1982-1983 Cuban National League

The 1982-1983 season was the twenty-second season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 22nd Serie Nacional was won by Villa Clara led by manager Eduardo Luis Martín. The team finishes the season with a record of 41 – 8 (.837), the best record for any team in Cuban National League history, including Series Selectivas. The club finished seven games ahead of Citricultores and Camagüey, who were tied for second place. This differential is the largest in serie history up to that time.

At the age of 16, infielder Omar Linares makes his début with Vegueros – one of the youngest players in the history of the league. The future star appears in only 27 games, batting .247 with 19 hits, 12 runs scored, 4 runs batted in, and no home runs.

The champion's ace was José Riviera who went 6 – 0 with the second-lowest ERA in serie history at 0.63; 4 earned runs in 57 innings. Vegueros pitcher Rogelio García wins his sixth strikeout crown in the past seven years.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	49	41	8	0.837	-.-
Citricultores	51	35	16	0.686	7.0
Camagüey	51	35	16	0.686	7.0
Industriales	47	31	16	0.660	9.0
Vegueros	51	33	18	0.647	9.0
Henequeneros	48	28	20	0.583	12.5
Forestales	49	25	24	0.510	16.0
Ciego de Ávila	51	25	26	0.490	17.0
Santiago de Cuba	49	24	25	0.490	17.0
La Habana	49	23	26	0.469	18.0
Guantánamo	51	22	29	0.431	20.0
Cienfuegos	48	20	28	0.417	20.5
Sancti Spíritus	51	21	30	0.412	21.0
Granma	51	19	32	0.373	23.0
Isla de la Juventud	51	19	32	0.373	23.0
Metropolitanos	49	16	33	0.327	25.0
Holguín	49	16	33	0.327	25.0
Las Tunas	51	15	36	0.294	27.0

All-Star Game

The eighth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Havana. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 4 to 0. Occidentales had 8 hits to Oriente's 6, while both teams had 0 errors. The winning pitcher was Félix Pino and the losing pitcher was Omar Carrero.

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	Juan Hernández	Forestales	.367	58 hits in 158 at-bats
Runs Scored	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	39
Base Hits	Óscar Rodríguez	Guantánamo	71
Doubles	Alejo O'Reilly	Villa Clara	15
Triples	Pedro L. Rodríguez Antonio Pacheco	La Habana Santiago de Cuba	6
Home Runs	Lázaro Junco	Citricultores	15
Runs Batted In	Alejo O'Reilly Lázaro Junco	Villa Clara Citricultores	38	Leader in less at-bats (176) 200 at-bats
Base-on-Balls	Alejo O'Reilly Luis G. Casanova	Villa Clara Vegueros	34
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Luis G. Casanova	Vegueros	10
Hit-by-Pitch	Lázaro Junco	Citricultores	9
Strikeouts	Leonel Moa Reinaldo Fernández	Camagüey Camagüey	45
Sacrifice Hit	Roberto Rodríguez Alexis Griffin	Villa Clara Las Tunas	8	?Name
Sacrifice Fly	Rolando Verde Pablo Hernández Arturo Sánchez Adolfo Borrell Miguel Rojas José Méndez Luis Jova	Industriales Citricultores Henequeneros Cienfuegos Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus Villa Clara	3
Stolen Bases	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	21

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Jorge L. Valdés	Henequeneros	10
Win-Loss Percentage	José Riveira	Villa Clara	1.000	6 - 0
Earned Run Average	José Riveira	Villa Clara	0.63	4 ER in 57 IP
Innings Pitched	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	136.0
Games Pitched	Andrés Sanabria Luis Batista Alberto Cabreja	Industriales Henequeneros Holguín	18
Games Started	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	15
Games Relieved	Andrés Sanabria	Industriales	17
Complete Games	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	14
Shutouts	Anselmo Martínez	Citricultores	6
Hits Allowed	Amaury Mercader	Las Tunas	117
Strikeouts	Rogelio García	Vegueros	119
Base-on-Balls	José M. Montoya	Guantánamo	52
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Alberto Cabreja	Holguín	8
Hit Batters	José M. Pedroso Gilberto Ferrales	La Habana Las Tunas	10

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Lázaro Junco a outfielder with Citricultores. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was José Riveira of Villa Clara. Rafael Gómez Mena of Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The ninth Series Selectivas was won by Las Villas, managed by the Eduardo Martín.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Las Villas	60	42	18	0.700	-.-
Orientales	60	33	27	0.550	9.0
Matanzas	60	31	29	0.517	11.0
Habana	60	30	30	0.500	12.0
Pinar del Río	60	25	35	0.417	17.0
Camagüeyanos	60	19	41	0.317	23.0

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .350 - Gerardo Simon, Orientales
• Base Hits: 77 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Scored: 47 - Victor Mesa, Las Villas
• Doubles: 15 - Sergio Quesada, Camagüeyanos
• Triples: 6 - José Sarduy, Camagüeyanos
• Home Runs: 14 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Batted In: 65 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 21 - Victor Mesa, Las Villas

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 0.857 (6 - 1) - Octavio Gálvez, Las Villas
• Games Pitched: 19 - Raúl González, Pinar del Río; Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Complete Games: 10 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Wins: 11 - Jorge Luis Valdés, Matanzas
• Innings Pitched: 130.2 - Jorge Luis Valdés, Matanzas
• Strikeouts: 109 - Julio Romero, Pinar del Río
• Earned Run Average: 1.67 - Julio Romero, Pinar del Río

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1983 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXII serie 1983 (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