Estadio Latinoamericano at 80: Havana’s Coloso del Cerro, 1946–2026

Havana’s Estadio Latinoamericano turned 80 on Monday, 26 October 2026. The ballpark Cubans call the Coloso del Cerro opened on 26 October 1946 as the Gran Stadium de La Habana, and it has been the home of Industriales for the whole of the Serie Nacional era. JIT, the Cuban sports institute’s paper, reported that Havana’s sports authorities marked the date before Industriales’ game against Isla de la Juventud in the 65th Serie Nacional, with Little League players from the 7–8 and 9–10 age groups, former stars — among them the old Havana shortstop Rodolfo Puente — and awards for the stadium’s longest-serving staff.

The Cuban coverage was celebratory and in Spanish. This is the English version, with the stadium’s record checked against five sources — and a note on where those sources do not agree.

26 October 1946: Almendares 9, Cienfuegos 1

The first game was a Cuban professional league fixture between the Alacranes of Almendares and the Elefantes of Cienfuegos. Almendares won 9–1, in front of a crowd of about 31,000, which contemporary accounts called the largest ever to attend a sporting event in Cuba. JIT, Prensa Latina, OnCuba and Wikipedia all name the same two clubs; OnCuba and Wikipedia both give the 9–1 score and the 31,000 crowd, and Prensa Latina puts the crowd at “more than 30,000”.

It was built as a new home for the Cuban professional winter league; Baseball-Reference’s Bullpen credits the Havana baseball executive Bobby Maduro with getting it built. Through the 1950s it was a professional ballpark in every sense: the Havana Sugar Kings played their International League seasons there from 1954 to 1960, and Prensa Latina’s history recalls them clinching a Little World Series title on that field.

From Gran Stadium to Latinoamericano

After the revolution the stadium was nationalised and renamed the Estadio Latinoamericano. Industriales, founded for the first Serie Nacional in 1962, have played there ever since; the Metropolitanos, Havana’s second club, shared it until they were disbanded. In 1971 the stands were enlarged — Prensa Latina specifies new sun bleachers — taking capacity to about 55,000, the figure Wikipedia, Baseball-Reference’s Bullpen and Prensa Latina all give today. That makes it one of the largest baseball stadiums in the world.

Eighty years of international baseball

The table lists only events that at least two independent sources place at the Latinoamericano. Years that appear in a single source are discussed below rather than listed.

The moments Havana remembers

JIT’s anniversary piece was written by a reporter who watched the Latinoamericano’s great years from the stands, and his list is the one Cuban fans would give: Rodolfo “Jabao” Puente, Armando Capiró, Wilfredo Sánchez, Félix Isasi and Agustín Marquetti from the western clubs; Fermín Laffita, Agustín Arias, Owen Blandino and Antonio Muñoz from the centre and east. He recalls Pedro José “Cheíto” Rodríguez’s two long home runs against the United States at the 1979 Intercontinental Cup, and Alejo O’Reilly’s at a later Intercontinental Cup.

Above all there is Marquetti’s home run off Pinar del Río’s Rogelio García in 1986, which JIT calls one of the most remembered in Cuban baseball. Baseball-Reference’s Bullpen places it in the final game of the 1985–86 playoffs, where it won Industriales the title — the defining swing of Marquetti’s career, and of the stadium’s Serie Nacional history.

For North American readers the Latinoamericano is also the park of two diplomatic games. The Baltimore Orioles played the Havana leg of their exhibition series there in 1999. On 22 March 2016 the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cuban national team 4–1 with Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro in the stands. Ten years later the Rays are in the World Series with two Cuban-born players, Yandy Díaz and Victor Mesa Jr.

Where the sources disagree

A stadium this old carries a record that has been retold many times, and the retellings do not all match. Our reading of the five sources used here:

• Original capacity. OnCuba gives the 1946 design capacity as 30,000; Baseball-Reference’s Bullpen says 34,000. Wikipedia’s 31,000 is the opening-day crowd, which OnCuba also reports. We give the crowd, not a capacity, until a primary source settles it.
• The Intercontinental Cups. JIT lists 1979, 1987, 1995 and 2002; the list OnCuba published in 2017 (citing beisbolencuba) has 1985 instead of 1987. We have left the disputed year out of the table.
• World Cups. OnCuba’s 2017 list adds a 1952 edition that JIT does not mention, and omits 2003, which JIT includes and Wikipedia’s account of the 2003 tournament confirms was played partly at the Latinoamericano.
• Caribbean Series. JIT mentions only the first, in 1949; the Bullpen and OnCuba both list 1953 and 1957 as well.

Through Phil’s lens

Phil Selig has photographed the Latinoamericano by day and by night. His 2021 photo essay, Estadio Latinoamericano Havana Through My Lens, is the place to see the ballpark as it is today, and the club that calls it home is covered on our Industriales page.

Sources

• JIT, “El Coloso del Cerro: 80 años de historia”, 26 October 2026 (also summarised by beisbolencuba.com the same day).
• Prensa Latina, “Estadio Latinoamericano de La Habana cumple 78 años”, October 2024.
• OnCuba, “El Latinoamericano por dentro”, 8 November 2017.
• Wikipedia, “Estadio Latinoamericano” and “2003 Baseball World Cup”.
• Baseball-Reference Bullpen, “Estadio Latinoamericano” and “Agustín Marquetti”.
• Associated Press, Rays v Cuba, 22 March 2016.

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