The last time Cuba won a Pan-Am title was the manager of the Cuban National Team. The largest of the Antilles has been a magical team when he has been in the driver’s seat. As a manager in Cuba, he won three Serie Nacional titles with Havana’s Industriales Blue Lions. The Havana native is one of the most storied managers in the history of the Cuban National Series and is widely respected as a baseball mind on the island.
Anglada played ten years in the Serie Nacional before he was a manager for the national team. He was an offensive spark plug for the Industriales as a player and a perennial member of the national team. He once hit .422 with a Cuban team played against teams from the Mexican League in a tuneup for the Serie Nacional.
Although he holds a Cuban League record with two homers in an inning against Matanzas in 1980, he made his bread and butter on the base paths were he led the Cuban circuit in steals four times. During his career in Cuba he hit .291 and stole 197 bases in 286 attempts and was quite the showman with the glove.
His style of play was one similar to that of Roberto Alomar. Today Anglada is enjoying retirement and helps his son Rey Jr where they train future baseball players at the Anglada Baseball Academy located in Hialeah, Florida at 2240 W 60st at Bucky Dent Park.
What is your role in this project?
My role is to help my son every time I come here. Ever since he presented me with the idea of doing this project, I told him I would support him, but this is my son’s project — I simply support him in everything he does.
What development plan do you have for the kids depending on their ages?
We currently have around four different age groups, and now another small group of 4-5 year-olds has joined. Our goal is to develop them and teach the kids how to play baseball — that’s the main idea. Besides that, I’ve seen that there are many youth tournaments here and a lot of participation, which is very important. I believe that in every category we’ve worked with, we’ve achieved great results. For example, right now, out of four categories, two of them reached the championship game. We won one and lost the other, but the idea is to teach the kids and help them develop in baseball.
Having managed at the highest level in Cuba, don’t you feel the desire to stay involved here as well?
No, no, no — my idea is not to manage anymore. Besides, I’m not at the age for that anymore. Those headaches that managers go through — I’m past all that now. Like I said before, I come here to help Dian in any way I can. I also enjoy working with children because that was actually my first job. When I stopped playing baseball, the first thing I did was work with kids. I like it because children are grateful, and when you work with them, you can really see the results of the work you do.