THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL December 27: Moises Alou signs with Giants

Moises Alou leveraged an excellent season with the Cubs into a one-year, $7.25 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on this day in béisbol, December 27, 2004.

The 37-year-old outfielder had one of his finest seasons in ’04, when he slammed 39 homers with 106 RBI and a .293 average for Chicago.

He hit .321 for the Giants in 2005 and .301 the following season when an option year was picked up, but only averaged 20 homers in each season due to injuries.

His time in San Francisco was highlighted by playing for his father, Felipe Alou, who also managed Moises from 1992 to 1996 when he starred for the Expos.

Also on this day: In 1874, the first officially recorded baseball game in Cuba was played in Matanzas, where the Havana team beat the Matanzas squad. The final score was 51-9 after the game was mercifully called in the seventh due to darkness. The game would help popularize the sport in Cuba. The venue, El Palmar de Junco Stadium, is still in use and is the home of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.

Photo taken by flickr user sghmom56 Cropped by User:Quadzilla99, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; LatinoBaseball.com illustration