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Give baseball fans the
gift of Cuba - opinion
Mike Bauman. MLB,
December 19, 2005.
For Christmas, I want Cuba to be allowed
to play in the World Baseball Classic.
It is a good gift request, is it not?
It is seasonably selfless. I am not asking
for sweaters, socks or team paraphernalia.
You can ask members of my immediate family.
I will write a letter to Santa Claus if
that is necessary.
The inaugural WBC is supposed to be a showcase
of the 16 most prominent baseball-playing
nations in the world. Whether some of us
like it or not, Cuba is one of those nations.
Playing this tournament without Cuba would
be like proceeding with the American League
West schedule without including the Seattle
Mariners.
But the U.S. Treasury Department has ruled
that Cuba cannot participate in the Classic,
due to the longstanding economic sanctions
our country has imposed on Cuba. This just
in: This isn't the Cuban Missile Crisis
any more. Cuba is no longer part of the
Big Red Menace, "just 90 miles from
our shores."
I really don't want to hear how objectionable
the Cuban government is. Our very own government
has a long history of being extremely close
pals with objectionable governments. One
of our primary "allies" in the
Middle East is also, as a matter of public
record, among the primary worldwide sponsors
of terrorism. But if Saudi Arabia played
baseball, you can bet that its team would
be welcomed into this tournament with open
arms.
And for years we've been cozying up to
the Chinese government, the same government
that is still chasing down protestors in
the streets. These guys make Fidel Castro
look like a moderate Republican.
But our official American policy is that
Fidel Castro and company are our sworn enemies.
The Bay of Pigs invasion didn't exactly
work out for us. Forty-four years later,
we're still on the same track.
On the other side of the issue, the one
thing for certain that you can say on behalf
of Castro is that he likes baseball. He
runs a baseball-playing nation. He may not
run his baseball-playing nation in accord
with the democratic precepts that we all
hold dear. He may even indulge in spying
on his own citizens, if you can imagine
anything so heinous. But he likes baseball.
This is an essential difference between,
for instance, Castro and Joseph Stalin,
or Castro and Adolph Hitler, or Castro and
Saddam Hussein. All three of those other
guys were, one way or another, anti-ball.
Castro has been so boisterous about Cuban
baseball that he has reportedly stated that
the defections of Cuban baseball players
are no real problem, because for every Cuban
ballplayer who defects, 10 more will take
his place. Isn't this exactly the kind of
over-the-top boasting that you'd like to
see tested on the field of play? He continues
to talk the talk, but can his team continue
to walk the walk?
Allowing Cuba to play in the World Baseball
Classic would not be a complete departure
from previous policy. In 1999, during a
previous American administration, a Major
League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles,
played the Cuban National team in Cuba.
The commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig,
sat next to Castro at the game. Guess what?
This happened and our Republic did not cease
to exist.
Major League Baseball officials have expressed
optimism that they can successfully appeal
the Treasury ruling against Cuba. A successful
appeal of a ruling that is anti-Castro,
but also anti-baseball, would be a very
good thing.
You would hate to think that the American
government, the government of the people,
by the people and for the people, was acting
here on narrow partisan grounds. You would
hate to think that this anti-Cuba position
represents mere pandering to the anti-Castro
Cuban exiles now living, and voting, in
South Florida.
Some issues should be larger than partisan
politics. And the World Baseball Classic
should be one of those issues. This is not
about every country in the tournament meeting
our seemingly exacting, but apparently fluctuating,
standards for what constitutes our kind
of country. This is about allowing the 16
leading baseball nations in the world to
participate. And one of those nations, by
the weight of all the available evidence,
is Cuba.
So we don't like Castro's politics. So
we don't like Castro's beard. So we don't
like Castro's anti-American attitudes. If
that last one is a criterion for participation,
then -- oops -- it looks like Venezuela
can't play either, because their lead guy
is also no pal of the USA. You keep applying
political considerations to a sporting event,
and pretty soon, there is no sporting event.
This should not be about politics. This
should be about baseball. This Christmas
I want Cuba to be allowed to play in the
World Baseball Classic. Come on. This is
not as huge and impossible as asking for
peace on Earth.
If Cuba is allowed to play in the World
Baseball Classic, the result will be good
for baseball. And if the result is good
for baseball? Bingo. It is also good for
America. Case closed. Merry Christmas.
Mike Bauman is a national columnist for
MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its
clubs.
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