He was born on 2 January 1933 in San Ramón, Campechuela, in what is now the province of Granma, into a poor family. He started school but had to leave it for money.

At seventeen he began playing in his home town, at first base. Later he moved to the mound for the same team, and that is when they started calling him mano de hierro, iron hand. He was one of the founders of baseball in Campechuela: he took the games out to the neighbourhoods.

Source: EcuRed, drawing on the testimony of his wife and children and on the records of the Campechuela municipal sports office.