejón & Aslám Castellón)

NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago White Sox slugger José Abreu won the AL MVP prize Thursday, a reward for powering his team back into the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The first baseman from Cuba got 21 of the 30 first-place ballots in voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez finished second and Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu was third. The NL MVP was to be announced later Thursday night. Abreu led the majors with 60 RBIs and 148 total bases, and topped the AL with 76 hits and a .617 slugging percentage. He played in all 60 games during the virus-shortened season as Chicago claimed a wild-card spot. The 33-year-old Abreu batted .317 with 19 home runs, connecting six times in a three-game series against the Cubs in late August. That barrage of longballs at Wrigley Field was part of his 22-game hitting streak, the longest in the majors this year. Abreu was the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year and is a three-time All-Star. He became the fourth different White Sox player to win the AL MVP, joining Frank Thomas (1993-94), Dick Allen (1972) and Nellie Fox (1959) in awards that have been presented since 1931. Smooth around the bag, Abreu ended an MVP drought for AL first basemen. None had won the award since Justin Morneau for Minnesota in 2006; Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto won the NL MVP in 2010. Ramírez hit .292 with 17 home runs and 46 RBIs. His late-season surge helped Cleveland clinch a wild-card spot. No Indians player has won the AL MVP since Al Rosen in 1953. LeMahieu led with majors with a .364 batting average. Able to play all around the infield, he is now a free agent. AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber of Cleveland was fourth and Angels outfielder Mike Trout was fifth. A three-time AL MVP, Trout had finished in the top four every season since he was AL Rookie of the Year in 2012. This will be the first time in more than 75 years the MVP trophies don’t carry the name and likeness of Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball’s first commissioner. In an Associated Press story in late June, former MVPs Barry Larkin, Terry Pendleton and Mike Schmidt said they favored pulling Landis’ name off future plaques because of concerns over his handling of Black players. BBWAA members overwhelmingly voted in October to remove any mention of Landis from the MVP trophy and the award won’t be named for anyone this year. The organization will discuss in 2021 whether to name it for someone else, with Frank Robinson -- the only player to win the MVP in both leagues -- and former Negro Leagues star Josh Gibson among those being mentioned as possibilities. Landis became commissioner in 1920 and no Blacks played in the majors through his reign that ended when he died in 1944. Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Landis’ legacy is “always a complicated story” that includes “documented racism,” official MLB historian John Thorn has said. In 1931, Landis gave the BBWAA control of picking and presenting the MVPs. During the 1944 World Series, the group decided to add Landis’ name to the plaque. His name had appeared on all MVP plaques since then and was featured more prominently than the actual winners of the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award.

"I had heard that Cubans are a deeply religious people. In two days in Cuba I have learned that baseball is their religion." - Samuel Harold Lacy, Legendary Afro-American sports journalist from Baltimore The beginnings Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 1860s by Cuban students returning from colleges in the United States and American sailors who ported in the country. The sport spread quickly across the island nation after its introduction, with student Nemesio Guilló receiving credit for the game's growth in the mid-19th century. Nemesio and his brother Ernesto attended Spring Hill College, in Mobile, Alabama and both returned to Cuba in 1864. The two formed a baseball team in Cuba in 1868, the Havana Base Ball Club. Bullfighting was very famous in Cuba at that time, but this activity began to be replaced by the new sport that required greater power of concentration and that it was not as cruel as the bullfighting. In Matanzas as well as in Habana the game started to spread quickly. In 1868, during the first Cuban War of Independence against its Spanish rulers, Spanish authorities banned the sport in the island. On October 1st of that year, Francisco de Lersundi, General Captain of the island, passed a law banning the baseball practice throughout the national territory because he considered it "an anti-Spanish game with insurrection tendencies, opposed to the language and favored the lack of affection to Spain...". As such, baseball became symbolic of freedom and egalitarianism to the Cuban people. The ban also prompted Esteban Bellán to join the semipro Troy Haymakers. He became the first Latin American player to play in an Organized League in the United States. Bellán started playing baseball for the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club, while attending Fordham University (1863–1868). He also played for the Unions of Morrisania, a New York City team. Bellán played for the Haymakers until 1862; in 1861 this team had joined the National Association. After the execution of the medical students in Habana in 1871, several rich families sent their children to study to schools and universities in the United States. Nemesio Guilló - one of the founders of Cuban baseball - and José Dolores Amieva, along with his two brothers, were part of this wave that introduced the techniques in Cuba and helped to promote the sport they knew in America. They created a team in Matanzas and began to play in wastelands. The historic stadium Palmar del Junco in Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas was built soon after and it was considered as the first of its kind in the island. It was also where the first official baseball game took place in Cuba on December 27, 1874. It was the first recorded organized game in the country. The historic had the Matanzas Baseball Club taking on the Habana Baseball Club. According to a report in the El Artista newspaper published in Habana city four days later, the Habana team won by 51-9 points supported by pitcher Ricardo Mora and hitter Esteban Bellán, of the Mutual Baseball Club of New York. The game finished at 5:35 minutes that afternoon, and the dark did not allow the hame to continue. Pitcher Ricardo Mora started and ended the game, he also hit a home run. In the historic game, Bellán became the first Cuban and Latin American player to hit three home runs in a game. According to the report signed by a sport editor named Henry, a large audience witnessed the game and the simple uniform of the Habana Club team drew peoples attention. Three years later, in 1877, the first "international" game with an American team was held at the same Palmar de Junco Stadium in Matanzas. In 1878 the passion for baseball emerged among Cuban people. The Cuban Professional League was created the same year. In the beginning, the Cuban League consisted of three teams: Almendares, Habana, and Matanzas. In that first season every team played the other two teams four times each. Habana ended up winning the first championship. The teams were composed of amateurs and were all-white, however, professionalism gradually took hold as teams bid on players to pry them from their rivals. Baseball quickly became the king of sports in the island. Stadiums were built everywhere in Habana, where dozens of enthusiasts came to see baseball games in places like Canteras de Medina, Melitón, Hacendados, Placer de Peñalver, and Quinta de Torrecillas in Puentes Grandes. By 1886 The Sport, a Cuban magazine, was already publishing the following "Baseball is today, without distinction of classes, age, and sex, the preferred diversion of all." What would later become one of the most beautiful, powerful, and controversial stories ever seen in sports, the history of Cuban baseball, had started. First Organized Baseball Game Played in Cuba December 27, 1874, Palmar de Junco Stadium, Matanzas (Photos: BaseballdeCuba Archives)

Nothing underscores more dramatically the recent influx of young Cuban talent into the big leagues than the recent Rookie of the Year vote totals which found island refugees occupying three of the top four slots in the respective league polls. Miami Marlins novice hurler José Fernández walked off with the senior circuit title on the strength of a 12-6 won-lost mark and sterling 2.19 ERA that also marks him as a strong contender in the yet-to-be-announced Cy Young category. Fernández (born in Villa Clara but largely raised in Tampa) was trailed in the ROY polls (142-95) by flashy Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, an actual Cuban League “defector” who early-on seemed a top-heavy favorite but in the end garnered only four of thirty first-place ballots. Over in the junior circuit the ROY title went to Tampa outfielder Wil Myers who edged another Cuban League refugee, Detroit shortstop José Iglesias (131-80 was the final vote total). Ironically, Myers’ overall offensive stats (88 games 13 homers, .293 BA) did not match those compiled by National League runner-up Yasiel Puig (104 games, 19 homers, .319 BA). Iglesias (who began the season in Boston) was technically still a rookie, although he had already appeared in a Red Sox uniform briefly during both the 2011 (10 games) and 2012 (25 games) American League campaigns. With his ROY title Fernández becomes the third Cuban native to win the award, joining José Canseco (1986) and Tony Oliva (1964) in that exclusive club. Oliva remains atop the list with the most sensational debut season by a Cuban big leaguer, having also claimed a league batting title (the first ever to do so) during his maiden campaign in the big time. Oliva would also claim a second batting title the very next year (again a big-league first) and later capture still a third crown (in 1971) before his injury-riddled career took a precipitous dip during the late seventies. Despite the heavy presence of Cubans in this year’s top rookie balloting, the actual ledger of Cuban MLB award winners remains quite small, totaling only eight entries for the three most prestigious ballot-determined honors: MVP, Cy Young (top pitcher), and Rookie of the Year. All six honors captured by Cubans have come in the post-1962 epoch, again suggesting that Cuba’s post-revolution-era baseball boasts a more lustrous face than the island game of the pre-Castro epoch. Liván and Orlando Hernández between them picked up a trio of post-season MVP honors to up the Cuban ledger to a grand total of nine trophies. Ironically, when it comes to non-ballot-determined honors (batting championships, home run titles, and RBI and ERA crowns), the overall Cuban list also now checks in at an identical total of nine total winners. And here again, all except one (Dolf Luque’s 1923 ERA crown) have come during the post-1962, post-revolution epoch. It should be noted, however, that despite all the hoopla surrounding the small flood of recent Cuban League “defectors” only Liván and El Duque in that group have so far found their way onto the below list of native Cuban MLB award winners. (Top photo of José Fernández/MLB)