Cuban-American Ballplayers Want To Form Team

WASHINGTON – Outraged by the support Major League Baseball and its players’ union have shown the Castro dictatorship, Cuban-American ballplayers, including major leaguers Livan and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, will meet in Miami this week to form an independent association of free Cuban players and to take the fight for a free Cuba to the baseball diamond.The Federacion de beisbol profesional de Cuba, or the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation, will provide an organized voice for Cuban-American ballplayers who feel uniquely excluded from Major League Baseball’s first World Baseball Classic and other international competitions, the group’s organizer, Omar Claro, said.The 18-day World Baseball Classic tournament, sponsored by Major League Baseball and its Players’ Association, invited 16 “representative” members of the International Baseball Federation, including Cuba’s state-controlled federation. Last week the Treasury Department denied permits that would have allowed the Cuban team to play, apparently owing to possible violations of the Cuban embargo.But before the Treasury Department’s decision, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican of Florida, had written to baseball’s commissioner, Allan “Bud” Selig, asking that the 22 Cuban-American players in the major leagues, and the 62 players in the minor leagues, be allowed to compete for a free Cuba.The congressman’s call has so far been rejected by Major League Baseball, but it was heard earlier this month by one Cuban-American player, Eddie Oropeza of the San Diego Padres. Mr. Oropeza contacted another Cuban American, Mr. Claro, who, as the sports anchor for Miami’s Univision station, knows many Cuban-American ballplayers. Mr. Claro then reached out to Cuban-American players in the major and minor leagues, the overwhelming majority of whom supported the initiative.“When Livan Hernandez found out about this, he said, ‘I have to be on this team,'” Mr. Claro said in Spanish. Mr. Hernandez is a starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals.In addition to Messrs. Oropeza and Hernandez, other confirmed players include Mr. Hernandez’s brother, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, a World Series-winning pitcher with both the Yankees and the Chicago White Sox; a former Chicago Cubs shortstop, Reynaldo “Rey” Ordonez, and a former pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Osvaldo Fernandez. Other Cuban players – including other World Series champions – will likely join the federation, Mr. Claro said, adding that there were enough players from different positions for a complete and competitive team.Calls and e-mails yesterday to Major League Baseball and the players’ association were not returned. The league has maintained, however, that if a team from Castro’s Cuba cannot play in the World Baseball Classic, another country will be invited instead of allowing a team of free Cubans to represent their homeland. League officials have said they cannot put together representative teams “ad hoc” on their own, and must instead allow national federations to decide who represents them.The new group being formed in Miami this week, Mr. Claro said, would constitute a new federation, playing for a “free Cuba” instead of an oppressed one.Even if the group is not allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic, Mr. Claro said, it will still provide organizational backing for future international competitions, and will work to encourage players in Cuba to seek freedom in America.It will also serve as a needed voice for the Cuban-American players, who, Mr. Claro said, felt betrayed by the players’ union, which last week issued a joint statement with Major League Baseball supporting the participation of Castro’s Cuba over the objections of Cuban-American players.“The union is on the side of the employer, when it should be on the side of the players,” Mr. Claro said.The new group will also serve as a symbol for the struggle for Cuba’s liberty, Mr. Claro said. “It’s for justice,” he said of the federation.Mr. Diaz-Balart, who will meet with the group this week in Miami, said: “What we’re going to try to do is let the world know that Cuban players have rights, too.”The congressman was joined this weekend by several members of Congress, who wrote Mr. Selig urging him to reconsider his opposition to a free Cuban team.One of the letter’s signatories, Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican of New Jersey, said yesterday that he would probably introduce “sense of the Congress” legislation supporting free Cuban participation in the World Baseball Classic.“This is a dictatorship, one of the worst in the world, and we cannot just act as if things are business as usual when it comes to such an egregious violator of human rights,” Mr. Smith said.

Cuban-American Ballplayers Want To Form Team

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