Puerto Rico is a veritable paradise with a long and storied history. This beautiful island nation is both part of the US, while still enjoying a level of autonomy as well. One of the first Spanish colonies in the new world, Puerto Rico has an amazingly rich heritage comprised of a melange of different types of people that have come, gone and stayed on this island oasis for thousands of years. Part Caribbean, Part Hispanic, and Part American, Puerto Rico offers lucky visitors the best of all worlds and is truly a melting pot of tastes, smells, customs and much more.

Rums of Puerto Rico, a historic company that has been producing many different Caribbean rums for more than 450 years, has just created a great little series for the History Channel featuring both inventions and innovations of recent centuries dubbed the, “Rum Times”. I just checked out one about the history of ball sports. The focus of this video was on the interesting history of rubber ball sports over the years. In the late 1500s, Spanish conquistadors took a group of Aztec men from Mexico across the pond back to Spain to showcase an ancient ball game that they used to play.

The Spanish were surprisingly not so interested in the actual game, but for the fact that the Aztec men played with a ball comprised of rubber and bounced. It is thought that the Aztec were the the first to use rubber in sports balls.

The video continues showing the narrator talking about how other sports using rubber balls have evolved over the years including baseball, basketball, soccer and American football.

The “Rum Times” is very well done and at the end of the below episode, the narrator heads out of some wooden doors to a popping party showing how Rums of Puerto Rico has been an integral part of the celebratory end of every sport for the better part of 500 years. After the fiesta, a new rum drink is showcased called, “The Ball Game”, inspired by the invention of sports.