19th Century Baseball in… Argentina?

As a book collector on Latin American baseball, I’m always looking for the rare item that might provide a clue about how the game arrived to this part of the world. And I’m always hunting for books that refer to countries in which baseball is a favorite pastime such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, etc. But, frome time to time, you can expect jewels from unexpected places.

Some weeks ago, a rare item appeared on sale in an internet based shop. It was a book about the history of baseball in Argentina. Yes… Argentina! It was odd enough to find a book on Argentinian baseball, but it was absolutely amazing to read in its pages that the game is being played in that South American country since 1888.

How to form a BaseBall Club in Cuba, 1881

An interesting artifact arrived to my collection on recent days. It gives useful information on the procedure of how to formalize an early baseball club in Cuba. It is a letter dated on November 14th, 1881 and is directed to the major of the city of Cardenas who is required to send a copy of the regulations document in order to proceed with the creation of the club. The letter is signed by “Dias, V.”

Baseball started to be played in the island around the mid 1860s, but the formal organization of clubs started between the end of the 1860s and the beginning of the 1870s. The first documented baseball game in Cuba occured on December 1874 when the Habana B.B.C visited the port of Matanzas to play against the local team. A tournament was organized in 1878, and baseball was already spread around many regions of Cuba, that was still part of the Spanish crown.

Identifying Rafael de la Rúa, a Cuban pioneer in the National Association, 1868.

When Esteban Bellán left St. John’s College in 1868 to pursue a career in baseball (with the Unions of Morrisania) he was not the only Cuban to do so.

Rafael de la Rúa, a native of Matanzas, Cuba, played 12 games for the Unions of Lansingburgh of the National Association in that same year of 1868. He was a pitcher, with a good screwball but some control problems.

De la Rúa joins Bellán as the first Latin player in an organized and highly competitive league. The National Association would not be considered a Major League until it became professional in 1871, and still that is debatable. But what is clear is that they are the first Latin ballplayers to compete at the highest level of baseball in the United States.