December Memories

A sip of Cuban National Series baseball to get through the off-season.

First, I hope you are having a good weekend. And, yes, in some ways baseball is missed in Cuba. I don’t know if you knew this, but in 40 of the last 44 years we have had games in the month of December. The 1980s and 1990s always had games scheduled in the National Series. 2001 was the only year in which there were no games scheduled in the month of December during the 2000s. For that reason, the 41st National Series was played only in 2002.

Since 2021 we have not seen any games of the National Series in the month of December. But at least in the last two seasons the criticized Elite League was played. This year the scheduling of games was removed until March 2025. So, there will be no baseball in Cuba this winter, which has left a void for many of us—even though we know that the level of the league has fallen every year in the last decade. Now, of course, we have all the time on our side to tell stories. And since December is a month full of memories, I've been thinking about bringing you daily columns.

“December Memories” in the history of the National Series, was the name my wife Ruth suggested to me when I mentioned the idea to her a couple of nights ago. I want to write each day about a story that happened in December of previous years—also, as I said in the previous post, I'll be writing other columns on MLB, Hot Stove, and more. If you haven't already, subscribe! You're going to have fun here!

So this will basically be a trip in the Cuban baseball time machine.

Welcome aboard!

The Most Improbable No-Hitter Ever

December 13, 1989

Well, let's start with this amazing story, the most unexpected no-hitter that you probably haven't heard enough about. The milestone happened 35 years ago. Hector Dominguez Arencibia, pitcher for the Citricultores team, was the protagonist. But the story of overcoming begins with how improbable the no-hitter turned out to be. Dominguez was a second-year pitcher who debuted in the 1988-1989 season with a 1-2 record and 7.60 ERA in 20 games (starting four). In 58 innings, he allowed 99 hits, 52 runs (49 earned runs) and 13 home runs. He struck out 22 opponents and walked 19, so he registered a terrible WHIP of 2.034. The league averaged a merciless .387 against Dominguez's pitches.