Las Águilas Cibaeñas, who share with Licey the leadership of the Dominican league with considered with 22 national crowns, but 6 Caribbean titles, and the only Creole monarch in Inter-American series (1965) and Las Américas classic (2015), commemorated yesterday Sunday the eighty-ninth anniversary of foundation.
The Aguilucho team, ranked number one in the Dominican baseball world, after having the greatest presence in the postseason (57) and final series (40), holds the best lifetime record in the regular series (1896-1643), with fewer occasions (5) in last place in 67 editions of our ball.
His great triumphs over almost nine decades are related to his great fan base and his predecessor, the legendary Santiago Baseball Club team.
With the powerful emblem of the eagle, a symbol of majesty and victory throughout history, Santiago BBC was founded on Monday, January 2, 1933, as the first representative novena of this city and the region.
Historically, the yellow squad officially adopts the name “Águilas Cibaeñas” four years later with the proposal made by Luis Tomás Saillant, on January 28, 1937, thus initiating its successful competitive career in Dominican professional ball.
The board of directors of Águilas Cibaeñas Baseball Club, announced in recent years this new founding date of the organization, supported by historical documents presented by the sports historians of the aguilucho team.
“We decided to host this date of foundation of our fierce Cibaeño team since historical documents confirm that the legendary Santiago Baseball Club team was the representative of Santiago and Cibao in all national tournaments and played exhibiting an eagles on the sleeve of their uniform. ”, Says Winston Llenas, president of Ad-Vitam and the club’s most emblematic figure.
He adds that the team that later assumed the name of Águilas Cibaeñas, was officially conceived in a meeting held on Monday, January 2, 1933 with the firm intention of competing especially against the already established Licey and Escogido teams in the capital city.
“The anniversary of the founding of our old Santiago team should never ever go unnoticed, which with the symbol of the bird of prey was proclaimed four years later with the name of Águilas Cibaeñas, on January 28, 1937, to participate in the championship. professional of that year ”, he pointed out.
The journalist and historian Rafael Baldayac commented that it is the Santiago Baseball club that accentuates the fierce rivalry between the two great cities of the country, Santiago and the Capital. Licey, founded many years before, on November 7, 1907, now had the Santiago dealers as opponents, in addition to its eternal rival, El Escogido, created on February 17, 1921.
“The flame of the fallen souls in the great air catastrophe of that fateful Sunday, January 11, 1948, remains alive with the name of Águilas Cibaeñas, inheriting that winning mystique from their predecessors,” recalled Baldayac, a member of the press staff of the cibaeño team.
After the failure of professional baseball in 1937, the Santiago Baseball Club once again represented this noble city in national amateur baseball tournaments and despite the fact that its members disappeared in full during the Rio Verde Tragedy, the Águilas Cibaeñas retake the Legacy of the mythical Santiago team from 1951 with the rescue of the Creole rented ball.
Santiago Baseball Club preculsores
In that meeting held on Monday, January 2, 1933, which formally established the famous Santiago Baseball Club team, well-known municipalities from this noble city participated.
Domingo O. Bermúdez, Rafael F. Bonnelly, Augusto Vega Espaillat, Dr. Manuel Grullón, Eladio Victoria Jr., Ramón Suárez Vásquez and Mr. Marcos A. Cabral headed the group that shaped the local representative.
Also listed as founding members of the Santiago squad are Gustavo Tavárez, William E. Browne, Benjamín Sánchez G, Luis Mueses Ariza, Rafael V. Meyreles, Esteban Piola, Luis Pérez and Demetrio Mojica.
Five days after their formation, on Saturday, January 7, 1933, they held their first international commitment by playing at Play Enriquillo against the famous Cuban ninth “Cuban Star”. The visitors won the double game with 9×4 and 4×1 slates.
In the second game, the pitcher Cocaína García, with his compatriot Alejandro Oms in circulation, hit the first home run on the grounds of Enriquillo Park, as revealed by Juan Antonio Paulino (Pirí) in his book Review of Baseball of the First Santiago de América.
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