By Malcolm Balfour and Laura Italiano. The New York Post. June 6, 2000
The latest Cuban baseball star to seek asylum in the U.S. is dreaming of wearing Yankee pinstripes even though he spent last night on a Coast Guard cutter off Key West - his future literally at sea.
Andy Morales, 24 - a top third baseman and designated hitter for the Cuban national team - was plucked from the ocean Sunday by the Coast Guard after the motorboat carrying him and 30 others ran out of gas off Florida.
He is asking for immediate political asylum, said his agent, Gus Dominguez.
"We'd love to get him to the Yankees," Dominguez said, noting that the Bronx Bombers are his first choice.
"If the New York teams want to talk to us, we'll listen."
Yankees officials wouldn't comment on Dominguez's overture.
But what will happen next remains unclear for Morales - who is best known here for his key home run in an exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles last year, and who is expected to spur a fierce big-league bidding war if he stays.
Coast Guard and immigration officials spent yesterday interviewing the people plucked from the boat to see if any could document legitimate asylum claims.
The others would be returned to Cuba, said the spokesman, Rodney Germain.
"As of this moment, we don't know if the Coast Guard will grant him asylum and take him to Miami, or bring him to Guantanamo," Dominguez said last night, referring to the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, where defectors are processed.
"We think Andy's got a great case for asylum. If he is sent back, because he's embarrassed Cuba they could put him in jail for up to 15 years," the agent said.
The star hitter captured the attention - and scorn - of American baseball fans last May, taking a show-boating trot after a game-winning, three-run homer, prompting Orioles left fielder B.J. Surhoff to call him an "idiot."
But Dominguez said Morales' stats speak louder than his hijinks.
"He's probably the best hitter right now in Cuba," Dominguez said.
"Over the last three years, he's averaged .368."
The most famous Cuban player - out of some 30 to defect in recent years - is Yankees ace hurler Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who left Cuba on a small boat in Dec. 1997.
In the most recent case, star pitcher Adrian Hernandez escaped the communist country by disguising himself as a woman - complete with clothes and fake passport - and fleeing to Costa Rica.
Copyright 2000 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. |