Yoyo Díaz: The Impossibility of Dreaming About MLB

I have not only admired Jackie Robinson for his extraordinary skills as a baseball player, but also for his bravery and patience in breaking the color barrier and teaching a lesson of dignity and courage.

He was the first black to step onto a field in the Major Leagues, in 1947, amidst offenses from the racist public and the opposite team's bench, but far from being intimidated, he gave himself the strength to impose himself on the field. His stature as a man and athlete reached its climax the day he hit the home run that outwitted his haters and catapulted his team, the Brooklyn Dogers, to the World Series.

That example of a model man and sensational athlete made the world of baseball revere him and decide that every April 15 in the major leagues of the United States all players wear number 42 on their uniform, the number that Robinson wore on his back.

Robinson's stoic and imposing life during his time in the Big Tarp reflected in the film by the American Brian Helgeland, in 2013, made me remember passages in the life of another victim of racism: Heleodoro “Yoyo” Díaz.

Originally from Puerto Padre, Las Tunas province, Yoyo Díaz dreamed of entering such levels - long before Robinson's debut - but he had already collided with the barriers of racism in the United States, which made him give up that illusion.

By personal decision and the encouragement of his teammates in Cuba, who saw him as having special qualities, he came to the northern country in 1935; he was part of the New York Cuban team of the American Negro League. But that's it.

Then he became convinced that his greatest aspiration at that time was to play in the Colored League, since racism was an impenetrable wall between the team owners and a good part of the population of North America.

In an interview given to AIN, today Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN), he said that one day he arrived at a cafeteria in the US, asked for a sandwich, but they did not serve him, until finally one of the owners “told me, it’s okay you can buy, but do it through the back door.”

Yoyo Díaz left that cafeteria and later arrived at another establishment, he asked for water, they served it to him; but the glass he used was smashed on the floor in front of the customers.

After revealing those anecdotes during the exclusive interview conducted in 1989 in his hometown, he was asked: Is it true that in your time you were the fastest pitcher in Cuba? That's what they said, admitted the legendary baseball player, with a strong build, more than six feet tall, with slow speech and a good-natured nature.

Then, to seek greater veracity, he contacted the narrator-commentator Eddy Martin, and when asked about this criterion, he proposed referring the question to Professor Juan Ealo, who noted: He had terrifying speed, but I cannot confirm that he was the fastest.

Yoyo Díaz began playing in the 1920s with the Puerto Padre Tabaqueros, as a catcher and outfielder, but on one occasion they used him as a relief pitcher. Since then he stopped playing on the outfield or wearing a mask behind the home plate.

His name was already traveling around the east of the country and a legend was circulating: in one inning while he was pitching, his fellow infielders sat with their backs to the plate. Is this true? He was told. And with a smile he replied: "Yes, but I didn't asked them to do so."

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff