By Yasel Porto (taken from his group DePorto team)
The bad news for Cuban baseball does not stop. Antier was another recipient from Spiritus, and weeks before representatives of other territories such as Sancti Spíritus himself, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Río. This time Mayabeque had to cry and although it was not because of the pandemic, it is a death however it wants, and it hurts many more than family and friends because it is such a special being in the socio-sports field.
At 89 years of age, Edelberto Arado García, the eldest of a baseball family in which his children also played an important role in municipal and provincial baseball, died in his native Melena del Sur.
He was the historical manager of the Melenense first category team and participated as a coach in several National Series with Havana. But the “old” Arado did not limit himself to those functions, because he also made himself feel as an activist, scorer-coder and a vital man for the creation of the Elio Miguel Valdés CPA baseball field. A stadium that although it is real that has that official name, everyone has known it until today as Edelberto Arado. His mark there from his first days and until his coming of age are the fundamental reason.
According to some friends and family consulted, he dedicated almost his entire life to sports with baseball as the protagonist. His human values earned him the respect and affection of an infinite number of people who were around him.
He was born on January 4, 1932, coinciding with his son Vannoy, Mayabeque’s manager until very recently, that apart from some controversies with certain players, no one can doubt having converted the Huracanes from a sotanero team to a good one. competitive. I still remember that wild card playoff against Industriales decided in the Latin American stadium with that hit by Stayler Hernández, and I remember, among other things, that hug I gave him at the end of that game to congratulate him at a time when his attitude of the winners was not exactly the best. I still say it today despite my roots in the capital.
His son Vannoy reminded me fondly today of some passages with his father, such as his sympathy for Matanzas. “He told me that he would always go to Mayabeque as long as he did not play with Matanzas because he was on board there,” was just one part of a long nighttime dialogue with whoever served for a long time in the leadership of the Vaqueros de La Habana. There he included his presence as a coach in the 2008-09 competition where Esteban Lombillo’s men reached national glory for the only time.
But we must also talk about Edelberto Jr., who was also linked as coach of the national teams of the municipality and the province, first as Havana and later when Mayabeque was born as an official territory.
“El Chispa”, as the patriarch of the family was called, also gave himself up to the Christian religion with a passion similar to sports. Perhaps that is why and because of the family formation, his virtues almost completely overshadowed his mistakes and defects like every human being.
Adrián Morejon and Jorge Soler, Melenense players with a presence in the Major Leagues who met Arado Sr. along with the prominent sports journalist from that land Wilber Pastrana, were among the well-known figures of baseball who were projected in a heartfelt way by this situation.
Whatever the reasons, there is no doubt that 2021 has been an even more dire year than the previous one in terms of losses of players, as well as coaches and journalists linked to the so-called sport of balls and strikes.
The figure almost reaches double ten fatalities. God willing that although we have two and a half months of the year left, we will not have to mourn many more losses, in which at least the family has the consolation of receiving multiple public and private messages about what they represented in every way. It does not return lives, but at least it injects a little strength into the elderly mourners.
For the family of Edelberto Arado Sr. the personal desire and of so many more, not only those who knew him but those who, like me, know how to appreciate the greatness of others from a physical distance. With everything that is read and said everywhere, it is enough to add not only the condolences but also the recognition for its importance. EPD forever.