Despaigne Breaks Cuban Home Run Record

HAVANA TIMES, April 4 — Slugger Alfredo Despaigne fired off two homers last night at Havana’s Latin American Stadium. With those, he reached the record number of 35 homeruns in a National Series on the island, reported the Granma newspaper.

“I would have liked to have done it in front of my fans in Granma Province, but it just didn’t work out like that. I knew that at any moment I would break the record, but I never figured that it would be with a broken bat,” said the player, whose performance was decisive in the 21-10 defeat of his team, Granma, over Industriales.

Despaigne, who has recorded 199 homers in his career, still has another eleven games remaining to play, while projections indicate that his final figure could range between 39 and 40 homeruns for the season.