Evelio Hernández Soufront

Evelio Hernández Soufront

• Born April 2, 1946 in Nicaro, Oriente Cuba

Biographical Information

Evelio Hernández was a catcher in the Cuban Serie Nacional and for the Cuban national team and also managed briefly.

He debuted in 1968-1969 with La Habana then moved to Henequeneros the next year. He drew 8 intentional walks in 1970-1971 to tie Orestes Noroña for the league lead. He was 10 for 20 for Cuba in the 1972 Amateur World Series, backing up Lázaro Pérez for the champs. He did not play enough to qualify for the event batting lead or he would have beat out Masaru Oba's .415.

Evelio moved to Matanzas in 1972-1973. He again starred in an Amateur World Series, going 11 for 21 in the 1973 FIBA Amateur World Series. He again had the best average on Gold Medal winner Cuba, though he still split catching with Pérez so he did not qualify for the tournament batting title, which went to Juan Fontánez at .432. He did tie teammates Félix Isasi, Germán Águila and Armando Capiró for the most homers with 3. José Ayala beat him out as the All-Star catcher.

He won another Gold in the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games, starting ahead of Pérez this time. He hit .367/.367/.467 with 8 RBI in 7 games while handling 51 chances error-free behind the dish. He led the event in fielding at catcher (1 TC ahead of Juan Ortiz) and tied Rodolfo Puente for 5th in RBI. In 1974-1975, he switched teams again, to Citricultores. He hit .462 when Cuba won the 1975 Pan American Games, again starting. Among Cuba's regulars, only Agustín Marquetti had a better average.

The Nicario native's last major event was the 1976 Amateur World Series. The veteran went 6 for 9 to tie Eulogio Osorio for the best average on Cuba. For the third time in his three Amateur World Series, he would have won the batting title had he qualified; Maney Cabreja won at .521. He drew 11 intentional walks in 1976-1977 for his second time leading Cuba in that department. He also tied for the lead with 4 sacrifice flies, even with Bárbaro Garbey, Roberto Román and Antonio Muñoz. It was his last season as a player. In ten seasons, he had hit .247/.344/.365 and fielded .975 in Cuba, catching 36.7% of those who tried to steal.

He managed Matanzas to a 39-51 record in 1997-1998, serving as skipper between Rigoberto Rosique and Carlos Mesa. He worked for the Ministry of the Interior for over 30 years and is a member of the Matanzas baseball Hall of Fame.