Andrés Ayón

Andrés Ayón Brown (October 22, 1936 – October 24, 2021) was a Cuban professional baseball player and manager. He played extensively in the Mexican Baseball League and in minor league baseball, and later managed Industriales in the Cuban National Series (SNB). He is notable for being one of the only Cuban players signed to a professional contract to remain on the island after the Cuban Revolution.

Playing career Ayón played youth baseball in Cuba and appeared with the Cuban national team at the 1956 World Junior Championships in Mexico City. He was signed to a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Redlegs by scout Napoleon Reyes.

In the Cuban Winter League, he played with the Tigres de Marianao team that carried the 1958 championship, pitching a scoreless eighth inning in the decisive game against Almendares; Marianao would go on to win the 1958 Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico. In 1959, he debuted with the Havana Sugar Kings of the Triple-A International League (though he spent most of the year with Class B Topeka). Ayón returned to Havana in 1960 and worked to a 3.00 earned run average over 52 games, though geopolitical tensions stemming from the Cuban Revolution forced the midseason move of the team to Jersey City.

In 1964, Ayón made his Mexican Baseball League debut with the Pericos de Puebla, fresh off a championship win. Under Cuban manager Tony Castaño, and as part of a rotation with Miguel Sotelo, Julio Moreno, and Florentino Rivera, Ayón finished the year with a 16-5 record, a 2.94 earned run average, and 106 strikeouts.

Over the course of his 14-year Mexican League career, Ayón had several accomplishments, chief among them a no-hitter with Puebla in a game against the Charros de Jalisco on June 25, 1966, and a perfect game (the second in LMB history) on June 30, 1972, in a seven-inning game with the Saraperos de Saltillo against the Sultanes de Monterrey.

Post-playing career Ayón returned to Cuba, and was appointed manager of Havana-based Industriales in the 1982–83 season; his first season, he finished in fourth place with a 31–16 record. In the 1983–84 season, the team moved up to second place with 49–25, 2½ games behind champions Citricultores. The following season, the team finished sixth at 44–31.

That would be Ayón's last year at the helm of Industriales; he later said he quit due to disagreements over the selection of the Cuban national team managers and players. Ayón died of a heart attack on October 24, 2021 in Havana.