The Supersonic

After 25 years, Maels Rodriguez remains unique and unsurpassed.

December 22, 1999

Merry Christmas, dear reader! Here we are back with our daily dose of our December Memories column. Last December 22 marked the 25th anniversary of an unprecedented pitching gem in the history of Cuban baseball: The Perfect Game that the supersonic right-hander from Sancti Spiritus, Maels Rodriguez, threw against the Las Tunas team in the 39th National Series of Cuban baseball.

If you have followed me for a little over a year, you have probably read the piece I dedicated to Maels Rodriguez here. I think that, during the last five years, I have written different articles every time an anniversary of Maels' Perfect Game is celebrated. I really still feel inspired when I remember his exploits.

It is not the same to hear the story as to be able to see it or be part of it. And I saw Maels pitch many times at the Latinoamericano stadium against teams from Industriales and Metropolitanos in the National Series. His figure looked imposing from the moment he stepped onto the mound, revealing his classic number “44” on his uniform. With each gesture he displayed his full confidence. He took the signals with his glove at chest height, before beginning his aggressive wind up that ended with a lion-like jump.

Watching Maels pitch was a show full of expectations at its highest expression. Everything revolved around the challenging speed of his fastball, without forgetting the speed of the spin of his devastating slider. With two almost unbreakable pitches, he managed to have control of the game. You never knew what kind of swing you were going to see from his opponents after the next pitch. If the bat would slip out of the batter’s hands or if it would end up broken. You never knew when someone was going to hit one of Maels’ pitches. And, in the end, what the luck or misfortune would be.

I heard many hitters say that they were frightened by the speed of his pitches. Others, if possible, tried to swing at the first pitches to get out of the at-bat quickly. When Maels pitched, a hush would often take over the fans in the stadium. And then you could hear the sound of the pitches being caught by the catcher. It was like hearing the sound of a whip, over and over again. Maels used to throw at a pretty fast pace. If you got two strikes, it was pretty hard to get out of there, because he always wanted to strike out.