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Monday 8 May 2023 locAl
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Short history of the beginnings of baseball in Aruba

ORANJESTAD — Baseball cio, a cousin of Luis Apari- Luis Aparicio’s father was (Aruba Trading Co.), Esso class, ABBA established a
was played on the island cio who is now enshrined in the super popular Luis “El Garage and Botica San B-class league in which the
of Aruba in the 1930’s, but the Hall of Fame in Cooper- Grande” (the great one) Lucas. In 1945 Venezuelan “Budweiser’ and “Braves”
only by United States ex- stown. The Aparicios were after whom the base- employees of the Lago re- played the first years.
patriates working for LAGO evidently very good at ball stadium in Maracai- finery participated under
and living inside the LAGO sports. Raúl had two broth- bo is named. He and his the name of “Cafenol”, a
colony. Jim Bluejacket, the ers who also played base- brother owned the pro- very popular Venezuelan By 1952 Aruba became
legendary US Indian who ball, René and Roman. fessional baseball teams coffee brand. Two other a member of the Interna-
had played in two major Rosendo, his only brother “Gavilanes” which later groups of Venezuelan im- tional Amateur Baseball
league teams, worked for who did not play baseball became the “Aguilas”, migrants formed the teams Association and fielded
LAGO during 14 years and became a professional and the “Cabimas”. “Cerveceria” (named after a team managed by Joe
was a key factor in the soccer player in the Ven- the iconic team Cervece- Proterra, (former pitcher
growth of the popularity of ezuelan league. Rosendo In the early ‘40s, another ria Caracas), and “Ven- of “Barnes’ Ramblers”),
the game in the colony. was nicknamed “Cabeza group, mostly immigrants ezuela”, although not all that would play for the
There is no record of Blue- de oro” (golden head) for from the Dominican Re- members of these teams first time ever in the Ama-
jacket ever playing outside a memorable header he public also became very were Venezuelans. This was teur Baseball World Series
the colony. scored to win a game for active with pickup teams. also the year that the team that took place in Havana,
his team. Some of these remained sponsored by Roxy Café Cuba in September. Sur-
Outside the colony, the active in baseball well into started to play as “Dodg- prisingly, Aruba won two
game of baseball was in- Interestingly, it was in Aruba the early ‘50s; as umpires, ers”. of its six games and be-
troduced to Aruba by Ven- that Luis Aparicio played managers even as players. Dodgers became the dom- came the darling of the
ezuelan immigrants and his first game outside of Among these were Nestor inant baseball powerhouse Havana fans. Nell Harms
sailors on the Venezuelan Venezuela. This took place “Pantin” Guerrero who also till the 1950s. of the Aruban team was
fishing boats that used Aru- in 1950 when he played had a musical band. Per- named the “Outstanding
ba as their home port. They shortstop for the school he haps not so coincidentally, Other teams that entered player of the week” for
formed pick-up teams and attended. Later he played many of Pantin’s players the baseball scene in the his performance against
played games on Sundays for “Cabimas” in a double- were also musicians. Luthai late 1940s: Pepsi Cola Honduras. He allowed just
on an open field behind header of the Venezuelan Pantophlet who umpired (Oranjestad) and St. Thom- two hits, struck out 15 and
what is now the Court of Western League. These of- many years was a well- as Boys (former students of hit the only homerun of
Justice. One of the Venezu- ficial games of the league known drummer. Gaston St. Thomas College, Oran- the game. Joe Cambria,
elans that comes to mind is were authorized to be Hazel was a bongo player; jestad). “Baby Ruth” in the famous scout for the
Felix Garrido, grandfather played in Aruba by the José Bryson and the broth- San Nicolas played initially Washington Senators of-
of our current Prime-Minis- Professional Baseball Or- ers Nicholson, Teddy and under the name “Camel” fered him a contract, but
ter. ganization of Venezuela. Julio, all played several in- and “Barnes` Ramblers” Nel was not interested, but
Several others who played struments. the only team consisting of the next year, at the Ama-
In the late 30s the leader of in those games have also Lago Colony players to par- teur Baseball World Series
this group was Raúl Apari- been enshrined. In San Nicolas, baseball ticipate in the Lago Sport in Caracas, Venezuela, Nel
was played on the grounds Park championships. “Red and Ruben Phillips did sign
next to where the LAGO Rock Cola” was formed in and in 1954 they played
Sport Park (now Laveist Oranjestad in 1950. professional baseball the
Sport Park) was officially in- In 1952 the team Pepsi Georgia-Florida League
augurated in March 1941. Cola became “Nesbitt’s” and the Texas-New Mexico
and had players of seven League. They were the first
During the WWII years, countries, including two Arubans to play profession-
baseball got a big lift from American expats from ally, but not the only ones.
the influx of Puerto Rican Lago Colony.
and US soldiers stationed During the games in Ha-
here. As LAGO was play- vana, contacts were
ing a very important role in In 1950 a group of promi- made with the organizers
the struggle against Hitler, nent members of the Aru- of Little League Baseball
it was able to get all the ba community founded in Cuba which eventually
sports equipment needed the Amateur Baseball Bond resulted in the introduction
here to allow more people of Aruba (ABBA) to give of Little League in Aruba.
to participate. structure to the manage- Little League of Aruba has
ment of the sport and be- been extremely success-
In the ‘40s only the Lago came the organizers of offi- ful: It has produced many
Sports Park organized cial championship games. players who earned base-
baseball championship While maintaining the ex- ball scholarships at univer-
games. The first teams to isting teams in a league sities in the United States,
participate were Artraco, that was referred to as A- a few who played profes-
sionally in the Netherlands
and different countries in
the Caribbean and five
who reached the major
leagues: Calvin Maduro,
Eugene Kingsale, Rad-
hames Dijkhoff, Sydney
Ponson, and Xander Bo-
gaerts one of the brightest
stars of Boston Red Sox.q

Written by Mr. Clyde Harms