Tag Archives: Cuba

‘Tear Down The Wall’

On March 22, 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays will play an exhibition baseball game in Cuba:

“The game will be the first involving a major North American professional sports league in Cuba since the U.S. began reestablishing diplomatic ties with the country early last year. It will be played in Havana at ‘Estadio Latinoamericano’, Cuba’s largest stadium…

“MLB not only seeks to play a symbolic role in the reopening of relations between the two countries for the first time since 1961. The league is also eyeing the longer-term goal of easing the often-dangerous path Cuban-born players take to reach the major leagues…”

–‘Tampa Bay Rays to Play in Cuba’,
BRIAN COSTA, Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/tampa-bay-rays-to-play-cuban-national-team-1456872628 INSIDE SPORTS, Tear Down The Wall, 800x800Here’s some of the background…

‘This Cuban Defector Changed Baseball. Nobody Remembers’  Continue reading ‘Tear Down The Wall’

‘The Dark Side of Cuban Ballplayer Smuggling’

‘MLB agent Bart Hernandez arrested’

“Agent Bart Hernandez was arrested…after a federal grand jury indicted him on human-trafficking charges related to the smuggling of Seattle Mariners outfielder Leonys Martin into the United States from Cuba, according to sources and documents obtained by ‘Yahoo Sports’. INSIDE SPORTS, The Dark Side of Cuban Ballplayer Smuggling, 800x800“The sealed indictment, filed in a Florida federal court Feb. 12, alleges that Hernandez – who now works for ‘Magnus Sports’, the agency founded by singer Marc Anthony – conspired with smugglers to bring Martin into the United States in August, 2010… If convicted on conspiracy and financial-gain charges, Hernandez faces up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum sentence of three years.  Continue reading ‘The Dark Side of Cuban Ballplayer Smuggling’