Batos L.P.V. Baseball Bat

After the US embargo in 1958, Cuba was forced to produce its own sports equipment. The Cubans quickly learned to make respectable baseballs, bats, gloves, and shoes, under the government brand name, Batos. The company takes its name from a ball game that indigenous people of Cuba played. The Tainos and Ciboney Indians had a game played with a bat and ball, which the Ciboney called Batos. The company still exists today.

The crude center Brand oval is centered by a bull, with "BATOS" above, and below "HECHO EN CUBA" which translates to Made In Cuba. To the right is what seems to be the model number "114" and to the left are the letters "L.P.V." which stands for “Listos para vencer,” or “Ready to win,” a sports slogan common throughout Latin America.

The Batos brand baseballs are a little more common to the collectors market in the U.S. The baseballs have the Batos logo in script, at the top, and below it reads "HECHO EN CUBA." The sweet spot reads "Inder L.P.V." The word Inder is the Institute for Sports, Physical Education and Recreation which was created by the Cuban government shortly after the 1959 revolution. Inder developed all of the current sports and education programs in place today.

According to local legend, the first Cuban ball-winding machine, was made from an old juke box and was set up in a vegetable garden run by a Chinese family. Due to poor economics in Cuba, fans at the ball game were required to throw a foul ball back into play so it can be used again. They were told to do so in defiance of the "Blockade."

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Batos L.P.V. Hecho en Cuba (made in Cuba) Baseball Bat

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