Cuba Béisbol - Twinstrivia.com

The Tampa Rays played (and defeated) the Cuban National team yesterday in Havana and President Barak Obama and his family were in attendance along with Raul Castro and a host of other dignitaries. The game marks the second time since 1959 that an American team has played in Cuba — the Baltimore Orioles defeated the national team, 3-2, in Havana in 1999. It will be interesting to see how the baseball relationship between these two baseball loving countries takes shape in the next few years.

The Minnesota Twins and the island of Cuba have a long history and it goes back to the 1960’s prior to the Washington Senators becoming the Minnesota Twins in 1961. The relationship between Calvin Griffith and Joe “Papa Joe” Cambria was an interesting one. The Senators/Twins had a nice Cuban pipeline going for a number of years.

Players born in Cuba that have pitched for the Twins

Rk	Player	Year	From	To	Age	G	SHO	W	L	SV	IP	SO	ERA
1	Livan Hernandez	2008	2008	2008	33-33	23	0	10	8	0	139.2	54	5.48	Villa Clara, Cuba
2	Luis Tiant	1970	1970	1970	29-29	18	1	7	3	0	92.2	50	3.40	Marianao, Cuba
3	Camilo Pascual	1966	1961	1966	27-32	184	18	88	57	0	1284.2	994	3.31	La Habana, Cuba
4	Mike Fornieles	1963	1963	1963	31-31	11	0	1	1	0	22.2	7	4.76	La Habana, Cuba
5	Julio Becquer	1961	1961	1961	29-29	1	0	0	0	0	1.1	0	20.25	La Habana, Cuba
6	Bert Cueto	1961	1961	1961	23-23	7	0	1	3	0	21.1	5	7.17	San Luis, Cuba
7	Pedro Ramos	1961	1961	1961	26-26	42	3	11	20	2	264.1	174	3.95	Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/23/2016.

Cuban players with at least on plate appearance for the Twins (includes pitchers)

Rk	Player	Year	From	To	Age	G	PA	R	H	HR	RBI	BA
1	Kendrys Morales	2014	2014	2014	31-31	39	162	12	36	1	18	.234	Fomento, Cuba
2	Livan Hernandez	2008	2008	2008	33-33	23	3	0	1	0	1	.500	Villa Clara, Cuba
3	Tony Oliva	1976	1962	1976	23-37	1676	6880	870	1917	220	947	.304	Pinar del Rio, Cuba
4	Leo Cardenas	1971	1969	1971	30-32	473	1938	193	453	39	210	.263	Matanzas, Cuba
5	Minnie Mendoza	1970	1970	1970	36-36	16	16	2	3	0	2	.188	Ceiba del Agua, Cuba
6	Luis Tiant	1970	1970	1970	29-29	18	36	7	13	0	4	.406	Marianao, Cuba
7	Jackie Hernandez	1968	1967	1968	26-27	112	247	14	39	2	20	.172	Central Tinguaro, Cuba
8	Hank Izquierdo	1967	1967	1967	36-36	16	28	4	7	0	2	.269	Matanzas, Cuba
9	Sandy Valdespino	1967	1965	1967	26-28	259	491	58	99	4	34	.220	San Jose de las Lajas, Cuba
10	Zoilo Versalles	1967	1961	1967	21-27	1065	4500	564	1046	86	401	.252	La Habana, Cuba
11	Camilo Pascual	1966	1961	1966	27-32	186	509	35	100	4	52	.215	La Habana, Cuba
12	Julio Becquer	1963	1961	1963	29-31	58	87	14	20	5	18	.238	La Habana, Cuba
13	Mike Fornieles	1963	1963	1963	31-31	11	6	1	1	0	1	.167	La Habana, Cuba
14	Marty Martinez	1962	1962	1962	20-20	37	24	13	3	0	3	.167	La Habana, Cuba
15	Bert Cueto	1961	1961	1961	23-23	7	8	1	0	0	0	.000	San Luis, Cuba
16	Pedro Ramos	1961	1961	1961	26-26	53	100	8	16	3	11	.172	Pinar del Rio, Cuba
17	Jose Valdivielso	1961	1961	1961	27-27	76	158	15	29	1	9	.195	Matanzas, Cuba

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/23/2016.

I think it is interesting to note that in the 60’s the Twins had a rich pipeline to Cuban players but the last Cuban player to play in a Twins uniform that was actually signed as an amateur free agent by the club was Tony Oliva in 1976, that is a long dry spell.