By Jose Miguel Romero, Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau. Wednesday, March 15, 2000, 01:21 a.m. Pacific
STANWOOD - Scott Knight can still taste the best chicken he ever ate. He can still feel the warm breeze through the open-air restaurant in Old Havana on another 70-degree evening. He can still tap his feet to the sounds of salsa.
Even with the high-school baseball season under way, Knight wants to go back. So do a few players he coached.
They want to return to Cuba, where Knight joined coaches, parents and three youth baseball teams made up of players from throughout Washington state for the trip of a lifetime.
Knight, the baseball coach at Stanwood High School, returned from a seven-day trip to Cuba a couple of weeks ago. He helped coach the Wranglers, a team of players from Western Washington in exhibition games against Cuban teams. One of his Stanwood players, Paul Bonner, and two eighth-graders
from Stanwood who played for a Mukilteo-based team also made the trip.
Knight, in his 14th season as the Spartan coach, has taken players all over the world, including China, Europe and Australia. The Cuban experience, he said, was the most special.
"The kids found out that kids are kids, no matter where you go," Knight said. "They were trying to teach each other Spanish and English. They got to be pals right away. It seemed like a whirlwind trip, but the memories are going to last forever."
Few Americans have had the opportunity to go to Cuba - a U.S. trade embargo has been in effect for more than 40 years. U.S. citizens cannot travel to the island nation without permission. It took a huge effort - on the part of such government figures as U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) - to
allow Knight, Bonner and the other tour members to make the trip.
Once in Havana, said Knight, the players were treated like celebrities. In the three days they played against Cuban school teams, the Americans were showered with attention and asked to exchange hats, balls, bats and jerseys for Cuban items. Bonner traded a Nike cap for a wooden plaque of one of
Cuba's revolutionary heroes, Che Guevara.
"It was kind of fun to try and communicate with them (the Cuban players)," said Bonner, a senior infielder and pitcher for Stanwood who speaks a little Spanish. "Even though they didn't have much, they still seemed happy and content with life."
Eric Gustafson and Jordon Vares, of Stanwood Middle School, and Bonner and Knight were impressed by the quality and brand of baseball the Cubans played. None of the three Washington teams won a game against the Cuban teams, and on the final day of play, Cuban and American players formed mixed
teams.
"They were fast," said Gustafson. "Some of them were big and muscular."
Bonner remembers a game of catch with a Cuban player, who was throwing effortlessly from far across the field. "Their slowest guy is as fast as our fastest guy," Bonner said. "They were athletic and looked like they could play any sport."
Said Knight, "They play the speed game. They are fundamentally very sound, but they do everything with a flair. It's like watching (Seattle Mariner shortstop) Alex Rodriguez play. He makes it look routine. At the beginning, it looked like they were hot-dogging a little bit, but that's the
way they play."
Knight coached the Wranglers with Sehome assistant Todd Naskedov. He did not coach games in which Bonner played in accordance with a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rule that forbids high-school coaches from coaching their players before the start of the season.
Highlights of the trip included attending a Cuban National League game between the Havana Metros and a team from the Guantanamo Bay region on the eastern shore of the island. Some members of the touring group, including Knight, witnessed a rally on the Malecon - the famous Havana street that
borders the sea - in support of the return of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy whose arrival in Miami recently sparked controversy.
"We went for baseball, not politics," Knight said. "We developed good friendships and a good bond. Maybe we can make a little dent in the embargo."
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