Lourdes Gurriel: Cuban baseball star

Lourdes Gurriel was a star baseball player in Cuba in the '80s and '90s.

Source: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21233006/houston-astros-yuli-gurriel-father-was-part-different-winning-squad

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When I first heard the name Lourdes Gurriel, when he was playing with the Toronto Blue Jays, I thought I had heard that name before.

When I heard he was actually Lourdes Gurriel Jr., I figured he had to be the son of a player I saw close to 40 years ago. It was in an obscure, or so I thought, baseball tournament played in Edmonton, and broadcast in the evenings on Channel 7 in the summer time.

It turns out that was his dad, playing at a time for a country that would never have allowed him to play in the Major Leagues.

Intercontinental Cup
In 1981, the baseball Intercontinental Cup was held at John Ducey Park in Edmonton. I stumbled onto it by accident, when I was flipping channels, which is easier when you only have three channels.

It was an amateur baseball tournament, because there were no professionals allowed. Just like hockey of the era, Communist countries skirted those rules by having what were essentially professional national teams, but were still somehow considered amateur in the eyes of the baseball governing body.

In hockey it was the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. In baseball, it was Cuba.

The Cubans were a baseball powerhouse, because President Fidel Castro had played the game, loved the game, and wanted to beat the Americans at their own national pastime. The Cuban government invested heavily in their baseball program and it showed. Their national team had not lost an international tournament dating back to the 1960s. I learned they were heavily favoured in this tournament too.

Of course, the focus was on the Canadian team, who I don’t think I saw. It was too bad, because they beat the Cubans in the round robin. Canada beat the Americans too in the round robin. Yet, they would go down without winning a medal.

The Americans were good, as they obviously have a deep talent pool to draw from. I remember Spike Owen played for that team, and he had a long Major League career with Seattle, Boston, and Montreal among others. They likely would pose the biggest challenge to the Cubans.

South Korea was strong, led by their pitcher Choi, who I also remember distinctly. He was a work horse, logging tons of innings. The Dominican Republic was also strong, again with a deep talent pool to draw from.

The Cubans were loaded with talent. The announcers made a lot of their clean-up hitter, Luis Casanova, because he was just an intimidating force at the plate.

However, the player I remember best was their lead-off hitter. His name was Lourdes Gurriel, but the announcers, who admitted having trouble pronouncing the names, nicknamed him Lou Gurriel and pronounced the last name “Goo-reel”.

The tournament
I didn’t intentionally tune in to the Intercontinental Cup, but kept finding the games at night on Channel 7. I discovered that Choi led South Korea to the medal round, where they lost the bronze medal game to the Dominican Republic. I later heard he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, but my research revealed he never played with them.

The Cubans would face the U.S.A. in the gold medal game, and the Americans gave the Cubans all they could handle. Just like the Soviets, when the Cubans faced adversity, they just didn’t know how to handle it. They fell behind the Americans, and really had no answer.

A key play occurred when the Cubans were fielding. An overthrow went into the Cuban dugout, then mysteriously the ball popped back out for the Cuban fielder to get back to the infield. The call went the Americans’ way and helped them on their way to the gold medal.

Gurriel hit .297 in the tournament.

Father figure
Lourdes Gurriel Sr. had a long, distinguished career behind the Bamboo Curtain in Cuba. He won gold medals at the Summer Olympic in 1992; the World Baseball Cup in 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1994; the Intercontinental Cup in 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, and 1995; the Pan American Games in 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1995; the Central American and Caribbean games in 1986, 1990, and 1993; and the Goodwill Games in 1990. In international play, he excelled at the plate and in the field. He also accrued a number of honours in Cuba including rookie of the year, most valuable player, and much more. After his playing career ended, he moved into coaching where he had more success.

Yet, Lourdes Gurriel Sr. never had the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues. Cuban baseball players were trapped behind the Bamboo Curtain.

However, he passed his love of the game on to his two sons, Yuli Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who became stars in their own right. They too, were trapped behind the Bamboo Curtain, but took a different path from their father.

They defected in February of 2016 when Yuli was 31 and Lourdes was 22, and would both join Major League teams.

Parting thoughts
It’s funny, the Jays had a number of players with dads who played professional baseball – Cavan Biggio, whose father is Craig Biggio; Beau Bichette who father is Dante Bichette; and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. whose father obviously is the incomparable Vladimir Guererreo.

Yet, the one who intrigued me the most was Lourdes Gurriel, because I seemed to be the only one who knew of his father’s career.

From the time I heard his name, I wondered how Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came to be a Blue Jay. I wondered if he was actually Cuban, or his dad had left the country. Was he able to freely join the major leagues, or did he have to defect? Wikiedia answered all my questions.

Seeing Lourdes Gurriel’s name again also just drove home the point that it is a small world in baseball, just like it is in life.