Puerto Rican Baseball

Baseball is the most popular sport in Puerto Rico. In terms of spectators and active participants, it is the premier sport on the island.

The game was introduced to the island in the late 19th century and the first two baseball clubs were founded in 1897, before the American invasion of 1898 known as the Spanish–American War. The sport was initially ridiculed as an effete, unmanly exhibition. However, when local Puerto Rican teams regularly defeated and embarrassed the more "experienced" American teams, the sport began to catch on.

As of 2016, over 100 Major League Baseball players were active in the Puerto Rico Baseball League, in addition to the many hundreds who participated in the past.

Some of the most famous baseball players from Puerto Rico include Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Alomar and Iván Rodríguez; as well as Jose "Cheo" Cruz; Edgar Martínez; Juan González; Victor Pellot; Yadier Molina; and Bernie Williams.

The game of baseball was introduced to the island in the late 19th century, by Puerto Ricans and Cubans who had learned the game in the United States. At first the sport was poorly received by the hard-working farmers, tobacco workers and sugarcane cutters of the island, who considered it an effete, unmanly game.

The first two baseball clubs were founded in 1897: the Almendares Baseball Club owned by Francisco Alamo Armas, and the Borinquen Baseball Club owned by Santos Filippi.

According to El País newspaper, the first organized baseball game was played on January 11, 1898 at the old velodrome in Santurce, San Juan. The Borinquen beat the Almendares by a score of 3 to 0. The first game to go a complete nine innings was played on January 30, 1898, when the Borinquen beat the Almendares again, by a score of 9 to 3.

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Wikipedia