Interview with Adrian Zabala, Sr., Mary A. Zabala, March 2, 1989

Interview Summary

Adrian Zabala Rodriguez, born in Cuba, was a left handed pitcher in Major League baseball. He also played in the Mexican League and the Provincial League. In this interview, he and his wife, Mary Zabala, talk about his early interest in baseball, playing baseball in Cuba in the 1930s, pitching against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba, his Minor League baseball career in the United States, his playing for the Mexican League, players, managers and owners of the New York Giants, the Pasquel brothers, dining and living arrangements in Mexico, fellow Mexican League players, and his (Zabala's) being banned from Major League baseball for several years for playing for the Mexican League. Zabala discusses some of the places he played baseball while he was banned from the Major Leagues, playing in the Cuban Winter League, salaries for Cuban players, a proposed Cuban players' strike, how he learned that he was being traded to the Havana team, an argument that he had with Leo Durocher, changes in baseball and traveling opportunities as a baseball player.

Interview Keyword

Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Baseball Baseball Commissioner Mexican League Provincial League

Interview LC Subject

Baseball Baseball--United States Chandler, Happy, 1898-1991 Zabala, Adrian, Sr. Zabala, Adrian, Sr.--Interviews Zabala, Mary A. Zabala, Mary A.--Interviews

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.