Eleno Agapito Mayor Valenzuela (August 18, 1915 – April 18, 2005) was a Cuban professional baseball pitcher.
[1][2] Born in Sagüa la Grande, Villa Clara Province, Mayor enjoyed a distinguished pitching career between 1938 and 1953.
Mayor was raised and grew up in Caibarién, another municipality of Villa Clara, where he started to play baseball at the school at age 12.
[3] In 1937, he led the circuit with a 1.13 earned run average and also pitched in an exhibition game against the New York Giants when they visited Cuba during their spring training.
[4][5] He later joined the Fortuna BBC[3] and represented Cuba in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games held at Panama City.
Mayor was almost the whole story in the baseball competition, either starting or relieving, picking up four of Cuba's five victories in their Gold medal tournament, a feat not duplicated by any pitcher before or since in this long standing event.
The first was in the 1946-47 season, when the Alacranes came back and swept their eternal rivals Leones de la Habana to win the championship, while the other was when the team represented Cuba in the inaugural Caribbean Series played in Havana in 1949.
The next day, Mayor won a four-hit complete-game pitching duel against Fred Martin and the Leones by a score of 2–1, being highlighted by Andrés Fleitas, who tripled the winning run in the 7th inning to obtain the narrow victory.
In decisive Game 3, Lanier returned on only one day of rest to beat Habana 9–2, and Almendares completed the feat.
[14] He was especially sharp in the 1946 season, going 20-9 with a 3.45 ERA and 157 strikeouts, including six shutouts, while the rest of Nuevo Laredo's pitchers combined for a paltry 28-41 record.
In addition, Mayor led the league in shutouts and complete games (23), tied Sal Maglie for the most wins, and finished second in strikeouts behind Booker McDaniels.
[15] Following his retirement, Mayor was a long time resident of Tampa, Florida, where he died in 2005 at the age of 89, after dealing with Alzheimer's disease for many years.