Let Players From Cuba Play In MLB
Bronx, NY: The beauty of baseball is that it is a sport that can be played by anyone of different sizes, weights, cultures and countries. Globalization has not only affected business development, it has also affected the world of sports and the game of baseball today is a much better and exciting game thanks to the open door policy that has led to the diversity of the players representing many countries and cultures.
Many of the foreign born players have always had the luxury of playing in the majors and returning to their home countries during the off-season. This policy has been in place for every player of every country except for Cuba. Unfortunately, because of politics the only way for Cuban players to play in the USA was to defect and sever all relationships with their homeland. This unfair policy created an environment for what eventually became an illegal and dangerous human trafficking of Cuban players.
Major League Baseball saw this serious problem with the potential to get much worse and tarnish the national sport and set out to address it. To their credit they opened dialog with the non-government Cuban Baseball Federation and after years of negotiating they both agreed on a safe and non-political way for young Cuban baseball players to also have the opportunity to play major league baseball in the USA without having to defect. This was a historic agreement that was applauded by many baseball and non-baseball fans throughout both countries and in many other parts of the world.
Unfortunately, no sooner did the ink dry on the agreement than the right wing mouthpiece for the Cuban exile community; Senator Marco Rubio criticized and condemned the agreement. He wasted no time in raising the issue to President Trump. The President wasted no time and took the opportunity to criticize the agreement and ramble the usual anti-communist, anti anything that was done during the Obama administration.
The ridiculous rhetoric eventually died off and the agreement was still in place just like many of the other Obama open overtures towards Cuba like the lifting of the travel restrictions. The open travel we now have with Cuba that major airlines like Jet Blue, American and Delta have invested millions of dollars is still in effect. However, no such luck with the MLB – Cuban Baseball Federation agreement.
Last week when the Cuban Baseball Federation released a list of Cuban baseball players that would be eligible for the MLB international draft, Senator Rubio once again raised the volume of his misguided rhetoric and the president wasted no time to block the landmark deal.
Major League Baseball released a statement: “We stand by the goal of the agreement, which is to end the human trafficking of baseball players from Cuba.”
When politics gets involved in a sport, everyone losses.
We urge all our readers and baseball fans to call your congressional representatives and let them know that you support MLB and their agreement with the Cuban Baseball Federation to end the human trafficking of baseball players from Cuba. Let the Cubans play without having to defect.
