Manuel Ricardo González Guerra (April 25, 1914April 18, 1997) was a Cuban

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

executive and president of the

International Baseball Federation The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former international governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division. Betwee ...

(then known as the ''Asociación Internacional de Béisbol Amateur'', or AINBA) from 1976 to 1980. He was the first president of the organization elected after the splinter group

FEMBA The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former international governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division. Betwee ...

rejoined in 1976. González, a boxer and amateur baseball player in his youth, was president of the Cuban amateur baseball league from 1950 to 1961. After the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, he established the Cuban Baseball Federation as part of the

INDER Inder may refer to: ;People * Brigid Inder, New Zealand justice advocate * Inder Bawra, an Indian music director *Inder Kumar, Indian actor *Inder Kumar Gujral, Prime Minister of India from 1997 to 1998 ;Places *Inder, Mongolia, Inder, the admini ...

, the new sports ministry. González was also president of the

Cuban Olympic Committee The Cuban Olympic Committee () is the organization that represents Cuban Sportsperson, athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games. It was created in Havana in 1926; h ...

. His election to the AINBA presidency in 1976 was partly due to his ties with the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC), as AINBA sought to gain recognition for baseball as an Olympic sport. He was considered a close friend of

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch ( Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh ...

, who became IOC president in 1980. After his tenure as AINBA president ended, González was present at the IOC meeting on 13 October 1986 where baseball was voted into the Olympic programme, starting at the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provença ...

in Barcelona. González was arrested several times for his opposition to the dictatorships of

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado was elected president in 1924 as the leader of the Liberal Party, a moderate reform ...

and

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

; he joined

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

26th of July Movement The 26 July Movement (; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an at ...

in 1957.Masjaun and Cuevas As head of the Castro-era Cuban Olympic Committee, he was a staunch critic of the United States, leading Cuba's

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles (despite the landmark inclusion of baseball as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

) and alleging that the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas ...

were awarded to Indianapolis over Havana due to pressure from the American State Department. Earlier, at the 1972 FIBA Congress, Guerra had challenged the inclusion of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and West Germany national teams in the Amateur World Series, arguing that they should not be included because they were not recognized by their country's Olympic committees; this episode precipitated the breakaway of the U.S., Italy, and other federations from FIBA, which would not be resolved until 1976. However, Guerra also described American baseball owner Peter O'Malley as "his friend." His son, also Manuel González, was an Olympic fencer at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in Mexico City.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * 1914 births 1997 deaths International baseball executives Cuban baseball people Cuban International Olympic Committee members Cuban revolutionaries People of the Cuban Revolution Businesspeople from Havana {{baseball-business-bio-stub