By Migue Guerra
One of the most feared hitters in the history of Santiago and Cuban baseball is, without a doubt, Gabriel Pierre. In 18 National Series he accumulated a batting average of .295, product of 1,577 hits in 5338 times at bat, with 302 doubles and 306 home runs, in addition to 1,043 RBIs and 1,031 scored.
The Santiago third baseman had incredible strength in his wrists that allowed him to hit huge home runs that lifted more than one fan off the seat, both inside and outside of Cuba. His powerful offensive line in national classics proved this, remaining at .421 / .530 / .951 (OBP / SLU / OPS).
With the Cuba team, Pierre had few opportunities, but he managed to obtain the gold medal with the set of the Four Letters in the 1998 World Championship in Barcelona, in the 1998 Central American Games in Maracaibo and in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, in addition to the runner-up at the 1997 and 1999 Intercontinental Cup in Italy and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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On Full swing We have known, over the years, many stories on and off the baseball field, stories told by the players themselves or figures directly related to the medium. Precisely, about Pierre and his participation in the Australian Olympic event, share the words of the stellar player, courtesy of the group Santiagueras wasps, referring to the then manager, Servio Borges, who wanted to leave him out of the group.
“That was tremendous, he was looking for an opportunity for me to” cool off “with him because when you” cool off “with a leader, imagine what happens. They tell you: “look what he did, this is out, you have to throw him out because he is undisciplined.” But they do not look at the indiscipline that the coaches or the director comment when he wants to sanction you or wants to kick you, to be able to put a friend of his on the team. They don’t look at that, they always look at the lack of discipline of the athlete », explained Pierre.
“That’s what happened in baseball back then, I don’t know if there are problems with that now, but at that time what happened was that, if you were telling the truth … Reutilio (Hurtado) was also planted , Reutilio was a tremendous center field, and they planted him and for what … to take another who was a friend of them, several players who were from the West, however, the one from the East nothing, “added the stellar player from Santiago.
All the statements made by Gabriel Pierre on the subject can be enjoyed in the following video:
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