More than 40 years have passed since Andrés García Palmo played shortstop for those teams from the municipality of Bolivia, in provincial baseball tournaments, and, although he never managed to wear the Ciego de Ávila uniform in national championships, he did not withdrew from the sports sphere in his career.

From the top sports leader in the territory of Cunagua, to director of the sports industry in Florida, Camagüey, and more recently at the head of baseball in Morón. Now, beginning in 2023, he is serving as the provincial commissioner of this discipline, for which Invasor invited him to talk about the present and future of baseball in the land of Los Tigres.

“We are already engaged in the participation of the 15-16 year old and youth teams in their respective fairs. Both have options to advance to the final phase.

"To guarantee continuity in the different categories, we have a group of ballplayers, from the northern part of the province, aged 10 and up to 12, who train in Morón and we intend to do the same at the José Ramón Cepero stadium, with the municipalities of the southern part; this will guarantee us to have a better selectivity for the talents that will enter the Sports Initiation School (EIDE)”.

—Since you mention EIDE..., can you talk about any improvement in your baseball field?

—All the surrounding areas of the field were cleaned, because before it was a problem, since the balls that went to that area were almost always lost, due to the difficulty of the search. It will also very soon have its batting cage and it already has the hydraulic installations for the water supply that allows the maintenance of the lawn.

—But the shortage of balls persists in all categories...

—That is the main problem to encourage popular participation in our national pastime. If baseball is not played throughout the province, it will be very difficult to find talent. Our coaches are not soothsayers to know whether or not a boy can shine in baseball, if he does not have the opportunity to observe him on a playing field.

“We are looking for some ways to get more balls —in fact, we already managed to have a greater number of bats—, but we are not going to accommodate ourselves with the 'we don't have a ball' to stop doing things. Sooner rather than later they will appear and we must have our baseball strategy on the right track from now on”.

—What opinion do you have of the group of the main coaches that surround you?

—I think that in the 10 municipalities there are excellent technicians, above all very much in love with what they do. The same happens with those who work at the EIDE and those who are at the forefront in the senior categories, but we must give them more prominence in what they do. We must take more advantage of those who have been glories of this sport and have an arsenal to teach in all categories. Making these ex-athletes frequently offer their experiences to the rookies will be one of our main tasks in the coming months.

—Other purposes for this year?

—Of course, the first thing is that our Tigers are back in the postseason and we want the women's baseball squad to maintain its results from recent years. Now, as of this very week, the construction of a baseball field 5 will begin —very close to Cepero—, since Ciego de Ávila will host the National Youth Championship in the month of March.

It is evident: the former shortstop from Cunagua will have a debut year with a lot of baseball activity. Hope everything goes well.