Book Review: Béisbol Begins

 Béisbol Begins: How Nemesio Guilló Brought Baseball to Cuba by Ramon Olivera, Millbrook Press, Minneapolis, 2026.

This book tells the story of how baseball arrived in Cuba.  Nemesio Guilló and his brother Ernesto were sent to the United States to get an education.  They went to Mobile, Alabama where baseball was just beginning to take off.  The national sport in Cuba was bullfighting.  But Nemesio dreamed of forming a team in Cuba.  Nemesio returned with a bat.  This would have been the 1860s as Nemesio went to the united States about this time..  At first they did not have enough players for a team, so played other games with bat and baseball.  They were swinging and hitting and running and throwing and catching.  By 1868 they had formed their first team, the Habana Baseball Club.  There first game was against a team of American sailors.  They tagged and hit and slid.  They played a full nine innings.  The Habana Club won.  Baseball quickly spread across the country.  Baseball even became a professional sport and Nemesio continued to play.  His brother retired from the game.  However the Spanish rulers saw the game as a threat.  The players could be rebels and the bats weapons.  The game was outlawed.  Cuban finally fought for their independence in the 1890s because of the oppression of the Spanish.  The U.S. joined the side of the Cubans for the Spanish American war.  Cuba was free in 1902.  Baseball became the national sport.