#Shortstops: Spring Training in Cuba

The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) had more than baseball in common: They both spent Spring Training in Cuba. In 1947, the women of the AAGPBL traveled farther afield than Florida or Mississippi of previous years; instead, they went to Havana.

The AAGPBL women stayed at the Seville-Biltmore, an American hotel, and toured Cuba extensively when they weren’t practicing, training or playing. They stayed for two weeks, with the first for training and the second for a tournament of four exhibition games. For their security in a large and foreign city, the girls were told to travel in groups. For the most part, they felt very safe in Havana as the people were kind to them. The men on the Triple-A Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ farm team, were housed at the Havana Military Academy, a prep school. Jackie Robinson, however, did not stay there.

Robinson, who would break the color barrier that year with the Dodgers, was taken instead to the Hotel Boston in “old” Havana. Jackie was incensed, asking “so what the devil is this business of segregating the Negro players in a colored nation?”

Harold Parrott, the Dodgers travelling secretary, explained to Robinson that it was Branch Rickey's idea. Though the Hotel Nacional was fully integrated, the Dodgers’ general manager didn't want to risk the chance of any conflicts while his team was there. Robinson finally went along with Rickey’s judgment, stating: "He's been right so far."