• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 03 / 02 / 2011

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Havana, March 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuban right-hander Conrado Marrero will turn 100 years old in April, and is following the current Cuban national baseball series, commenting on it with surprising clarity.

Now a living legend in the history of the national pastime and passion, Marrero will be honored not only for his work as a pitcher, including 367 victories and 178 defeats in 20 years, but also for his dedication in training young Cuban pitchers.

He made his amateur debut in 1938, when he was 27 years old. In eight seasons, he won 39 games and was defeated 46 times. His achievements include three games without allowing any hits nor runs, and 42 games without allowing any runs.

Marrero will turn 100 on April 25, making him the oldest living former player of the U.S. Major Leagues, following the death of Anthony (Tony) Frances Malinovsky, a U.S. player, on February 8.

Malinovsky, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, pitched 35 games in less than three months with a 2.28 ERA while Marrero played for five years (1950-1954) for the Washington Senators, a weak team with which he won 39 games and was defeated 40 times.

Marrero retired from active baseball in 1958 and four years later, decided to join other players in creating the Cuban amateur baseball system after the end of professional baseball in the country.

For his meritorious work he was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Republic of Cuba, by the Council of State.

Marrero, who is now blind, listens to Cuban baseball games over the radio, and chatted with Prensa Latina about the current national series.

If the teams that go to the playoffs do not have starting pitchers who can make it through several innings, they collapse in the end, because "the championship is very long (90 games), the ball is very lively, and relief pitchers cannot hold on to the leads," he commented.

PL: To what do you attribute the number of home runs and the high ERA of over five runs per game? CM: They hit a lot of grand slams here due to a lack of (pitcher) control, especially relief pitchers, who walk a lot of batters, and when they pitch fastballs, the batters hit long.

Marrero remembers that he was not a fast pitcher, but his slider and his great control allowed him to dominate professionals and non-professionals alike for 20 years.

PL: What kind of pitches did you use?

CM: I used to pitch sliders, some fastballs and some curveballs.

Marrero enjoys telling anecdotes. He remembers that he would strike out Ted Williams, one of the best batters in the Major Leagues, with change-up balls.

One negative aspect of baseball today is that batters wait too long and strike out more than they should, he said.

As he approaches his 100th birthday, Marrero says he is healthy and feels fine, although he has no vision. "Every time the doctor takes my pulse, he tells me, "you are fine, better than I am," he says good-humoredly.

After recounting more anecdotes from his life as a pitcher in Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States, Marrero admits that he never thought he would join the 120 Years'Club, a movement in Cuba that even has its own television program.

"I remember, I was out in the street with a cigar in my hand and a reporter asked me if I had turned 80 years old, and when I said yes, he told me that if I quit smoking I would reach 120, and I told him, Damn, you are hard on me, man! You want me to live to be 120? I'm not even going to make it to 100!