Fifty-five years ago, Cuba watched World Series live for the first time

This year's Major League Baseball postseason hasn't even begun, but in 1955, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers were already playing Game 4 of the World Series by Oct. 1.

And thanks to some "pioneering and innovative use of technology," fans in Cuba had been watching that epic World Series -- the Dodgers won their first and only Series title while calling Ebbets Field home -- unfold live on their television sets for the first time.

My father, then almost 16, was among the Cuban fans who watched the 1955 World Series live, including Cuban-born Dodger Sandy Amoros' series-saving catch during Game 7.

A blog post by Manuel Márquez-Sterling explains how the transmission was made possible:

"(long before satellite TV) engineers custom-equipped a Cubana Airlines DC-3 which flew a circular pattern between Key West and Havana, acting as a relay transmission station for the live TV signal. The airplane took off a half hour before the game and remained airborne throughout, flights lasting about three hours."

And later on a NASA website, I found the above high-resolution version of the schematic diagram in Márquez-Sterling's blog post.

According to the NASA website:

"Equipment aboard the airplane received video signals from television stations in Miami and retransmitted them to a station belonging to a Cuban television network with coverage over a large part of the country (audio signals were transmitted separately by cable and shortwave)."

Monte Irvin's memory 'treasure trove' includes Cuba playing days

Link to Chicago Tribune writer Phil Long's column on Monte Irvin, who played for Almendares between 1947-49.

In it, Irvin, 91, who now lives in Houston, talks about his playing days in Cuba, Fidel Castro and Cuban Hall of Famer Martin Dihigo.

A Negro leagues star with the Newark Eagles, was a candidate to break Major League Baseball's color barrier before the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson.

On this date: Luis Tiant - not the one you think - was born

Aug. 27: On this date in 1906, Luis Tiant was born.

If you're thinking that was way too long ago even for a pitcher whose age was often in question when he pitched in the major leagues, that's because we're talking about Luis Tiant Sr.

The father of popular Boston Red Sox right-hander Luis Tiant Jr., was a Cuban League and Negro Leagues star in his own right.

The left-handed throwing Tiant Sr., elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, pitched for Cuba, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Regla, Habana, Almendares and Marianao during 15 Cuban League seasons between 1926 and 1947, compiling a 42-59 record.

In the Negro Leagues, he played for the Cuban Stars, Cuban House of David and the New York Cubans.

And of course, Tiant Sr., and his wife, Isabel Vega, gave the baseball world their son, Luis Jr., who went on to compile a 229-172 record with a 3.30 ERA in 19 major league seasons with the Indians, Twins, Red Sox, Yankees, Pirates and Angels.

Despite those impressive numbers -- and some grassroots and online efforts -- Tiant Jr. hasn't reached the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, falling short of the needed notes in 15 years of voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America from 1988 to 2002.

Tiant Jr., however, did join his father in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame with his election in 1997.

If you've never seen it, Lost Son of Havana, the 2009 documentary about Tiant Jr.'s first visit to Cuba in 46 years, is terrific. Aside from Tiant Jr.'s return to Cuba, it touches on Tiant Sr.'s career and, of course, his attendance at the 1975 World Series, in which Tiant Jr. pitched three games, winning Games 1 and 4.

Tiant Sr. died Dec. 2, 1976.

1943 Amateur World Series: México vs. Cuba

México vs. Cuba. Serie Mundial Amateur. (1943) from Memoria de Cuba on Vimeo.

Newsreel footage of the 1943 Amateur World Series played at Estadio La Tropical between Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Panama. These images show a game between Cuba and Mexico. Cuba won the Series with a 9-3 record.

Vicente Lopez starred for Almendares

Former Cuban League star Vicente Lopez died on July 16 in Miami. He was 83.

Here's the Spanish-language obituary that ran in Diario Las Americas.

Lopez was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 10 Cuban League seasons with Almendares, Cienfuegos, Habana and Marianao, he compiled a 21-16 record with a 3.73 ERA. His best season coming during the 1950-51 season when he led the league with a .700 winning percentage (7-3) while notching a 2.64 ERA with Almendares.

Born in Cotorro, in the province of Havana in 1927, Lopez was 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in three Caribbean World Series (1949, 1950 and '57).

A career minor leaguer, Lopez went 8-11 with a 2.71 ERA for the 1952 Havana Cubans and played two seasons with the Havana Sugar Kings.

But he began is professional career in the United States playing against the Havana Cubans, pitching for the Miami Sun Sox of the Florida International League in 1949. That season he won the inaugural game at Miami Stadium, upsetting the perennial pennant winning Cubans, 6-1.

"The only run they got off me, they got with two outs in the ninth inning," Lopez told me during an interview in 2000. "I never thought the stadium would be filled because Miami was such a small town at that time. There were fans on the field [behind roped-off areas] down the right-field and left-field lines."

Lopez went 18-9 and 20-6 in his two seasons with the Sun Sox but never made it out of the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm system to reach the majors.

On this date: Roberto Ortiz was born

June 30: On this date in 1915, Roberto Ortiz was born in Camaguay, Cuba.

The 6-foot-4 first baseman, El Gigante, "The Giant" as he was known in Cuba, played six major-league seasons -- mostly with the Washington Senators -- between 1941-50.

He was a star for Almendares in the Cuban League, so much so he was the subject of a 1952 movie, Honor y Gloria: La Vida de Roberto Ortiz, starring Ortiz as himself.

It's pretty cheesy, but it does have brief footage from actualy Cuban League games.

Ortiz died in Miami on Sept. 15, 1971 at the age of 56.

Rare 1920s Cuban baseball card set from draws attention, interest

A set of Cuban baseball cards from the 1920s has been garnering a lot of attention in recent days.

The cards, a complete set of the 1924-25 Aguilitas Segundas series, are part of a large collection (900 cards) that featured celebrities from sports and entertainment fields. The set includes 44 players from the Cuban League, including some of the greatest Cuban and Negro league players.

Among them: Cristobal Torriente, Armando Marsans, Pop Lloyd, Jose Mendez, Adolfo Luque, Oscar Charleston, Alejandro Oms, Biz Mackey and Dick Lundy.

Here's a complete list courtesy of Cubanball.com.

The set sold for $41,434.80 on SPC Auctions.

It was featured in The Miami Herald and in a cool segment on NPR with baseball historian Peter Bjarkman.