The Greatest Cuban Baseball Player You've Never Heard Of
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2016
- Carlos Tabares is a legend, even though he never came to the US. Instead, he turned down multimillion dollar offers to stay with his family in Cuba. Now, at 42 years old, he's still starring for Cuba's flagship club Industriales. But many fans wonder what might have been if he had made the arduous journey to the States. In the shadow of thawing relations between Cuba and the US, we spent time with Carlos and his club as he reflected on his journey and the decisions he's made.
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anxiously waits for the day my Cuba can grow even bigger in baseball. When USA and Cuba allow baseball players to be easily shared. That's the day all these young talents will shine like they supposed to. Just some time
Carlos Tabares, one of the best CF I have seen. I grew up watching this guys, he was a humble beast.
one of the best Cf?? Are you kidding me!?
there was a cuban player named Omar Linares that the Yankees offered him the biggest contract in baseball in the 90s he stayed in Cuba. He is considered the greatest cuban baseball player ever.
That's true. His name still comes up in songs and Cuban slangs
He used to live by my house, in pinar Del Río. One of the greatest, indeed.
The greatest Cuban player is Martin Dihigo. After the Disaster, might be Omar Linares
I know they didn't make the big money like players in the US, but you got to love their passion for the game.
Foreal men
Holy shit I can't believe this guy it's still playing wow . I remember back in the early 90 s he was playing
I dont think I have ever seen a ball player as humble and committed as tabares, yeah there are others but he sticks out the most, when he said "I would rather want a million Cubans love me." all I thought was what a guy!
Pineapple9621 all I thought was what a clown who loves the Castro family
Pineapple9621 its communist propaganda, you're considered a pig if you leave Cuba especially a sports player so that's why he said that he's a communist son a
Committed yes, humble? hell no. He was seen as a clown in many places.
@@jorgeacosta4736 stfu you dont know shit about my country
@@jorgeacosta4736 you dont even Know that so stop comenting so much bullsh#t
Seeing the kids play, reminds me of how we use to play in the 1960's. With passion , no adults and what little or few equipment we shared. That's what suburban kids here should see. See what they have and don't have
The 1990s Cuba team was so good that most of them got a blank check from most of the MLB to come here and play . He was good, but nothing like Linares, Pacheco or Kindelan
Salvador Ricardo
And that Sr is a lie !
Mr Carlos Tabares....one of the best Center fielder I've ever seen...I saw him play right there in Latino Americano Stadium in Havana...
Hes a real man. You guys don't get it. You just can't ditch the place that showed you your true talent. On top of that leave your familia for money. Big ups to him.
Thank you for this video...happy that people get to know one of the cubans greatest...💪🇨🇺
The greatest don't need social media only their people
The best player . My childhood hero . So many great catches at center field 🐐🐐🐐🐐
Yo jugue baseball en Cuba y aquel tiempo habian jugadores que no see mencionan,Eulogio Osorio,Tony Gonzalez,Alfonzo Urquiola,Ricardo Lazo,Lazaro Perez,Agustin Marquette,Armando Capiro,Omar Linares,Lourdes Guriel,y pickers comp Manuel Hurtado,Manuel Alarcon,Braudilio Binnet,Jose Antonio Huelga,que creen mi gente de estos jugadores y mucho mas
pure heart & talent!
He low-key looks like my Sergeant when I served in the Army. Now I'm really convince that are people around the 🌎 that looks like each other.
Cuban Pride!!!!
Migue A he's a communist horse shit
Antillano Mayor comunista
Amazing story
1:36 look at those balls, it saddens me... In the USA we really do take things for granted, we throw away balls that are 100% better than the ones they (in Cuba) use to practice and even play professionally.
Juan Pena.why..u s lose.vs cuba.all.the time.so.that.mean.u don't throw better ball than.cuba
throw away means botar. Que en U.S.A botan/desperdician las bolas y en Cuba usan las bolas hasta su fin literalmente. ...
Juan Pena no.body.can fuck with.cuba u dont.have to play.profecional to have a talent and dont forget this sport come from cuba
@@obermiranda4266 No, baseball comes from USA
Jaja, Tabares caramba. Desde la EIDE no te veia. Y me enorgullece ver esto.
Money does not bring happiness. He was wise beyond his years.
Respect
one of the greatest cuban baseball player u never heard of is luis giraldo casanova and one of the best cuban league teams is also pinar del rio
ivan k PINAR hollllllaaaaa!!!!
I guess the money really doesn't matter if you are playing the game that you love and still can make a living off of it while staying at home.
Mo Zee coulda signed for 8 mill came back and lived like a king and coulda played baseball in his 30s for industriales
@@sloppyjo5371 But he wouldn't have been able to return after defecting
@@sloppyjo5371 You don't get it. There is no going back.
He's got his priorities right. You represent your homeland with loyalty and respect. The US Blockade tests these character traits. I salute you for as the last poster, James said, you know what's important in life.
Now he live in the US, like every good commie should. It is all a lie brother, don't let them brainwash you. He was an intelligence officer inside the Industriales and Cuba's team. A "CHIVATON" do some research on that term brother. Un perro chivaton, like many other walking freely in the US as I write this comment. Abajo el comunismo, viva Cuba libre.
Bamo bamo que en Cuba somos in monton de gente que jugamos Baseball
in Mexico there is a very good player who also rejected offers from big league teams named hector espino
Mi hermano usted fue un tipo con suerte hizo hasta team Cuba sin batear que fildeaba si y corrías pero batear nunca
With all due respect to the rest and Miñoso gave it to them. Orestes Miñoso was the number one Cuban player of all time and one of the top five of all players of all time.
Last time I was this early dez caught it
Man what could have been if only he came to Cincinnati..,😔
Don't let this distract you from the the fact that in 1966, Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, Bubba "Spare Tire" Dixon.
Become a millionair? Or make a decent living sourounded by your family, having your whole country love you, and still playimg the game you love with your family in the stands?
He could get them citenszship
@@willmythedon7792 become a millionar and bring my family over with me and have the life we deserve.. CHIVATON
Last time i was this early it was early
There can be mentioned at least 5 center fielders than him:
Yoenis Cespedes
Georvis Duvergel
Leonis Martin
Víctor Mesa
Lázaro Junco.
I can continue but those 5 are the best in after 1959. Before that
Fermín Lafita
Armando Capiro
So Tavares is a good comunist, just that.
He looks happy enough with the millions.
CUBA LIBRE
this guy needs to have a movie made from his story.
German mesa, Omar linares ?
cono no jodas tabares eso es tu orgullo ..usted en grandes ligas hace mil years hubiera visto asu mama sus ninas y stubieras mas k orgulloso de ti mismo hubieras sido campion igual como pro y con todo lo k realmente mereces
Moral of the story: Life isn't all about money.
So real Cuban players are not leaving... no wonder most of Cuban players in the big league are not elite...
Those half squats are not saluted.
Last time i came this early i was 13
Goat
😂😂😂
unique latino. one of a kind
He realized he could go to the states and be pretty good or even great, one of the greats even, or he could stay in Cuba and be the greatest that ever was, a real competitor never wants to give up that 1#
Tabares is a legend for Cuban baseball. His plays and his aptitude made him earn the position he is at. Millions of times he made us drop our jaws with incredible plays only he can do. Unfortunately, Cuba is a dictatorship where everybody is the property of the government. He mentioned during the interview that MLB players are sort of a merchandise in the hands of team owners. I think that is a lack of knowledge from Tabares. When you become a member of the MLB you sign a contract for doing a job and you are expected to do that job. Ending that contract you are free to go and do wherever you want. Not the same in Cuba. You are part of a team as long as the government wants you to be, or as long as you agree with the government in terms of politics. Not even caring about your skills or aptitude. I'm not criticizing his position or his skills, there is no doubt he is a wonderful player and human been, I'm criticizing the way that government makes you think despite any logic behind the situation. There will be better baseball in Cuba the day Cubans are free.
Amazing story! Glad to see a man so loyal towards his team and country
I see where puig gets it from
El mejor pelotero de Cuba fue Omar Linares, después Luis girarldo Casanova el señor pelotero , Pacheco por favor tavares es buen pero no está entre los mejores de Cuba .
Rome Caleb el mejor de Cuba fue "the big doggy" aka Tony Perez. El mejor first basemen en la historia de béisbol, el hitter más "clutch" de los setentas, un miembro del big red machine, y el god de la ciudad de Cincinnati.
WE ARE 🔵⚪️
He is one of the greatest but not the greatest. You can compare his carrier to Deter Jeter. Captain of his team, clutch hitter and played for a prestige team. But just like you can't say Jeter was the greatest, you can't say Tabares is the greatest. Said by a born and raised Cuban.
Cuba could be to MLB what American Samoa is to the NFL.
Hi
he was good,but not the greatest,he is not even in the top ten,not even in his position,so you have the wrong titled
Chapman the nest cuban pitcher
I’m cuban!! This guys is a political instrument of the Cuban government! They forgot to mention that if a Cuban player wants to play in the MLB has to flee from cuba because the Cuban government do not let them play outside the country. If any player flee they are not allowed by the Cuban government to go back to visit their family in cuba. The Cuban government hold their families in cuba as a way to punish them because they want to play at the MLB. Now the Cuban government is being more flexible with the baseball players by letting some of the them to play outside just if they agree to give the Cuban government most of the money they earn and if they like the revolutionary government. If you think different they do not let you play any where.....
Tabares would have been great to see the in mlb, but let's be real, it is his country that has kept him down from experiencing better lifestyle opportunities.
Carlos Tabares is the greatest Cuban player of today. But the greatest Cuban player of all time is Martin Dihigo.
GOOD NEWS: THE MLB HAS REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH THE CUBAN BASEBALL FEDERATION TO MORE EASILY SEND CUBAN PLAYERS TO THE UNITED STATES
He kinda looks like yoenis cespedes
What incentive would mlb teams to allow Cubans to play for their farm teams if their just gonna go back to Cuba?
It works for other international players, why wouldnt that work for cubans? Fuck man, I swear people now a days are fkin stupid.
you're acting like they only do that to cubans. they do that to every prospect.
tra789 just like worm chemistry said. This happens to EVERY prospect from EVERY race and background. Nobody complains about the poor white or black Americans that forego a scholarship to in order to make it to the bigs and get their family out of poverty and end up getting cut. Also, no all Cubans get cut before making the bigs. Some make it.
El mejor deportista de cuba
Ridiculous that every player wants to win an Olympic baseball gold. It’s in the summer, where active major leaguers don’t participate, countries send minor leaguers and even minor leaguers or even college kids.
Caballo de Atila
These captions are grade A bad... when he's on the field he says that this field is the one that gave him life that made him the person he is today, but instead the caption say that it gave him life and this is "the solution to basball" I just noticed this 8 minutes in I can only imagine how else the captions have editorialized his statements (I hadn't been looking at the captions up to that point). Tabares never says anything about solving baseball or anything like that he only talks about not going to the US and loving the time he has spent playing. I had noticed that there were missing captions at some points but that was just a totally different sentence than the one spoken. Damn it vice sports this is the kind of thing that keeps me from following you guys, don't take that kind of liberty in your content
gmann2101 it's like that with the majority of translations
Para para para ......con un millon de dolares su trae a sus hijas los hijos del vecino la suegra de el y la del vecino sus hermanos y los hermanos del vecino .Caballero hace su caso público y en dos años esta con tremenda casa tremendo auto incluso Ferrari que no lo va a ver nunca en la habana (a menos que li tenga el hijo de fidel) Caballero allu hay y hubo amenaza .
Á
Thank Obama for taking the blockade off 🙌🏾
Endustriales es malo PINAR DEL RIO TIENE MAS TITULOS
I came to know Cuban Baseball through following the history of the Negro League
Creo que el viejito este se equivoco que podrían haber mas de 100 jugando en estados unidos
The best Cuban baseball players are Black
W
***** ok, well its obvious this guy is black. just like yasiel puig
***** you honestly sound dumb af. that's like saying LeBron James isn't of African descent
***** To your first comment,: trust me I know about race I have a deep understanding, when I meant "Black" I simply meant descents of native africans
To your second comment: ok, thank you for the information
***** I know who created racial categories, it was the portuguese and spanish. I'm not dumb I got a 5 on the AP Human Geography test last year...
Im cuban, and he is not the greatest cuban player of all time😂😂💀
Jorge Lazo one of them
Jorge Lazo i’m cuban too and he is not even in the top 500 of all time
Dayron Diaz nah
@@elbalsero4428 es lo que vengo diciendo pero tu sabes que los industrialista son bueno vendiendo peloteros,todavia hay gente que cree que Padilla fue mejor que Pacheco y que Vargas mejor que linares
this is kind of sad
This guy was good. But not really among the greatest. Never decided to leave the country for whatever reason (I do not buy the "I rather be loved by millions" line since this is no the first time I've heard it from cuban players that later regretted not having left the country to play for a better pay) and now he's just trying to stay afloat. I've seen this too many times.
I am sorry .... but this is wrong.... in the 80's kindelan was offered 3 millions by the dodgers and every one knows kindelan was the greatest Cuban player
one of the greatest cuban baseball player,it's a joke?
It must be a joke because as a center field tabares is not even in the top ten all times,but it must have been an industrialista who uploaded the video
You're both dumb vice sports doesn't lie they interview people and he is one of the greatest that a lot of people never or haven't heard of
@@juanarmas711 There is no greater nonsense and stupidity than to believe such nonsense.
@@antonioenamorado1754 that's why your watching this video and commenting with hate because your not happy with your life
@@juanarmas711 I'm commenting with the truth and the fact is you're too late...
The story had me until he gave praise to Che Guevara, just another brainwashed could’ve been.
On god bro fucking communists, he obviously wanted to come here he just didnt got the chance
Alexander Sanchez Homeboys bitter porque he would have been better in the USA y la cago jaja y allá se está muriendo de hambre por cabron que fue
BS! Could of helped many more Cubans
Que mentiroso 🤣🤣🤣
Si los cubs le ofresen 5 million EL SE VA **si PUDIERA***
Tabares is not one of the greatest Cuban player so far ,Iam Cuban and I know what I'm seeing
Shao Khan tabares is one of the greatest player on the Cuban baseball history am Cuban too and I do know what am saying
Carlos Tabares was a great player but honestly, he was not a major league material, probably Minor Lague. Almost every single one of the boxers and baseball players that decided to stay in Cuba have had regretted. There's nothing wrong on playing professional like many athletes in the world and come back to their country.. representing their Country at the Olympics etc, the Cuban dictatorship makes look like it's wrong and they are traitors but time have prove them wrong.
Obvious case of someone who has no idea what they're talking about. There's simply nothing you can do to return to Cuba if you leave. The penalty is life imprisonment. He definitely was good enough for the majors if he received million dollar offers from clubs.
You obviously didn't get what i am saying. First i do know what i am talking about brother, i am from Cuba, played Baseball in Cuba, Coached in Cuba and defected when coaching in Mexico in 2005. Read again, that's right, you can't play for Cuba anymore if you leave, at the beginning the sanctions were stricter but never life imprisonment but basically the same because you couldn't play anymore, couldn't get another job, they were watching you so you couldn't leave the island and things like that, they did that to El Duque Hernandez, now is little bit more flexible caused everyone is leaving so they have no choice, defectors now can go back and visit Cuba, Yasiel Puig, Rey Ordonez, Jose Contreras and others have done it and they were allowed, not because they Dictators are changing but the are feeling the pressure of the Cuban people and the world. Athletes around the world play at professional leagues in other Countries and they return to play with their Nation in International Competition, not Cubans, thanks to the stupid Government. Tabares like many others had offers but one thing is getting the offer and another one is getting sign with a Major League team, even if he happened to be signed, he wouldn't get a great offer and i don't thing he would last too long in the Majors, like i said he was a good player but not a top class like Omar Linares, Victor Mesa, Antonio Pacheco, Jerman Mesa, Orestes Kindelan, Luis Ulacia..etc, any Cuban can tell you that, except for a hard core Industriales Team (Havana City Team) super fan, lol. Peace and Love my friend.
I heard baseball there is losing popularity and soccer is slowly taking over. Makes sense how simple soccer is to play while baseball you need bats, balls, gloves, etc. Sad to see the powerhouse Cuba slowly losing it's reputation.
bro, you need a helmet bat glove cleats and balls (even cleats are optional) its not tough to play. I think the hardest is hockey.
Cuba is screwing these amazing players by not letting them go back and forth
max gallagher it's called communism it screws everything up
I think Tavares is making that up. He was ok but noting special. It would have been a long shot for him to be a starter in the majors , I really doubt they were offering him millions to sign
Koeblen baseball will never be like Dominican baseball
He is not the greatest Cuban player . Oh my god people are fanatic and crazy lol
Cuban baseball will never be like Dominican baseball
Richie Martinez there are many factors that make Dominican ball players better. It's not fair to hold the two countries to the same standards.
Richie Martinez okay who said it was like Dominican baseball lmao you're lost
Richie Martinez Cuba es el papá de dominicana en la pelota inculto
Cuba es el papá de dominicana en la pelota , aprenda de historia antes de ablar , Cuba nunca a podido llevar a sus jugadores al clásico , su mejores jugadores no los traen por miedo a que se queden y el resto están haqui y no los dejan jugar , Cuba 27 veses campeón del mundo y desvarataban a dominicana 20 a 1 por favor
Richie Martinez u are correct !! Cuban sports will supass dominicans !!!! All brotherly love though
Este video me hace odiar mas esta maldita política Cubana.
They would put million of dollars in the pocket of the player if fidel wasnt stealing money from the people
stuff gusano
He is definitely not the best Cuban player you´ve never heard of. He wasn´t even the best CF of his time. He was super dependable, aggressive, and too spectacular for his own good, who played for the only team who at the time got any regular TV coverage in Cuba, hence him becoming the favorite of the mainstream fan the the institutional machine.
Bs documentary socialism communist vice.
Tabares es un Mentiroso, El no se fue porque quería un Millón de Amigos, El no se fue porque el esta de acuerdo con La Dictadura Cubana que en muchas ocasiones lo ha dicho públicamente que Apoya a Fidel Castro y esas palabras que dijo de que un jugador de baseball no puede decidir su destino porque te conviertes en mercancía, son las mismas palabras que Fidel Castro dijo cuando instauro su regimen y expropio todos los equipos de beisbol, ahora sin embargo Tabares vive en Miami y le gusta mucho el Capitalismo, El es un Hipócrita, era mi jugador Favorito desde niño siempre lo imitaba porque soy fanático de Industriales... Pero la verdad se tiene que decir ES UN HIPOCRITA
He was a good center fielder, but not the best. By far he is not the best. Have you heard about Martin Dihigo, Alexei Ramirez, and many others. Tavares is not the best player. He decided to stay ok, but it doesn’t make him the best. Ask him if he regrets that decision. Javier Méndez was a better center fielder than he will ever be.