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The Leopardos de Santa Clara (English: ''Santa Clara Leopards'') were a Cuban professional baseball team based in Santa Clara, Cuba. Founded in 1922, they played in the Cuban League from 1922 to 1925, from 1929 to 1930, and from 1935 to 1941. Although they competed for only 11 seasons, they won league championships in four regular seasons and in one "special season." According to Cuban League historian Jorge S. Figueredo, the 1923/24 team, which went 36–11 and won the championship by games, is "considered as the most dominant team in the history of Cuban baseball."〔Figueredo 2003, p. 148.〕 During their existence, the Leopardos featured several of the biggest stars of Negro league baseball, including Oscar Charleston, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson.〔Figueredo 2003, pp. 151, 183, 225.〕 In addition, the team featured outstanding performances from Cuba's own baseball stars including Alejandro Oms and Martín Dihigo.〔Figueredo 2003, pp. 160, 207.〕 == Founding == In the fall of 1921, with a depressed economy and political instability, the Cuban League fielded only two teams, Almendares and Habana, and played a shortened schedule.〔González Echevarría 1999, p. 170.〕 Abel Linares controlled the league, owning both franchises. For the 1922/23 season, he set out to expand the league to four teams by establishing new teams in Marianao, a suburb of Havana, and in Santa Clara, the capital of Las Villas Province in the center of the island.〔González Echevarría 1999, p. 171.〕 Santa Clara was the first Cuban League team to be located outside of metropolitan Havana since the Matanzas club folded in 1909.〔Figueredo 2003, pp. 78–143.〕 Linares assigned his long-time associate, Tinti Molina, to organize and manage the team. As manager of the Cuban Stars (West), he had contacts he could use to recruit top Negro league players from the United States. The team would play at La Boulanger Park, a small stadium with a capacity of fewer than 3,000 people. In an effort to draw from a regional fan base, they scheduled all of the team's home games on weekends.〔 The team recruited several local players—Alejandro Oms, a Santa Clara native, Pablo Mesa of nearby Caibarién, and Julio Rojo of neighboring Sagua la Grande. From the United States, Molina recruited a number of top Negro league players—pitchers Bill Holland and Dave Brown, infielders Frank Warfield and Oliver Marcelle, and superstar outfielder Oscar Charleston. Filling out the roster were pitcher Eustaquio Pedroso, infielders Manuel Parrado, Ramón González, and Matías Ríos, and outfielder Felipe Sierra.〔〔Figueredo 2003, pp. 147–148.〕 The 1922/23 season began on November 25. By January, the Leopardos were in the lead of a tight race, with only separating them from the fourth-place team. Then, with the season half over, a dispute took place when the league refused to count Sunday games, taking away one of Santa Clara's wins. Santa Clara withdrew from the league in protest and forfeited their remaining games. Their record stood at 14–13, but dropped to 14–40 after deducting 27 losses by forfeit. Charleston hit .446, but had too few at bats for the batting title. Oms also had an outstanding performance, hitting .436.〔Figueredo 2003, pp. 143–148; González Echevarría 1999, pp. 172–173; Heaphy 2003, p. 174.〕 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「Leopardos de Santa Clara」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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