Cuban Heritage Night at the Yard Goats: Not My Usual Baseball Game
When I first met with the Hartford Yard Goats in October to pitch the idea of the Cuban Heritage Chivos Night, there were more doubts than certainty. My initial thought was that they were possibly meeting me out of courtesy but that it was not going to happen. Nine months and several in-person and zoom meetings later, the Cuban Heritage Night was a reality and is now in the books.
However, as a photographer who really started in the craft through baseball, this was not my usual ballgame. The pre-game festivities included Cuban music (mixed and played by DJ Stalin Martínez), excellent dance performance by the amazing girls of Limelite Dance Studio, and the honoring of several members of the community.
As he did in two Negro League Celebrations at Dunkin’ Park, Cuban Negro League legend Pedro Sierra was present with his books and postcards. Sierra, whom I met during the 2016 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend in Cooperstown, was as gracious as ever, and despite his age, he continues having that amazing spirit that characterizes him since his childhood days. He was accompanied by a friend, and surrounded by prints of my good friend, fellow photographer Byron Motley, whom I had the honor to invite to dinner in my house in Havana once.
The ceremony included the presentation of a $2,000 scholarship for Antoine Smith, granted by the Hartford Yard Goats Foundation in the name of Johnny “Schoolboy” Taylor, and ceremoniously presented by Sierra and Lynette Taylor Grande, daughter of “Schoolboy” a Hartford Negro League Legend. Johnny played for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues and also suited up in Cuba for the legendary Leopardos de Santa Clara and the Tigres de Marianao. Lynette was actually the person who made the connection between myself and the Hartford Yard Goats to make this Cuban night a reality.
The links between Connecticut and Cuba transcend even past baseball. During the Cuban Independence War against Spain, the mambises (word to identify Cuban insurgents in the 1800s) had the machete as the most common weapon, since they lacked bullets and firearms. The most popular brand, the Collins machete, was indeed manufactured in Connecticut, by the Collins Manufacturing Company, in Collinsville.
Also, he Connecticut tobacco plantations used to ship tobacco leaves to Cuba for the manufacturing of Cuban cigars. The great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the people who worked in those plantations.
Baseball links between Cuba and Connecticut go back to the early 1900s, when Cuban legends Armando Marsans, Rafael Almeida, Alfredo “El Pájaro” Cabrera and Luis Padrón all played for the New Britain Perfectos of the Connecticut State League. Marsans and Almeida are officially the first Cuban players to play in Major League Baseball, when he suited up for the Cincinnati Reds of the National League in 1911.
The Hartford Yard Goats have had several Cuban-born players and players with Cuban heritage, including Yanquiel Fernández and Dyan Jorge (both Cuban-born), and Coco Montes and Josh Fuentes (the latter being a cousin of star third baseman Nolan Arenado).
Recently, Connecticut and Cuba had a close relation thanks to the exchanges led by Tim Brennan’s organization Teen Cultures Connect. This group brought Connecticut teenagers to play baseball in Cuba from 2016 to 2019, and even managed to bring a Cuban team in 2016 to Connecticut. The connections were so deep, that the Cubans still keep in touch with their host families, and that is one reason for Karel García and myself to be in Connecticut. On a more personal note, I met Yosel Vázquez in the state during that trip, and if you have been reading my blog thoroughly, he was instrumental in my life as a street photographer.
Karel García, a 2002 National Champion in Cuba with los Cachorros de Holguín, was also invited. He was the head coach for the teenage team that traveled from Holguín to Connecticut in 2016, became the first Cuban coach to play (and win) a game in Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field, and has been coaching in the state at different levels.
Tim Brennan, the president and founder of Teen Cultures Connect, was also invited, and was joined by his wife Debbie Brennan, his friends John and Tricia Wenz, Dave and Maureen Kenna, and Kyle and Ryan Howe. The two latter are brothers who came to Cuba twice as kids, and whose parents Rob and Kim Howe not only were fully involved with the project, but also have been instrumental (along with the Brennans, the Wenzes, and many others who didn’t make it to the game or were not involved in TCC) in the support I have gotten since I made it to Connecticut in 2022.
César Noble, a Cuban-born judge whose father was involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion, was also slotted for a ceremonial first pitch. César has also been a massive support for me, and he is one of the most prominent Cubans in the state today.
The Cuban national anthem, the Himno de Bayamo, was performed on the flute by Ana Paula Palacios Díaz, whose parents, Daniel and Alicia, are close friends of mine and have helped me and supported me in many ways since I met them. Ana Paula actually made tears come out of the eyes of her mother and practically every other Cuban (including myself) with her performance. The rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner was delivered by a young woman named Gracie Percival, who did an amazing job and sent the crowd to a frenzy.
To cap things, as the Yard Goats are so used to doing, the Hero Among Us section (which is mostly dedicated to soldiers and first responders) was dedicated to John Arthur Taylor III, Johnny “Schoolboy” Taylor’s son and Lynette’s brother, whom I had the honor of meeting before the game.
The main reason why this was not the usual baseball game for me was that my longtime friend and colleague Yasel Porto asked me to be in the Spanish radio booth as a guest. For the second time in my life (both at Dunkin’ Park with an eight-year difference), I was on the radio during a live game. However, this time I was the second voice, and I got to share it with a friend that I can call a brother.
During our broadcast, we had the opportunity to bring in Karel García and also Carlos Oquendo (aka DJ Asere), a man who contacted me upon hearing from this event, and who almost instantly became a friend of ours.
The Yard Goats lost, blowing up a one-run lead in the top of the ninth inning, with improbable hits, all in Texas-league style and even one with a bat shattered in four pieces. Then, in the tenth, the Reading Fighting Phils blew the score open, and the Chivos could not come back.
However, I consider that night a win, due to the experience I had, and due to the vibrance that the Cuban presence brought. I have to say that none of that would have been possible without the support of the Hartford Yard Goats and the Yard Goats Foundation, especially thanks to Mike Abramson, Aisha Petteway, Mia Hwang and María Lino, all of whom met with me on repeated occasions and were very receptive to my ideas.
I honestly can’t wait to make this a reality next year.
