Mar. 11, 1962 - Cuba has put a claim on the invention of baseball. A recent speech by Premier Fidel Castro and a subsequent editorial in the official newspaper Revolución declared that pelota, as baseball is known in Cuba, “is not a Yankee creation.” Premier Castro, who occasionally goes to bat himself, stated that “the first inhabitants of Cuba played it, with the name of batos.” Revolución explained that the game was invented by the Indians who lived in Cuba before the Spanish conquest. Last week, Premier Castro introduced his own baseball innovation at a game in which he went to bat: the fourth strike.
