1962 Cuban National League

The 1962 season was the first season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The inaugural Serie Nacional was won by Occidentales, who were managed by Fermín Guerra.

Following the March 1961 edict (National Degree Number 936) outlawing professional sports on the island, the Cuban professional leagues was disbanded. The post-revolutionary government's INDER (Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación) quickly converted the professional to amateur baseball structure for the first National Series for the following January. The series was the only competition in the National League in this year.

The four-team league played a 27-game schedule from January to March. In the league's first game on January 14 between Orientales and Azucareros. Players were drawn from throughout the island's six provinces; for instance the league champion Occidentales was comprised largely of players from Pinar del Río. Despite the regional names of the teams, all teams were based in Havana and all games were played at the capital's Gran Stadium.

All of the teams' managers were former professional league players. The pennant-winning skipper, Guerra, was a former winter league star and part-time American League catcher. Orientales were managed by former star pitcher Pedro “Natilla” Jiménez. Azucareros were led by Antonio Castaño, the former Havana Sugar Kings manager who remained in Cuba following the team's transfer to Jersey City, NJ in the previous year. José Maria Fernández a long-time player in the Mexican League as well as the Negro Leagues, and final manager of the professional league's Marianao Tigers was the manager of Habana.

The league's top pitcher was Occidentales' Manuel Hernández in his only Serie Nacional season. Hernández had a 6 – 3 win-loss record with a 1.64 ERA in 76.2 innings pitched. He had a 94/28 strikeout to walk ratio and held opposing batters to a .180 batting average. Teammate Erwin Walters was the league's top batter and MVP with a .367 average.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Occidentales	27	18	9	0.667	-.-
Azucareros	27	13	14	0.481	5.0
Orientales	27	13	14	0.481	5.0
Habana	27	10	17	0.370	8.0

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Erwin Walters	Occidentales	.367	29 hits in 79 at-bats
Runs Scored	Urbano González	Occidentales	19
Base Hits	Urbano González	Occidentales	40
Doubles	Tomás Soto	Occidentales	10
Triples	Daniel Hernández	Orientales	3
Home Runs	Rolando Valdés	Orientales	3
Runs Batted In	Tomás Soto Ramón Hechavarría Pedro Carvajal	Occidentales Orientales Occidentales	19	Leader in less at-bats (69) 83 at-bats 98 at-bats
Base-on-Balls	Antonio Rodríguez Rolando Valdés	Habana Orientales	17
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Manuel Díaz Sierra	Habana	4
Hit-by-Pitch	Fidel Linares	Occidentales	6
Strikeouts	Orlando Reyes	Habana	24
Sacrifice Hit	Andrés Telemaco Juan Mirabal Jorge Santín	Orientales Azucareros Azucareros	4
Sacrifice Fly	Tomás Soto Óscar Valdés	Occidentales Habana	3
Stolen Bases	Everildo Hernández	Azucareros	10

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Manuel E. Hernández	Occidentales	6
Win-Loss Percentage	Rolando Pastor Julio Morales	Occidentales Habana	0.750	3 - 1 3 - 1
Earned Run Average	Antonio Rubio	Occidentales	1.39	7 ER in 45.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Manuel E. Hernández	Occidentales	76.2
Games Pitched	Jorge Santín Julio Morales	Azucareros Habana	13
Games Started	Jorge Santín	Azucareros	10
Games Relieved	Julio Morales	Habana	11
Complete Games	Manuel E. Hernández	Occidentales	7
Shutouts	Rolando Pastor	Occidentales	3
Hits Allowed	Jorge Santín	Azucareros	71
Strikeouts	Manuel E. Hernández	Occidentales	94
Base-on-Balls	Alfredo Street	Habana	30
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Fernando Sanfeliz	Occidentales	6
Hit Batters	Franklin Aspillaga Aquino Abreu Jorge Santín	Habana Azucareros Azucareros	5

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Erwin Walters a outfielder with Occidentales. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Manuel Hernández of Occidentales.

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1962 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la I serie 1962 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295