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Escaped
from Cuba
Cuban ballplayer lives
his dream with Tigers
By Ron Musselman, Blade
Sports Writer. Toledo
Blade, OH, Sunday, May 23, 2004.
DETROIT - A few weeks shy of his 18th birthday,
Alex Sanchez was fed up with communist Cuba,
fed up with its poverty, its despair, its
lack of a future. He had a friend who was
planning to cross the dangerous Florida
Straits to freedom. And his friend had friends.
There were 12 in all when they set off into
the shark-infested waters on an 8-foot by
14-foot homemade wooden raft (picture a
good-sized dining room table affixed with
a crude sail).
Mr. Sanchez started playing baseball at
age 5 and was a blossoming star in Cuba,
but he dreamed of playing in the major leagues.
Ten years later, he has made it - starting
in centerfield for the Detroit Tigers. He
recently sat down with The Blade in the
Tigers' locker room to talk about his life
in Cuba and his harrowing escape to freedom.
He left Cuba crowded onto that small raft
in August, 1994. At one point during the
gut-wrenching trip, he tied himself to the
raft with a rope to survive a powerful storm
that nearly flipped them over.
"We were all just hanging on, hoping
nothing bad happened," Mr. Sanchez
said. "We didn't know what was going
to happen next, or where we were going.
It was very scary. We were lucky. We didn't
lose anybody."
Surviving the storm, he and his friends
almost made it across the 90-mile strait
to the Florida coast, but on the third day
of their trip they were picked up by the
U.S. Coast Guard and taken to a refugee
camp at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo
Bay - back in Cuba.
"We were told no, we couldn't go to
the United States," said Mr. Sanchez,
now 27. "Some people I knew went back
to Cuba after that. I decided to wait it
out. I wasn't sure, though, if I would ever
get to the United States."
He spent 16 lonely months at Guantanamo
Bay. He was unable to communicate with anyone
outside the base. His family - his mother
and a younger brother and sister - didn't
know if he was dead or alive.
But life was tolerable. He was fed and
clothed. It was better than living in his
native Havana, and certainly better than
floundering at sea on a raft.
"I was going to stay as long as I
had to - two, maybe three years," he
said. "I had a better time there than
I did in Cuba. I wasn't going back home."
During his stay in the refugee camp, Mr.
Sanchez never wavered in his desire to become
a professional baseball player in the United
States.
"If I made it to the United States,
I knew I was going to start playing baseball
again," he said. "First, I had
to make it."
Chasing his dream
Mr. Sanchez finally got lucky, and the
clearance to enter the United States, in
1996, at age 19.
His first glimpse of freedom was Miami's
South Beach. "I thought I had landed
in paradise," he said.
He enrolled at Miami-Dade Wolfson Community
College even though he could not speak English.
But he could play baseball.
Mr. Sanchez was discovered by Rudy Santin,
the Latin American supervisor for the Tampa
Bay Devil Rays, during his first semester
at the school. The Devil Rays selected him
in the fifth round of the June draft.
"It was a dream come true," Mr.
Sanchez told The Blade. "That's all
I ever wanted, a chance to play baseball
in the United States."
The speedy player's career got off to
a fast start.
In 1997, he stole a league-high 92 bases
for Class-A Charleston (S.C.). He was named
the most exciting player in the South Atlantic
League by Baseball America.
More dazzling minor-league seasons followed,
including being named Tampa Bay's minor-league
player of the year in 1998.
But by 2001, the Devil Rays decided to
release him. He was quickly picked up by
the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was again
sent to a farm team - the Indianapolis Indians
- where he again excelled.
Finally, the Brewers called him up, but
his early performance was a disappointment,
hitting just .206 in 30 games.
His game picked up in 2002.
Mr. Sanchez batted .289 with seven triples
and 37 stolen bases in his first full season
in the majors, and earned a spot on the
Topps rookie All-Star team, but his luck
was going to turn again.
His 2002 season ended in early September
when he suffered a displaced fracture of
his left fibula on a play at second base.
A plate and six screws were inserted in
his ankle during surgery.
After rehabilitation Mr. Sanchez played
in 43 games for the Brewers in the 2003
season, before Milwaukee manager Ned Yost
benched him.
The 5-10, 180-pound Sanchez, who bats and
throws left-handed, had worn out his welcome
in Milwaukee. He was traded to the Tigers
for two minor-league players.
Manager Alan Trammell said the Tigers did
their homework on Mr. Sanchez before completing
the deal.
"We made a lot of calls on him around
the league and didn't hear anything bad,"
Mr. Trammell said.
A new Tiger
Mr. Sanchez has worked hard to impress
Mr. Trammell and the Tigers since joining
the organization. So far, his approach is
working.
"He was a wild stallion last year,"
Mr. Trammell said. "He needed some
structure, and we've been giving it to him
in bits and pieces. But he's really been
receptive. Like our ballclub, he's not a
finished product. But we're getting closer.
"He really feels very good about being
here. We're happy to have him. He's really
growing with us, and we're helping him become
a better ballplayer."
Mr. Sanchez, the leadoff hitter, stole
44 bases in 101 games for Detroit last year.
His career-high 52 combined steals - he
had eight with the Brewers - was the third
best in the league.
"I can steal a lot of bases,"
he said. "I think I can be a leader
in stolen bases, not only on the team, I
think I'm going to be the leader of the
American League."
For Mr. Sanchez, covering the 90 feet from
base to base on a steal is a cakewalk compared
to executing the 90-mile trip from Cuba
to the United States.
"We want him to be good enough to
get a base when we need one," bench
coach Kirk Gibson said. "He can affect
every player on the field."
Mr. Sanchez carried a .348 batting average,
fifth in the league, into last night's game
in Seattle, including leading the league
in bunt hits with 17. He had stolen 10 bases
but had drawn only four walks in 135 plate
appearances, a very low number for a leadoff
hitter.
"He's done a good job for us,"
Mr. Trammell said. "People keep making
comments about him not getting that many
walks, and that is true. But he does a lot
of positive things for you. He's hitting
well over .300. He's scoring runs. He's
creating havoc on the bases. He's starting
to steal some bags."
Mr. Sanchez says he feels good about where
he is.
"I try to get on base all the time
and score some runs. I'm aggressive and
try to get on base. I am doing a lot of
things to help my team."
For once, he says he feels wanted.
Plenty of support
The first Cuban to play professional baseball
in the United States was Esteban "Steve
" Bellan, a catcher for the Haymakers
in Troy, N.Y., in the 1870s.
Sixty Cubans played in the major leagues
when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
There are only 11 now.
Mr. Sanchez, earning $385,000 this season,
is the 10th Cuban-born player to play for
the Tigers, and the first since Barbaro
Garbey in 1984 and 1985.
Other more-heralded Cuban defectors in
the majors include half brothers Livan and
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez,
Rafael Palmeiro, and Jose Contreras.
Some left Cuba in high-speed boats. Others
took a plane and had a driver waiting with
a car when they arrived. And a few defected
while playing in international baseball
tournaments.
Mr. Sanchez's story ranks among the most
compelling.
"I respect him for all that he has
gone through, " said Tigers third base
coach Juan Samuel, who was born in the Dominican
Republic. "It's not an easy adjustment
for Dominican players to make it here in
the minor leagues; so I know it had to be
a huge adjustment for Alex.
"I remember being lost for a year
or two, trying to find my way around. I'm
sure Alex felt that way for a while too."
He and his wife, Giovanna, live in Miami,
but he has not seen his Cuban family since
leaving there nearly 10 years ago.
"I really miss them, and I think about
them a lot," Mr. Sanchez said. "But
my mom is happy. This is what she wanted
for me."
© 2004
The Blade.
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