Walfrido Ruiz

Walfrido Ruiz Díaz

• Born October 12, 1946 in La Habana Cuba

Walfrido Ruiz was a Cuban MVP.

Ruiz led the 1967-1968 with 26 starts (tied) while with the Industriales. He threw six shutouts for La Habana in 1970-1971 to tie Braudilio Vinent for the lead. On January 16, he teamed with Elpidio Paez on a no-hitter. In the 1971 Cuban All-Star Series, he led in wins (2), ERA (0.57) and strikeouts (13). Walfrido went 1-0 but with a 7.45 ERA in the 1971 Pan American Games, which was won by the Cuban national team; it was apparently his only national team appearance.

In 1974-1975, Ruiz had his best season, now with the Agricultores. He led the Serie Nacional in wins (9-0) and ERA (0.62, only 6 ER in 87 2/3 IP). He won both the Serie Nacional Most Valuable Player and Serie Nacional Most Valuable Pitcher awards.

Ruiz went 102-50 with seven saves and a 1.88 ERA in 234 games in Cuba. He held opponents to a .210 average. Through 2010, he ranked among Cuba's all-time leaders in ERA (5th behind José Antonio Huelga, Roberto Valdés, Manuel Hurtado and Juan Pérez Pérez), shutouts (tied for 10th with José Luis Alemán) and winning percentage (4th behind Orlando Hernandez, Norge Vera and Jose Contreras - two of whom defected before their decline years and the other of whom was still active, though unlikely to fall below Ruiz).

Primary Source: 2005 Guia Official de Beisbol