As baseball grew in popularity in the United States during the first part of the 20th century, there was an equal amount of excitement and growth for the game in Cuba. Players moved freely between the two countries to play professional baseball. Many Major League players got their start in the Cuban League. This was especially true for American players from the Negro League who would play in Cuba during the winters. Likewise, there were several Cubans who would come north to play in the Negro League during the summers. Many of these players would become major league players with the integration of baseball in the United States starting in 1947 and continuing through the 1950s.
As collectors of baseball cards, it’s exciting that wherever baseball is being played, baseball cards are being produced and collected. Cuba was no exception.
Through most of the 20th century, some wonderful sets were printed in Cuba providing us some of the most rare and iconic cards. Many of the Baseball Hall of Fame members have their first cards in a Cuban set. Minnie Minoso, Ray Dandridge and Martin Dihigo have “rookie” cards in the Cuban Deportivo Felices set from the mid- 1940s. As far back as 1910, there’s an extremely valuable Punch Cigarros card of Pop Lloyd.
With the Castro Revolution of Cuba in the 1950’s, travel between Cuba and the United States decreased significantly and, with that, shared baseball between the United States and Cuba diminished as well. In 1961, the Cuban League was shut down, practically ending decades of mutual baseball relations between the two countries. Many Cuban players remained in the United States and continued their baseball careers, but post revolution, most Cuban players played on the Cuban national teams or in the Cuban Serie Nacional. Major Leaguers would seldom travel to Havana for Winter Ball or exhibition games.
It was in 1971 that a set of cards were printed that I have been drawn to for over a decade. A single card popped up on an eBay auction that I had never seen before. This is not an uncommon occurrence due to the number of baseball card sets out there. With a quick internet search, I can easily educate myself about the set the card derives from.
However, for this card, there was no history to find. The card was reminiscent of the Cuban Deportivo Felices cards, but the photos of the players were more modern. I bought the card as a novelty, not knowing that it would create a deep desire to understand when and why these cards were created. How many cards are in the set? Is there even a true set? That single card set me on a path of discovery that continues to this day. I refer to this set as the 1971 Cuban National Team Aventuras El Vengador set.
Like the earlier Deportivo Felices cards, these cards were printed on thin card stock and have a striking resemblance to the Milton Bradley game cards from the late 1960s and early 70s. They have a simple black-and-white player portrait on the front. Below the photo is text showing the players number in parentheses, full name, age, batting and throwing side, and their position abbreviation in parentheses. And below this is a thick black line. The cards have the country name “CUBA” across the top, above the photo.
The back of the cards all have the same design with an image of a cowboy on a horse swinging a lasso, with the words “Aventuras El Vengador” above.
Below the image are the words, “Diaramente a las 12.20 p.m. y 5.10 p.m., RADIO REBELDE”. This translates to “Adventures, The Avenger, Daily at 12:20pm and 5:10pm”. This was an advertisement for a popular Cuban radio program during this period, and it is thought the show might have been the sponsor for the printing of these cards.
The size of the cards is a loose standard of 2.75” x 1.75”. There are some cards that are slightly larger and some that are slightly smaller. Some of the cards are off-centered, which is common.
Due to the overall standard shaping, straight edges and clean corners, these cards were not hand-cut. There are often printer marks on both the front and back of the cards as well. Although simple and attractive as the cards may be, quality control during the printing process was not strong. It is also common for the printing and cutting issues to carry over for a given player’s cards.
How rare are these cards? I have been able to add 41 of these cards to my collection over the past decade plus, with 20 of these being duplicates. Reflecting on the ones that got away and the number of bidders when they do come available for auction, this set is known to only a handful of collectors. Most of my cards have come from sellers with connections to Cuba. Their sales tend to focus on Cuban collectibles, both baseball and other items. Quite a few of my collection have been purchased from dealers out of Canada which did not have the same import and travel restrictions as the United States. Some of my cards were purchased from dealers out of the Miami area which makes sense due to the Cuban population that resides there. Based on the sample size of my collection combined with my years of collecting these cards, there is no doubt that the printing volume of the set was very low. However, we will likely never know the exact number printed.
In the few conversations I’ve had about these cards, the hypothesis has been that the cards were produced in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Most believe they were to celebrate the Cuban National teams during that era. Through my personal research on these cards, I have determined that these cards were most likely printed to commemorate the Cuban National team’s appearance and performance in the 1971 Amateur World Series, which at that time, was one of the biggest baseball tournaments in the world.
The 1971 Amateur Worlds Series was played in Havana, Cuba and saw the home team dominate with a 9-0 record. What better way to celebrate this achievement than with a set of baseball cards? Were these cards given out before, during or after the tournament? This is another question about this set that I hope we can someday answer.
In my research, I focused on players on the Cuban National teams from 1969 through 1972. During this period there were a cumulative 37 players on the Cuban National teams that competed in the Amateur World Series. When analyzing the rosters for those teams, there are two players that only played on the 1971 team, infielder Elpidio Mancebo and outfielder Eulogio Osorio. Both of these players have a card in this set. There is also a card in this set for every other player on the 1971 Cuban National team. Alternatively, there have been no cards discovered to date for any player who was not on the 1971 team. In total, there were twenty (20) players on the team, one (1) manager and four (4) coaches. There is a card in the set for each player and the manager. There are no known cards for the coaches.
Taking all this information into consideration, there is sufficient evidence that this set was produced to recognize the 1971 Cuban National Team and their hosting of the 1971 Amateur World Series.
Going into the 1971 tournament, the Cubans had dominated the Amateur World Series, winning 10 of the prior 18 competitions. The 19th would be no different, as the Cubans came into the competition as the heavy favorites having won the prior year. They lived up to the expectations as they swept the competition, going on an astounding 9-0 run to win the Gold Medal. Their pitching dominated allowing 4 runs across all 9 games. Their bats were alive as well, scoring 66 runs in total.
Infielder Rodolfo Puente batted .429 for the tournament and was named the MVP. As a closing statement to their dominance, the Cuban team also beat an all-star team from the other nations as star pitcher Jose Antonio Heulga tossed a 2-hit shutout. The Cubans won the all-star game 6-0.
To date no card from this set has been graded by any of the major sports card grading services. I have submitted a few cards to one of the more prominent companies that I thought would appreciate their uniqueness and would jump at the chance to acknowledge a “new” set on the market, but they were returned to me stating, “DO NOT GRADE, NO CHARGE”. I emailed requesting a reason but have received no response to date. It could be because the cards are extremely rare and there just isn’t enough information out there for grading companies to feel comfortable slabbing them.
This set was produced shortly after the revolution and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Like many Cuban products during that period, it was illegal to import from Cuba into the United States for resale.
I reached out via email to a prominent dealer of Cuban collectibles asking if they had any knowledge of these cards and received the following reply: “I have never seen those cards because we don’t touch anything Cuban made after 1960. We only handle Cuban items made by the private industry, we keep away from cards or anything made by the tyrannical socialist government of Cuba”.
Although some of the represented players had outstanding careers, none of them played or coached in Major League Baseball. And with the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame going dormant in 1961, none of these players or the manager have been recognized in their home country for their play. In highlighting the career of manager Servio Borges, it’s obvious the recognition he deserves whenever post-war Cuban baseball is discussed. Born in Guantanamo in 1949, he would make his mark in Cuban baseball at an early age. Around the age of 20, he led the Cuban Serie Nacional team Azucareros to the title in 1969 and 1972. He managed the Cuban national teams from 1968 through 2000. He won the Amateur World Series Gold in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, and 1980.
His teams also won the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1970, 1974, and 1978. His teams won Gold in the Pan American Games in 1971, 1975, and 1979. Servio Borges was arguably one of the most successful managers of any national team in history having managed across five decades. I have seen conflicting information on his actual age, but his card from this set states that he is 25 years old. Borges’ jersey from the 1971 Amateur World Series survived as part of the collection of noted modern-era Cuban Baseball expert Peter C. Bjarkman (1941 – 2018).
Is it the post Castro-revolution stigma that taints this set, the lack of Major League Baseball players, or its scarcity that has caused it to fly under the radar for so long attracting only a handful of collectors? Regardless of the reasons, it would seem that the 1971 Cuban National Team Aventuras El Vengador set at least deserves a chance to be recognized as a legitimate sports card issue.
Set Checklist:
□ Owen Blandino, 3B
□ Servio Borges, Manager
□ Armando Capiro, Outfield
□ Vincent Diaz, 3B
□ Antonio Gonzalez, SS
□ Urbano Gonzalez, 3B
□ Ramon Hechavarria, Catcher
□ Jose Antonio Huelga, Pitcher
□ Felix Isasi, Sr., 2B
□ Antonio Jimenez, Pitcher
□ Rolando Macias, Pitcher
□ Elpidio Mancebo, 1B
□ Santiago Mederos, Pitcher
□ Eulogio Osório, Outfield
□ Lazaro Perez, Catcher
□ Rodolfo Puente, SS
□ Raul Reyes, Outfield
□ Oscar Romero, Pitcher
□ Rigoberto Rosique, Outfield
□ Wilfredo Sanchez, Outfield
□ Roberto Valdes, Pitcher
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