1962 Cuban National League

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(Redirected from 1962 Serie Nacional)

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

Serie Nacional[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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

Batting[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Cuban National League Seasons
1962 1962-1963 1963-1964 1964-1965 1965-1966 1966-1967 1967-1968 1968-1969
1969-1970 1970-1971 1971-1972 1972-1973 1973-1974 1974-1975 1975-1976 1976-1977 1977-1978 1978-1979
1979-1980 1980-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984 1984-1985 1985-1986 1986-1987 1987-1988 1988-1989
1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1992 1992-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999
1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009
2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023