Beisbol Begins

Nemesio Guilló didn't travel from Cuba to the United States as an eleven-year-old boy just so he could find a new sport to introduce to his home country. But that's exactly what happened!

Nemesio and his older brother came to Alabama in 1858 to attend school. While there, they encountered a new sport that was sweeping the country--baseball. Back in Cuba, Spanish colonizers expected Cubans to follow Spanish customs, including bullfighting. Nemesio believed that baseball better reflected the spirit of the Cuban people, and when he returned home, he brought along a baseball bat so he could introduce the game to his friends. The Spanish governor eventually banned béisbol, as it became known, from being played in Cuba, but by that point it had already caught on. In time, the Cubans gained their independence, and baseball became the national sport!

Author and illustrator Ramon Olivera shares the fascinating true story of how a teenage boy brought béisbol from the United States to Cuba!