1983-1984 Cuban National League

The 1983-1984 season was the twenty-third season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 23rd Serie Nacional saw the 18-team league split for the first time into two divisions after a first phase of the season. In phase two of the season the serie now consisted of two nine-team divisions – the Primera División (First Division) and Segunda División (Second Division). The Primera División and Serie Nacional was won by Citricultores of Matanzas, managed by Tomás Soto. They won the división by two and a half games over Industriales. Pinar del Río's Forestales won the Segunda División. The divisions' split was also coupled with a lengthening of the season from 51 games to 75 games.

Citricultores was led by Eduardo Terry, who went 13 – 1 to lead the league in winning percentage. Wilfredo Sánchez wins his fifth and final batting title with 79 hits in 205 at-bats for a .385 average for the team – sixteen years after he won his first. Citricultores' slugger Lázaro Junco ties for the Serie Nacional home run lead with Vegueros' Luis G. Casanova at 20 round-trippers. Victor Mesa of Villa Clara steals a career high 34 bases to lead the league. José Sánchez wins 15 games for Camagüey, the highest win total in a decade.

The league also adds a mercy rule to the books; if a team was ahead by ten or more runs after seven innings the game would be called.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Primera División

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Citricultores	75	52	23	0.693	-.-
Industriales	74	49	25	0.662	2.5
Villa Clara	75	48	27	0.640	4.0
Camagüey	73	46	27	0.630	5.0
Santiago de Cuba	75	47	28	0.627	5.0
Vegueros	75	44	31	0.587	8.0
Henequeneros	72	36	36	0.500	14.5
Holguín	75	36	39	0.480	16.0
Sancti Spíritus	75	30	45	0.400	22.0

Segunda División

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Forestales	75	40	35	0.533	-.-
La Habana	75	37	38	0.493	3.0
Cienfuegos	74	34	40	0.459	5.5
Granma	75	34	41	0.453	6.0
Guantánamo	75	34	41	0.453	6.0
Metropolitanos	73	30	43	0.411	9.0
Isla de la Juventud	74	28	46	0.378	11.5
Ciego de Ávila	73	25	48	0.342	14.0
Las Tunas	75	19	56	0.253	21.0

All-Star Game

The ninth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Havana. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 7 to 0. Occidentales had 14 hits to Oriente's 2, while the errors were 1 to 0 in favor of Occidentales. The winning pitcher was Julio Romero and the losing pitcher was Braudilio Vinent.

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	Wilfredo Sánchez	Citricultores	.385	79 hits in 205 at-bats
Runs Scored	Lázaro Madera	Vegueros	64
Base Hits	Lázaro Vargas	Industriales	102
Doubles	Luis G. Casanova Sixto Hernández	Vegueros Cienfuegos	19
Triples	Rolando Verde Evenecer Godínez	Industriales Santiago de Cuba	8
Home Runs	Luis G. Casanova Lázaro Junco	Vegueros Citricultores	20	Leader in less at-bats (262) 288 at-bats
Runs Batted In	Luis G. Casanova	Vegueros	67
Base-on-Balls	Pedro Medina Pedro J. Rodríguez	Industriales Cienfuegos	51
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Pedro J. Rodríguez Reinaldo Fernández	Cienfuegos Camagüey	11
Hit-by-Pitch	Adolfo Borrell	Cienfuegos	11
Strikeouts	Juan C. Luna	Las Tunas	70
Sacrifice Hit	Agustín Serra	Forestales	11
Sacrifice Fly	Carmelo Pedroso Jorge Cruz Orestes Kindelán	Forestales Holguín Santiago de Cuba	6
Stolen Bases	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	34

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	José Sánchez	Camagüey	15
Win-Loss Percentage	Eduardo Terry	Citricultores	0.929	13 - 1
Earned Run Average	Manuel Álvarez	Ciego de Ávila	1.17	12 ER in 92.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Ulises Infiesta	Sancti Spíritus	160.0
Games Pitched	Jorge Salazar	Metropolitanos	27
Games Started	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	23
Games Relieved	Jorge Salazar	Metropolitanos	26
Complete Games	Alfonso Ilivanes Félix Núñez Luis Armenteros	Guantánamo Las Tunas Isla de la Juventud	15
Shutouts	Rafael Collazo	La Habana	6
Hits Allowed	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	170
Strikeouts	Faustino Corrales	Forestales	143
Base-on-Balls	Ulises Infiesta	Sancti Spíritus	67
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	9
Hit Batters	Francisco P. Sansariq	Sancti Spíritus	14

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Luis Giraldo Casanova a outfielder with Vegueros. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was José Sánchez of Camagüey. Luis Rolando Arrojo of Citricultores was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The tenth Series Selectivas was won by Pinar del Río, managed by the Jorge Fuentes.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Pinar del Río	43	28	15	0.651	-.-
Las Villas	43	24	19	0.558	4.0
Matanzas	45	24	21	0.533	5.0
Habana	45	22	23	0.489	7.0
Camagüeyanos	45	18	27	0.400	11.0
Orientales	43	17	26	0.395	11.0

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .391 - Luis Casanova, Pinar del Río
• Base Hits: 63 - Lázaro Madera, Pinar del Río
• Runs Scored: 38 - Victor Mesa, Las Villas
• Doubles: 12 - Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr., Las Villas; Javier Méndez, [[]]
• Triples: 12 - Oscar Rodríguez, Orientales
• Home Runs: 12 - Orestes Kindelán, Orientales; Alejo O'Reilly, [[]]
• Runs Batted In: 38 - Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr., Las Villas; Lázaro Madera, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 14 - Victor Mesa, Las Villas

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 0.923 (12 - 1) - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Games Pitched: 16 - José Sánchez, Camagüeyanos
• Complete Games: 9 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Wins: 12 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Innings Pitched: 113.0 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Strikeouts: 60 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Earned Run Average: 1.67 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1984 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXIII serie 1984 (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