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The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside of the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known as the "Cuban Winter League." It was always a small league, generally 3 to 5 teams, and was centered in Havana, though it sometimes included teams from outlying cities such as Matanzas or Santa Clara. The league became racially integrated in 1900, and during the first half of the 20th century the Cuban League was a premier venue for black and white players to meet. Many great black Northern American players competed in Cuba alongside native black and white Cuban stars such as José Méndez, Cristóbal Torriente, Adolfo Luque, and Martín Dihigo. After 1947, the Cuban League entered into an agreement with Major League Baseball and was used for player development. Following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, however, tensions rose with the new Communist government, and in March 1961 the government decreed the abolition of professional baseball. ==Early history: 1878–1899== The first game in what became known as the Cuban League took place in Havana on December 29, 1878. Esteban Bellán, the first Latin American to play professionally in the United States, was captain (playing manager) of Habana while the opposing Almendares was captained by Carlos Zaldo. (Almendares was a suburb just outside of old Havana.) Habana won the first game 21-20. The only other team in the league was Matanzas. In that first season, only four games were scheduled for each team, with the season lasting through February. Habana won the first championship with a record of 4-0-1.〔Figueredo, pp. 5–7.〕 Early baseball in Cuba, as in the United States, was an amateur sport first organized by gentlemen's athletic clubs. Games were played on Sundays and were typically preceded by a picnic and followed by a dance.〔González Echevarría, pp. 85–89.〕 A unique feature of early Cuban baseball is that teams played with 10 players per side. The tenth player was a "right shortstop," playing halfway between the first and second bases.〔González Echevarría, pp. 103–104.〕 By the mid-1880s, the best-known players were becoming celebrities and baseball began to become professional, as players jumped from team to team and Americans were sometimes brought in as reinforcements. The gradual development of professionalism that took place in Cuba during the 1880s and 1890s echoed the development of professionalism in the United States two decades earlier in the National Association of Base Ball Players, which ultimately led to the formation of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. In Cuba, however, the clubs that wished to remain amateur broke off from the Cuban League.〔González Echevarría, pp. 99–103, 116–119, 207–208.〕 Baseball in Cuba became associated with Cuban identity and nationalism. González Echevarría notes, "Baseball was a sport played in defiance of Spanish authorities, who viewed this American invention as vaguely secessionist and dangerously violent because of the use of sticks. A ban was issued in 1869, just as the Ten Years' War was starting."〔González Echevarría, pp. 89–90.〕 Several of the sponsors of early baseball teams were also supporters of the revolutionary cause. A number of ballplayers fought against Spain in the Cuban War of Independence (1895–98), and at least three lost their lives: Emilio Sabourín, Juan Manuel Pastoriza, and Ricardo Cabaleiro.〔González Echevarría, pp. 73, 83–84, 88–89; Figueredo, p. 33.〕 During the 19th century the Cuban League remained a segregated, whites-only institution. However, black Cubans were developing their baseball skills playing for semi-professional and sugarmill teams. The Cuban War of Independence brought Cuban blacks and whites together in a common cause and created the pressures that ultimately brought integration.〔González Echevarría, pp. 102–103, 116–122.〕 The other great legacy of 19th century Cuban League baseball was the enduring rivalry between Habana and Almendares. This rivalry began before the formation of the Cuban League and survived after its end, lasting for nearly a century. Growing up in Havana (and, indeed, in much of Cuba) meant choosing between Habana and Almendares.〔González Echevarría, pp. 18–19, 110, 125.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cuban League」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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