What Yadir Drake left behind

The passage of time has not changed the character of Yadir Drake, a baseball player of the province of Matanza’s team Cocodrilos and one of Team Cuba’s regulars.

In 2006, during the FIFA World Cup in Germany, Yadir was kicking balls in a local park with the same energy that he showed years later as a ball player in Mexico, Venezuela and Japan, among other countries.

He looked back then as he does today, boasting an uncommon physique, a unique ability to be noticed beyond this physical strength and a rare humility at a time when many tried to prevail based on what they had rather than what they were.

Drake, nicknamed ‘La Pantera’ (the Panther), who is six feet tall and weighs more than 100 kilograms, seems to get along with everyone, talks with umpires, laughs with his rivals, encourages his teammates, rises in moments of crisis and enjoys his minutes of glory beyond any cold statistics.

He returned to play in Cuba in 2021 to keep a promise made to his grandmother and ended up winning the hearts of the fans in his province and elsewhere since February that year, when he joined the Cocodrilos with a suitcase full of his desires to run, hit and field for the team of his dreams.
"I’m really looking forward to wear the Cocodrilos jersey again and, above all, to enjoy the long-awaited cheers from the bleachers", he stated to local media at the time, when he had just arrived in the team and yet asked for a chance at the home plate.

In the last 40 days or so of hard struggle with the runners-up of the Cuban national tournament, Yadir taught Coach Armando Ferrer's team about unity, as evidenced by his constant advice to the pitchers who were replaced but would not wait for the reliever to arrive in the mound for the usual greeting.

Drake shone in the field with a rising batting average and a remarkable willingness to support defensive in any position of the diamond. His eagerness to stand for his province’s team made him felt on social networks, where he interacted systematically with fans and detractors alike and even launched a contest on what would happen in his first at-bat with a signed ball as a prize.

Last Thursday, Yadir Drake returned to Mexico, where he has lived for more than a decade, for the pre-season of the Mexican Baseball League, but he left to the province of Matanzas and Cuban baseball in general much more than a .357 average, nine doubles and four homers, in addition to 19 RBIs.